The Horizon software empowers officiating organization schedulers with the capability to efficiently schedule meetings within the platform. Meetings can be seamlessly managed from the Master Game Schedule page, just like games and assignments, providing schedulers with greater control and organization over their officiating events.
Adding a Meeting
To begin scheduling a meeting, the scheduler must have the necessary permissions and be designated as "unrestricted" within their officiating organization. This unrestricted status allows them to create and manage meetings without any limitations on the types of events they can schedule. Being "unrestricted" means that your officiating organization administrator has not placed any limitations on your user account that limit your scheduling capabilities to only certain leagues, game codes, or locations.
To add a meeting to the Master Game Schedule:
Navigate to Master Game Schedule: Access the Master Game Schedule page, which serves as the central hub for managing all games, assignments, and meetings.
Select "Add Games" from the Top Toolbar: On the Master Game Schedule page, locate the top toolbar and choose the "Add Games" option. This feature encompasses the scheduling of both games and meetings.
Choose "Add Meetings": From the dropdown menu within the "Add Games" option, select "Add Meetings" to indicate that you are creating a meeting.
Specify Meeting Details: Input the meeting title and, if necessary, set a maximum capacity for the meeting. The maximum capacity feature allows schedulers to limit the number of officials who can respond as "Attending" once the capacity is reached. You can create more invitations than the maximum capacity, but the "Attending" response option will not be available after reaching the maximum capacity. If you need to increase capacity later, you can increase this using the "Edit Meeting" option next to the meeting on the Master Game Schedule page.
Inviting Officials
After successfully adding a meeting, the next step is to invite officials to attend the event.
Unpublished Meeting: The newly created meeting will be placed in an unpublished status on the Master Game Schedule, awaiting further management.
Create Meeting Invitations: As an unrestricted scheduler, you can generate meeting invitations using two methods:
Invite Officials: This option allows you to invite specific officials to the meeting individually. The interface for creating meeting invitations mirrors the familiar game assigning window.
Invite Groups: This option enables schedulers to invite the entire organization, a bulk selection of users, or a selection of contact groups, streamlining the invitation process.
Publishing the Meeting
Once all invitations are created and ready, the scheduler must publish the meeting to initiate the RSVP process from invited officials.
Publish the Meeting: Click the "Publish" button in the top toolbar on the Master Game Schedule to change the status and activate the system-generated notifications sent to all invited officials. These notifications request the officials to log in and promptly respond with either "Attending" or "Not Attending" statuses.
Managing Meeting Responses
Schedulers can monitor and manage the responses from officials for a well-organized and efficient meeting schedule.
Meeting Details Page: Unrestricted schedulers can access the Meeting Details page to view comprehensive details about the meeting. This page displays the status of each invitation, including "No Response," "Attending," or "Not Attending."
"Not Attending" Status: Officials who respond as "Not Attending" are removed entirely from the meeting, streamlining the list of attendees. We do not store or track this status beyond this.
Reminders and Notifications
Officials will receive timely reminders and notifications leading up to the scheduled meeting. These notifications are designed to keep officials informed and ensure their availability for the event.
Managing Accidental Declines or Rejections
In the event that an official accidentally declines or rejects a meeting invitation, the scheduler can resolve the issue by inviting the official again using the same methods employed to create the initial invitations.
Future Developments
While the current version of the Horizon software does not offer direct conference calling or video meetings like Zoom within the platform, the development team is actively considering this feature for future releases. Your valuable feedback and support will play a significant role in shaping and prioritizing these enhancements. To express your interest in this functionality, please vote for the idea at https://horizonwebref.com/new-features. Your input drives us to deliver solutions that best align with the needs and preferences of our users.