RDS how to

Using the RDS (Rowing Data System)

This information can be found at https://secure.regattadata.com/wiki/index.php. If you have any questions, please email me at info@regattadata.com

Creating an account

(https://secure.regattadata.com/wiki/index.php/Creating_an_account)

To create an account, please go to https://secure.regattadata.com/rds/index.php?next_page=signup.php .

Please enter your first and last names, your email address, the user name that you wish to use, and the club you wish to be associated with. It is not necessary to indicate your sex and date of birth unless you are competing as an athlete. This information makes it easier to locate you in the RCA database.

If you have been involved in a regatta hosted by RDS, then you should check the box I think I might be in here already...

Click I accept. Create my account.

You should receive an email with your account password information. If you do not, please email info@regattadata.com

If you have difficulties creating an account, please email info@regattadata.com

If you wish to have coach privileges, please email info@regattadata.com so that I can verify your request. Coaches have access to athlete information, so I would like to be sure who I am giving this access to.

If your club is not listed, please email info@regattadata.com so that I can correct this. I will email you as soon as I have completed this.

Making entries

(https://secure.regattadata.com/wiki/index.php/Making_entries)

In general, this section is no longer needed as Rowing Canada Aviron requires all Canadian regattas to use RegattaCentral for entries.

In order to make and edit entries, you need to have Coach permissions.

To make entries for a regatta:

1. open the specific regatta item on the menu
2. choose Make/edit entries
3. Click on the radio buttons to add the number of entries that you want for each event, then press Save.

To edit your existing entries:

1. Go to Make/edit entries (as above).
2. In the Entries column, check the box for any entry you wish to delete.
3. Press Save. 

Adding athletes to your entries

(https://secure.regattadata.com/wiki/index.php/Adding_athletes)

Some RDS regattas require athlete information to be entered. Athletes can then be added into crews as entries are being made.

Add athletes to your club

The Add athletes page allows you to add athletes (first name, last name, date of birth, sex are the minimum fields that you should enter). If you know the athlete's Rowing Association number, please enter that too. Click on the checkbox in the Novice column if the athlete is a novice. Press Add. If the athlete you have entered is already in the system (because they have rowed at a previous regatta), the page will allow you to choose the existing entry in the system. Please choose the existing data record, as we may get confused if we have more than one record for a particular person.

Importing athletes from RCA

(https://secure.regattadata.com/wiki/index.php/Importing_athletes)

If you have a lot of athletes attending a particular regatta, this will be a good option for you.

The easiest way to do this is to import a file created by the RCA Web Registration System.

1. Find your system administrator for WRS and get them to log in (membership.rowingcanada.org)
2. Go to My Account
3. Under System Administrator - click on the administer link for the club
4. Go to Reports - Program Participants
5. Leave the report set to Administrator Report. Choose the program year, then the program whose participants you wish to export. Leave Select status as Active, and press Go.
6. There is a small Excel icon, which will allow you to export the content of the grid to Excel. Press this. A file called OrganizationCategoryMembers.xls should be downloaded to your computer. (If your computer insists on opening the file in Excel, either close it and look for the original downloaded file, or save the file as Comma Separated Values. The file must be comma separated values, not a full Excel file, in order to work.)
7. If you like, you can email this file to me, and I will import it for you.
8. Or you can import it yourself. Open the My Club: link in the left menu of RDS.
9. Choose Athletes.
10. Choose Import RCA Excel.
11. Click on the Choose file button. Navigate to the OrganizationCategoryMembers.xls file that you downloaded from RCA's WRS and select it. Leave the Import into this club box checked.
12. Click on the Process File button.
13. The RDS compares the athletes listed in the RCA file against those in the RDS. It uses name, date of birth and RCA number to match athletes. Please scroll through the list of athletes to see whether it is making appropriate suggestions for athletes it may already have. Select the appropriate radio button if RDS has guessed wrong. If you have more than 50 athletes in your export, it may attempt to process in batches.
14. If all of the imported athletes show up blank, this is because your Excel file is no longer comma separated values. Go back to step 7.
15. If there are changes that need to be made, press the Add and update into my club button.
16. You can check your list of athletes on the Edit athletes page. If there are athletes listed who are no longer at your club, you may remove them simply by selecting the checkbox in the Select column, then pressing the Remove selected athletes from club button.
17. If that seems like too much, return to step 7 above.

The import will add athletes who are not in the RDS, and update information for those already in the RDS. It will not, however, remove athletes who are already in your club. You can do this on the Edit athletes page.

Validating RCA athletes

This page will communicate with the RCA Web Registration System to check on the current registration status of each athlete.

An alternate approach is to go to the List Athletes page. This has a button for each athlete, which will attempt to query the RCA system and validate the athlete.

Editing athletes

(https://secure.regattadata.com/wiki/index.php/Editing_the_athlete_list)

The Edit athletes page allows you to edit a number of details about your athletes at once.

You can indicate which athletes are novice. Click on the checkbox in the Select column, click the button titled Set/remove selected athletes as novice, then confirm at the next dialog box.

If you have any athletes listed who are no longer at your club, click on the checkbox in the Select column them and then click the button labelled Remove selected athletes from club.

Adding athletes to an entry

(https://secure.regattadata.com/wiki/index.php/Adding_athletes_to_crews)

Most regattas require athlete names to be entered against entries, and the RDS allows regattas to test that crews are composed in accordance with the rules of racing.

The starting place for adding athletes is the List entries page. This shows all entries for the club at the regatta. Clicking on the edit athletes link takes you to another page, where you can enter the crew.

If you are using a touchscreen-based device, you can choose athletes from the Club list drop down near the bottom of the page. Click Add. If you wish, you can then indicate which seat each athlete has, then click Save.

If you are using a mouse-based device, you can drag athletes from the list on the right to the boxes on the left. You do not need to click Save. If you need to change an athlete, click the Delete checkbox by their name, click Save and then make the correction.

Composite crews

If the regatta allows composite crews, these can be handled by the non-drag-and-drop page. Look for the input box near the bottom of the page where you can search for the athlete in question. The search will return push buttons for each athlete who fits the search criteria; click the button for the relevant athlete. You can then assign that athlete to a seat.

If you are using the drag-and-drop page, there is a link at the top labelled try this page instead which will take you to the non-drag-and-drop page described in the previous paragraph.