Help Topics / SOCS Sport: Getting Started
Getting Started

Getting Started

These instructions and guidelines contain important concepts and information that will help you to get started quickly. We recommend that you read these instructions before logging on to your SOCS Sport control panel for the first time. 

The Getting Started instructions cover the following:

1. Logging In
2. General Navigation
3. School Settings
4. Connecting with Other Schools and Teams
5. Competition Fixtures and Competition Microsites
6. Adding your Sports and Teams
7. Adding Fixtures and Results
8. Fixture Requests
9. Getting Help
10. Additional Information

If you need to access these instructions again then navigate to the Help & Support System > Help Topics > Using SOCS Sport> SOCS Sport - Getting Started, or search the help system for "getting started"

1. Logging In to your SOCS control panel

 

Login at this address here: https://www.socscms.com/login/ 

You can also login from any of our sport portals where you see the SOCS login button, or you can login from your sports website.

If you are logging in for the first time then we recommend changing your password.

More details can be found here >>>

  2. General Navigation

The main areas of the SOCS control panel are described here >>>

 3. School Settings

When you login for the very first time we suggest you navigate to the School Settings menu option. From there you can update your contacts, sports users and sports map.

Contacts:
Details for the main contact for sport at the school and for each individual sport can be viewed and updated from the Contacts web page.  More information about sports contacts can be found here >>>

Sports Users:
If you are the Main account holder in SOCS you can Add/Edit/Disabling user accounts more information can be found here: Editing User accounts here >>>

Sports Map:
Map markers can be positioned with pinpoint precision for all of your sporting venues and facilities on your school's sports map using the Sports Map Plotter. More information can be found here >>>

• Please note, to plot a fixture at a specific location you must have added all of the relevant map points before doing so.

 4.  Connecting with Other Schools and Teams

When you first login it is likely that you will see sports, teams, fixtures and results already listed in your SOCS Sport control panel and your dedicated sports website. This is because SOCS Sport connects to every other school in a unique way. If your opponent uses SOCS Sport then you both share your joint fixtures/matches, this means when you upload a sport and team and then create a fixture against a listed opponent your fixture is automatically transposed into the fixture listings of your opponent. This applies to the kick off time, venue and result, where your wins are your opponent’s losses and your home matches are their away matches. Please find link to Adding fixtures and results here >>>

  5.Competition Fixtures and Competition Microsites

You might also see Competition fixtures in your SOCS Sport control panel and your dedicated sports website - potentially going back many years if, for instance, your school has participated previously in the National Sevens, Daily Mail Cup & Vase, ESAA, ESSA, ESFA or ISFA competitions. It is important to note that Competition fixtures cannot be deleted although you can upload results, action photos and match reports in the usual way as well as team sheets if the school has Team Sheet Builder. If your school participates in any competition covered by SchoolsSports.com then you will also see links to the respective Competition Microsites appearing too.

If any of your teams take part in a competition, such as Area or County knockouts or leagues then let us know and we can setup a competition microsite for you and make it visible on your team's listings.

See more details about Competition Microsites and Competition Builder here >>>

  6. Adding your Sports and Teams

When you first start, or at the beginning of every new school year and season, you should create your sports and teams list.

To add a new team click the Sports & Teams menu link, and then add a new sport and the teams. You will find there are more than 100 sports to choose from. More details can be found here >>>

Please note, Important information about Deleting Teams can be found here >>>

   7. Adding Fixtures and Results

Once you have added your sports and teams for the current season, you can then add fixtures for each team. More details about adding fixtures and results can be found here >>>

Once fixtures have been added you can use the Fixture & Result Editor to make changes, insert a report, add action photos etc.

The Fixture & Result Editor is described in more detail here >>>

• Fixtures can be inserted into a team's Fixtures & Results listing at any time.
• Fixtures will always be inserted in KO Time and Match Date order.
• Results cannot be uploaded until the day of the fixture.
• The SOCS Sport CMS checks to see if a team and fixture already exists in yours and your opponent's listings and under most conditions will provide a warning that a duplicate fixture exists. You can override the warning and elect to add a duplicate fixture, if for instance your team is playing the same opponent several times on the same day as might be the case in a competition. Duplicates fixtures can sometimes occur due to date or venue changes or simply because they have been added accidentally twice or three times (!!!) in which case you should delete any duplicate fixtures you find.

Sports, teams, fixtures and results can be added from previous seasons. This adds additional interest to your dedicated sports website as your followers can quickly see a team's past playing record against your opponents with a single mouse click.

To save time, you can add block fixtures. This is a fixture where multiple teams play the same opponent school on the same date. Also see editing a block fixture >>>

Within SOCS Sport you can create a single or a block fixture. More information found here >>>

My school attends a lot of competitions can we add these to our fixture lists?
What's the difference between a fixture, an event or a competition when adding these to the calendar?

   8. Fixtures Requests

All fixture requests for any sport can be posted and viewed from the SOCS Sport control panel.

Fixtures requests also appear on the sport portals. e.g.:

Netball fixtures requests are also posted on SchoolsNetball.co.uk
Rugby fixture requests are also posted in SchoolsRugby.co.uk
Hockey fixture requests are also posted on SchoolsHockey.co.uk
Football fixture requests are also posted on SchoolsFootball.co.uk
Cricket fixture requests are also posted on SchoolsCricket.co.uk

   9. Getting Help

Help and reminders are available where you see the question mark button in any of the SOCS control panel webpages.

Alternatively, to find more detailed help, go to the main Help & Support system and Search or see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). The Help & Support system can be accessed using the Help button which is located on every page in the main header of your SOCS sport control panel.

If you can't find an answer then Submit a Question using the form here >>>

If the matter is urgent then contact us via email at support@miSOCS.com.

 10.  Additional Information

There are more than 100 sports available. If a sport is played at your school and is not listed then please let us know by sending an email to support@misocs.com.

Schools can link their dedicated sports website to their school's main website so that parents, players and supporters and followers will see what's on! Find out more about linking websites by downloading the pdf document here

You can add Sports News with up to 3 photo images per news item and elect to publish these on your sports website.

In the Notice Board Downloads section there are some standard downloads already available for your school notice boards or flyers to hand out to parents, supporters and opponents.

Upload to Download! You can upload documents to your sports website so that parents, supporters and followers can download them easily. Anything you upload via the Resources > Upload menu option in your SOCS sport control panel will appear in the Downloads section of your sports website.

If your school is attached to any sports clubs, you can add links to the club's website in the Club Links section. To add a Club Link, go to Resources > Club Links in your SOCS Sport control panel.

Useful links to sports related websites can also be uploaded and displayed in the Useful Links section of your sports website. To do this go to the Resources > Useful Links in your control panel menu.

If you need to order more add-on modules then contact sales@misocs.com.

For more information about how to use SOCS Sport please follow this link to SOCS sport: Best Practice >>>