Full-Time Integration means that we will push all of your league's data from Whole Game System to Full-Time.
This means all divisions, cups, team administrators and players will automatically push across from Whole Game System and can no longer be created within Full-Time by the league.
Please use the Table of Contents below to navigate to the relevant section that you are looking for.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Overview
- GDPR, Safeguarding and Individuals’ Data
- Requesting Full-Time Integration
- Creating the New Season in Full-Time
Overview
Since July 2016, the FA has been adding more links between Whole Game System/Club Portal and Full-Time, so that leagues and clubs no longer have to maintain data in two systems separately. There are two key reasons for this, first to reduce the workload for volunteers, but also to ensure compliance with GDPR, so that individuals’ data is not maintained as multiple records.
The key integrations are for leagues using Club/Competition Portal for Player Registration, and Full-Time, which means their clubs, teams, managers and coaches will also be able to use the new Matchday App, which launched in August 2018. This app allows managers and coaches to organise their teams, as well as submitting match results and scores to Full-Time.
This will provide these leagues with a “single view” of data, ensuring that divisions, cup competitions, teams and players need only be maintained in one place, with Whole Game System/Club Portal as the master source of data. These cannot then be modified directly in Full-Time, and any amendments will have to be made in WClub Portal, which will update Full-Time accordingly.
All other functionality of Full-Time will remain unchanged – fixture arrangement and management, result reporting, SMS results, team sheets, email communications, news and notices continue to be maintained in Full-Time, using the data provided via integration with Whole Game System.
Once a league is synchronised, the following will be automatically set up in Full-Time:-
• Season – The new season will be automatically created from Whole Game System.
• Divisions – All divisions which are active in the Whole Game System League Sanction form will be automatically created.
• Cups – All cups which are active in the Whole Game System League Sanction form will be automatically created.
• Teams – All teams within the league, which have been added to divisions or cups within the Whole Game System League Sanction form will be automatically created (it does not matter if these teams have not yet affiliated).
• Team Administrators – All team administrators (those with the role of Team Coach, Team Manager, Team Coach Assistant, Team Manager Assistant and Team Secretary) in Club Portal will be automatically set up as Team Administrators in Full-Time.
• Players – All registered players for these teams will be automatically created in Full-Time.
Much of this information will have already been recorded for previous seasons within Full-Time, so there are a variety of functions and options which allow leagues to merge historical data from Full-Time with the data brought across and mastered by Whole Game System.
Note: We would strongly recommend leagues read the sections on merging teams before setting up fixtures.
GDPR, Safeguarding and Individuals’ Data
As more data is integrated between Club Portal and Full-Time, the master record for an individuals’ data becomes the FAN record for the individual concerned. It is important to note that the responsibility for maintaining an individual’s personal data (i.e. their phone numbers, email addresses) should lie with the individual, so there is a significant change in process for leagues and clubs who have been used to maintaining this.
Additionally, using Club Portal as the source for personal data and roles, allows us to check that in youth football Managers and Coaches are DBS compliant, and cannot access player data if it is not appropriate.
We would encourage leagues and clubs to understand the importance of getting their managers, coaches and players accessing their own records (whether through My Account, FA.com, Match Day or Full-Time Mobile) so that if their telephone number or email address needs amending, they can do so themselves.
We understand this is a significant change, and for example whereas in the past a league could change the telephone number of an SMS contact themselves (which would not update the FAN record, and would not be visible to the individual concerned) now they need the individual concerned to update their mobile number, which will automatically update the SMS contact in Full-Time. Long term this will reduce the workload for the league, but it is a significant change and leagues will need to communicate this to their wider administrator community.
Requesting Full-Time Integration
At present, all synchronisation with Full-Time will be triggered by the FA – when a league is ready to run Full-Time integration, the league should contact their County FA to request that they check their league sanction divisions, development groups and cups. Once the County FA have checked this is correct, they will request the integration from the FA.
Creating the New Season in Full-Time
When a new season is created in Full-Time, all existing player roles will be closed off automatically, with a closing date of 31st May. Once the synchronisation has been run, these players will become historical records, hence their roles being set as closed. (The exception to this is leagues who have an agreed extension to the current season – they should not open the new season until their current season is complete).
Season
When the synchronisation is run, the new season is created automatically, and can be accessed via the Setup menu. A Whole Game System season is denoted with a black dot, and cannot be deleted.
The season is initially set as hidden so you can complete all of your admin before clubs can see the pages on the public site.
The start date and end date are defaulted and cannot be amended within Full-Time. The season can still be set as default, and can be hidden and unhidden. If a league has already manually created a new season, this should be hidden.
To set the new season as the default season you will first need to unhide the season using the edit button.
