Overview of Systems Coming in 2019
The WFTDA and WFTDI have been working over the last several months to develop new digital platforms for insurance sales, membership management, membership and committee communications, sanctioning and charters, and the rankings calculator. Our organization and member needs have outgrown the platforms we built in the past, including the Mothership and current forum.
While transitioning from old technology to new causes some confusion, the change will be worthwhile, will streamline communication, and will allow for future growth for our organization and our membership.
This post will outline the coming changes. WFTDA and WFTDI staff and volunteers will be working hard to support membership in the transition period.
MemberSuite
The first system launch members will see is our move from the Mothership (aka Dashboard) to our new “Member Portal” powered by MemberSuite for the following processes:
- Insurance purchases
- Membership management
- League transfers
- Team and charter roster creation
- Online signatures for WFTDA’s Non-Disclosure Agreement, Code of Conduct, and tournament waivers
- Registration for teams, officials, announcers, photographers, and volunteers for WFTDA Cups, Playoffs, and Championships
- Payment of team registration fees for Playoffs and Championships
- Leagues may have a maximum of THREE league admins in the new Member Portal. Generic league email accounts may not be used for administrative purposes; you may only have one person per login.
The Member Portal is where all the “people” and “people functions” will live. It is data secure and GDPR-compliant so that individuals can manage their personal information and purchases, league admins can manage their league people and processes, and WFTDA staff can manage the overall process. Leagues may have a maximum of three league admins in the new Member Portal. Generic league email accounts may not be used for administrative purposes; you may only have one person per login.
After the system is live, questions regarding user access and functionality can be sent to portal@wftda.com.
As we posted to the membership forum earlier this month, insurance purchases will reopen on May 27th through the new Member Portal. Membership Renewals will open on June 3rd in the Member Portal.
The current Mothership will continue to be used to sanction games, and the online tournament sanctioning form for all tournaments (more on this below).
Games and Rankings System
We are also in the process of updating our rankings calculator into a new online system. The WFTDA entered into a contractual work agreement with Michael Watson of Rainy City Roller Derby and Derby on Toast. Michael, along with Rankings Committee Chair, Acid Assassin, and the WFTDA Rankings team, has been working to build a new and dynamic system to host rankings and game data. You will start seeing some blog posts next week announcing the changes that are taking place to update our rankings releases.
The Games and rankings system will be where our sports data lives:
- Team rankings
- Live Rankings (Beta Test)
- Sanctioning of games and tournaments (in development)
- Scores and statistics (future development)
This system will be administered by WFTDA Rankings Committee to start and will replace the old Rankings Calculator. Rather than logging into that separate system, all published rankings will be fully integrated into league rankings pages through our website, making rankings a public, promotional tool.
Furthermore, we will continue to publish the rankings on the established schedule, and we will be beta testing a new concept of live rankings through the end of 2019. We would like to move to a more timely system for capturing rankings changes and telling the story of our sport, especially during tournament weekends, and will run this alongside our traditional, monthly rankings schedule so that we can get member and fan feedback. We are hoping to run some Live Rankings Weekends in June and integrate Live Rankings into our 2019 Postseason for Continental Cups, Playoffs, and Championships coverage, and hope that you will all share in the excitement we have about this tool.
This new rankings system will be launching on June 5, 2019.
This summer and fall, we will work to build out the sanctioning process on this new system, and will be giving leagues’ games admins access to sanction games directly using this system. In the meantime, the current Mothership will continue to be used to sanction games, and the online tournament sanctioning form for all tournaments.
Higher Logic
Later this year, we will be replacing our antiquated forum with a new system of communities from Higher Logic. We will be able to set up groups for everything from public rules discussions to regional areas to committee work areas. This system will integrate with the MemberSuite member portal and is where you will really see a difference in communications and support from the WFTDA. We anticipate launching portions of this project before the end of 2019.
We would like to also thank the WFTDA Tech volunteers and their new Officer, Umpire Strikes Back, for their support around these new platforms. There are a lot of positive technology changes happening and we look forward to giving you previews in the coming weeks.
Be sure to have your league reps follow this conversation on the member forum, where they can ask any questions you may have and we will do our best to answer them and support everyone’s transition this year to these new systems.
Would you like to know more about these new technology systems? We will be presenting this in the 2019 WFTDA Online Annual Meeting this weekend, May 18 and 19.
Saturday, May 18
- 9:00-15:00 Central European Time, or 17:00-23:00 Australian Eastern Time
- Ideal for leagues in Europe, Africa, and Australia
Sunday, May 19
- 6:00 PM -12:00 AM Eastern Time, or 3:00 PM – 9:00 PM Pacific Standard Time
- Ideal for leagues in North America, South America, and Australia
Any member or official of a WFTDA league is welcome to attend. League reps can find registration information on the member forum.