April 19, 2013

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New feature: Game Reports

One of our most requested features is the ability for referees to file a report, report a score, or “confirm” they actually worked a game.

This feature is now live, and available for any site on a “Pro” plan or equivalent.

The initial implementation is pretty simple. Your referees will have a new top-level tab, called “Game Reports”. Once a game has occurred, the game will appear in this tab. The referee can click the “add a report” link, and the referee can:

  • report the score
  • indicate if there was game misconduct
  • write a narrative/description/incident report
  • indicate the referees that actually worked the game

This functionality is also available on the mobile version of assignr.com.

As an assignor, you also have a new top-level “Game Reports” tab, where you can see which games have a report or not.

For more information, check out our guide for referees, and our setup documentation.

Enjoy!

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April 16, 2013

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Text Messaging

If you’ve logged into assignr.com over the past week, you may have noticed the announcement  about some problems we’ve had with delivering text messages to some phones on the US Verizon network. Based on what I’ve seen, I don’t believe this is a temporary problem that will just go away.

With many Spring seasons ramping up, I realize it is important to have reliable messaging for your referees and umpires.

The Solution

assignr.com can now use a service called Twilio for sending text messages. Twilio is a very reliable company specializing in text messaging and other telephony-related services.

For existing customers on the Pro plan (or any other feature-equivalent plan), if you would like to switch, I am planning on providing this service at cost.

How Much Will This Really Cost?

It depends on how many referees are signed up for text messaging, how many games you have, and how many referees are assigned per game.

Your base cost is $1 per month to “rent” a phone number. In addition, each message sent incurs a per-message charge. In the US and Canada, each message costs 1 cent.

To get an estimate based on your organization’s usage:

  • click the Account link (top right corner of the screen)
  • click the Estimate Costs for Twilio link

Based on actual usage data from all assignr.com customers, the average cost for US and Canadian customers is $8-$10 for 1,000 games, with most organizations paying less than $20 for 1,000 games.

Get Started

To enable Twilio:

  • click the Account link (top right corner of the screen)
  • click the Enable Twilio link

You must have assignor privileges to enable this feature.

International Text Messages

If you are located outside of the US and Canada, we can now offer text messaging service in your area! Twilio has a wide coverage area across the globe.

To enable Twilio on your site, you would also “rent” a phone number for $1 per month. Per-message costs vary widely based on country and mobile carrier.

The estimator tool on our website will help you determine your costs. You’ll need to do some math to determine your costs, but here’s how to estimate it:

(Text Messages per 1000 games) x (Referees per Game) x (Twilio Per Message Rate)

Your “text messages per 1000 games” rate is shown on your Account screen

Thank You

I am sorry for any problems this may have caused you. If you have any questions, get in touch and I’d be happy to chat with you.

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October 29, 2012

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Service during Hurricane Sandy

Like many others in the Northeast, we’re sitting around waiting for the power to go out.

Just to let you know, we don’t anticipate any server interruptions… our servers are physically located in a data center in Seattle, Washington.

Unfortunately we are right in the path of Hurricane Sandy. If we lose power or there is a widespread Internet outage in upstate New York, we may be unable to respond to your questions.

Our hosting provider, Blue Box Group, provides us with around-the-clock server monitoring. Should assignr.com go offline, they will see it and will respond on our behalf.

If you can’t login, please use our password reset page. Just enter your e-mail address in the box, and it should send you a password reset link. Once you click the link…

  • In the box labeled “new password” type a new password for your account.
  • In the box labeled “Re-enter Password”, re-type the same password.
  • Click “Update my password and log me in”

If you are located in the Northeast, stay safe!

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August 5, 2012

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New feature: Self Assign

One of our most requested features is the ability to allow referees to “self-assign” themselves into a game. I am pleased to announce that this feature is ready, and I am looking for assignors willing to try it out. Our Self Assign feature works similarly to the Game Request feature rolled out earlier this year. [...]

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May 25, 2012

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New Features: API, Pay Scales and Game Requests

It’s been a busy Spring around here… here’s the scoop on what’s new with assignr.com: Our API One of our major design goals with assignr.com is to make it easy to get your data in and out of the system. Our API (programming interface) moves us one step closer to that goal. If you are [...]

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November 30, 2011

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Support for Multiple Accounts

Last week we pushed out the first stages of a complete solution for people who have multiple assignr.com accounts. If you have multiple assignr.com accounts, we’d love to have you give it a spin and let us know how it works. To link two or more assignr.com accounts together, follow the instructions here: http://assignr.com/help/account/multiple_accounts Once [...]

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November 4, 2011

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Major System Upgrade for assignr.com

We opened up our doors in October of 2009, and have gone through a couple of hardware transitions. This past May, we moved to Blue Box Group, a web hosting provider that specializes in Ruby on Rails web hosting. Over the last month, we’ve been working on a significant infrastructure upgrade for assignr.com. We’ve been [...]

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October 20, 2011

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Join the No Excuses Challenge and Win $250

With the weather starting to turn colder, it’s harder and harder to stay motivated to keep in shape. Shane Livensparger at OfficiallyFit.net has put together an awesome program to keep you going. There’s no catch… it’s free to join, you can get a free t-shirt, and the best testimonial will win a $250 cash prize. [...]

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October 6, 2011

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Recent Updates to assignr.com

Over the last month, we’ve made some big changes and a few smaller changes as well. Here’s a quick summary: You can now upload a profile picture. This picture will be visible to other referees, and your assignor will be able to see your smiling face when they assign you to a game. For assignors, [...]

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August 30, 2011

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Downtime from Last week

You may be aware that we had several outages this past week. If these outages impacted you, please accept my sincere apology for the problems that we caused you and your officials. On Thursday afternoon our primary server experienced a hardware failure at around 5:30pm Eastern time. It took approximately two hours to get back [...]

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