Divisions and Development Groups
When the synchronisation is run, new divisions will also be created in Full-Time (although Whole Game System differentiates between Divisions and Development Groups, these will all be created as Divisions in Full-Time). A Whole Game System division is denoted with a black dot, and cannot be deleted. When created, each division will have a rank of zero, so leagues will have to update the ranks of their divisions to ensure they are sorted into the requisite order.
The divisions can be edited (including the public display name if required) and the usual options to Hide Players, Hide Scores, Hide Tables, Hide Venues and record Attendances via SMS can be checked and unchecked as required. Although it is not necessary, if a league wishes to merge its new “Whole Game System Divisions” with historical “Full-Time Divisions” they may do so, with the two divisions being combined into a single Whole Game System mastered division.
Teams
The new teams will also be created in Full-Time. When created, each team will have its name provided by Whole Game System, though leagues have the option of editing these teams and updating these names for display in Full-Time.
Once again, the teams cannot be deleted from within Full-Time.
It is important to note that when a new team is created in Full-Time via Whole Game System integration, the following will not be set:
Venue – This will be defaulted to be the same name as the team in Whole Game System.
Short Code – This will be blank
Logo – This will not be included.
SMS Contacts – This will be blank.
Team Administrators – This will be blank.
Teams – Merging “New” WGS Teams with “Old” Full-Time Teams
Note: Leagues using Full-Time integration for the second (or more) season will not need to merge their teams - any teams merged the previous season will be copied to the new season and will already show as being merged.
As leagues will not wish to have to amend the details of the venues, short codes, SMS contacts and Team Administrators for all of their teams, the functionality to Merge Teams via the link at the top of the screen has been provided, and leagues should use this option before creating any fixtures so that the updated venues will be used for fixtures.
This functionality provides leagues with the facility to merge a “new” team (created from Whole Game System) with the “old” team from Full-Time, so that the various team aspects are copied across to the new team.
Clicking on the Merge Teams (WGS) button will take you to a screen which will show all WGS Teams within the selected division, and allows the league to select the team to which the WGS Season team should be linked.
You can select as many teams to link as you wish, and once you have selected the teams required ,click on the “Link Selected Teams” button at the bottom of the screen.
This process can take a few minutes (particularly if you are linking a lot of teams at the same time) as it is connecting fixtures and results for previous seasons (linked to the old team) to the new team in Full-Time. Whilst it is running a message will display showing the merge is in a queue.
Once the teams are linked, then the default venue for the old (Full-Time) team will be set as the default venue for the new (Whole Game System) team, and the short code and any team logo will also be copied across. This prevents leagues having to update these individually.
If you have already created fixtures, the venues can still be amended using the Mass Update option within the Fixture Wizard. You may also go into the Venues option and merge venues from there if required, but we would recommend you use the Merge Teams option.
Teams – Override Name for Historical Seasons
When a WGS Team is first merged with a Full-Time Team, this may result in the team name for the previous season being displayed incorrectly in Full-Time (e.g. the U13 Sharks for the 2017-18 Whole Game System mastered season is merged with the U12 Sharks for the 2016-17 Full-Time mastered season). Most commonly this will occur for youth teams (as their name changes each season as they progress up the age groups).
Leagues can correct this on the public display by editing the team and selecting the option to "Override team name for a particular season". Once selected, the display name of the team for each season may be set, with the option to use the default name if required.
For leagues which are using Full-Time integration for the second (or more)season this step is not required, as the historical team name will be automatically populated when the new team is integrated across from Whole Game System.
Teams – Short Codes
Each season, a league will still need to review and update the short codes for teams. Note that Full-Time still checks that a short code is unique across the league, and this will include historical, archived teams, so leagues may need to access the Data Archive option to remove short codes from historical teams if they wish to use them for the new season. The Data Archive option for teams can be accessed by unlocking a historical season (i.e. a season from pre-integration) and going to Data Archive → Teams.
It is worth noting that as result submission from Match Day replaces the need for scores to be submitted by SMS text message, the need for short codes will be reduced, and the accuracy of scores being reported will be improved (leagues will know that scores via SMS are commonly misreported).
Team Administrators
From season 2018-19, significant changes were made to the way Team Administrators are managed within Full-Time. Firstly, the introduction of Matchday means that we need to have a consistent view of team coaches, managers and administrators in Whole Game System, Match Day and Full-Time (both to check DBS compliancy, and to ensure a Match Day Team Manager can send results to Full-Time). To find out more about the Matchday App visit https://www.thefa.com/get-involved/matchday
Secondly, due to the introduction of GDPR on May 25th we have to work towards an individual’s data being held in one place on one system. WGS should be the place where we assign people to roles as this is the place where we check that a Youth Team Manager is CRC compliant, so leagues cannot accidentally provide access to player data for people who may not be appropriate to do so. It also encourages clubs to make sure their data is accurate; a manager cannot be added to Full-Time by a league without the club having added them in WGS (so there is a genuine, virtuous circle). It also gives an individual greater accessibility of the data we hold for them and gives them the ability to manage their own data.
Leagues will still control who has access to Full-Time Admin – just because a team administrator has been created to use Matchday, does not mean the league has to provide them with a login to Full-Time Admin (though they can still submit match details from Matchday) and leagues can still determine whether to assign a team administrator to an SMS role, though as managers and coaches start to report results from Matchday, the need for SMS reporting will disappear.
Clubs assigning roles to Managers and Coaches
Within Whole Game System, by default, when a club allocates a role of Team Manager (including Assistant) or Team Coach (including Assistant) this will also create them a role of Team Administrator within Full-Time as well as setting them up to use Matchday. It is important to note that their email address (if used in Full-Time, either for automated emails or for logging in) and phone number (if used for SMS) will also be automatically created from their FAN record, so any updates need to be made to the FAN record.
If a team administrator role in Full-Time is required for an individual who is not the coach or manager (for example a club secretary who reports scores and results) then they will need to be given the role of Team Secretary within Whole Game System, which will create a Team Administrator role in Full-Time (but does not give them access to Matchday). This can be done in WGS via the Team Officials page once affiliation is complete, and the details will automatically integrate into Full-Time with the role of Team Administrator.
There is no limit to the number of Team Secretaries that can be added to a team.
If any details need to be updated, e.g. e-mail or mobile number, then the individual can update their own details via My Account, through FA.com
Leagues and Team Administrators
Once a league has been integrated, league officials within Full-Time are no longer able to edit Team Administrators information (phone number, email or role) within Full-Time. The roles will automatically integrate to Full-Time based on the information supplied by the clubs.
Every Team Administrator will integrate in Full-Time, however they will not automatically be given a Full-Time login or access as an SMS contact, which remains at the discretion of the league.
The sections below detail the various processes available to allow leagues to allocate logins and SMS contact roles to team administrators, and we would recommend that leagues do still assign these for the 2018-19 season, although as usage of Match Day becomes more widespread (and widely adopted by managers and coaches) the need for team administrators to login to Full-Time, or report scores by SMS text message will be reduced. However, it may be sensible for leagues to provide both options during the adoption period, to ensure the smooth administration of the league.
There is an option within Full-Time to filter to show those with a Full-Time login only if you do not wish to view all Team Administrators.
Previous Team Administrators
If an individual held a role of Team Administrator last season, and had a login to Full-Time, this role will have been closed (preventing them from logging into Full-Time), but they can be merged with their new record (see the section below on Merging People) which would allow them to retain their existing login.
If the individual is a new Team Administrator, you have the option to send a login invite as normal.
SMS Contacts
Should a league still wish to ask for results via SMS text message, the contacts will need to be added this season into Full-Time. Anyone listed as a Team Administrator (by the club through Club Portal) will appear in the drop down for the league to select. Again, the league is able to set two SMS contacts per team, and may remove them during the season if required as team managers and coaches start to submit scores via Match Day.
Primary Contacts (PC)
To give Teams greater flexibility managing their staff and volunteers new roles have been created, they are; Team Manager, Team Coach, Team Assistant Coach, Team Assistant Manager and Team Secretary.
Following on from this we now allow a League or Team Admin to select one (and only one) Team Administrator/Role as the Primary Contact for a team, whose contact details will be displayed within the automated emails (similar to the club secretary contact details included within County Cups).
How to update
You first need to be a League or Team Admin to update Primary Contacts.
Select People > Primary Contacts
All Teams and their Admins will be displayed. To update a Primary Contact select the relevant checkbox next to the Admin and hit Update.
Further Info
By default, the main contact is the first role created. If multiple roles are created at the same time, then the PC will default to the manager (if available) and then the coach (if manager is not available).
If a team administrator is removed, and are marked as the main contact, then the manager (if available) or coach (if manager is not available) should be marked as the new main contact.
All Team Administrators will continue to RECEIVE automated emails.
Merge People
The Merge People option within Full-Time has been significantly updated. For leagues which are now Whole Game System mastered leagues is important to note that two people who are “mastered” by Whole Game System cannot be merged within Full-Time, but merging of people records is still permitted where one or both of the individuals concerned are Full-Time mastered records. It is not essential to merge people in Full-Time, but the functionality is provided for leagues who wish to do so, and will be particularly valuable for team administrators (detailed above).
If two individuals are matched to FAN records, and need to be merged, this should be done within Whole Game System (leagues should contact their County FA, who can de-duplicate FAN records).
To make identification of these people easier, the Merge People page now has filters for roles, seasons, divisions and teams, as well as a Search by Name option.
Once the duplicates have been identified, they can be merged in the usual way, though the Club Portal record is set as the default record automatically, and the contact details for that individual cannot be amended within Full-Time.
Recently Registered
As new Players are added through Club Portal, a new option within Full-Time has been added, “Recently Registered”. This allows leagues to see details of newly added Players.
