Event Sanction System Updates

As you know, USMS has been updating its digital systems recently, and we are excited to launch our next major update: an improved online event sanction system in March. Before we started this project, we received feedback from event directors, volunteers, and swimmers on enhancements we could make. That feedback drove our direction, and we feel our new system will be a powerful and efficient new tool for all.

What's Changing for Sanctions Chairs

Watch our video overview of the approval process in addition to reviewing the details listed below for the event directors. Here are some specific changes for your role:

Email Aliases - no more email aliases that end up getting caught in spam filters because of new SPF and DMARC policies. We will use your My Account login email
Reminder Emails - we will send reminder emails to you if an event has not been reviewed
Approval Email - you no longer need to log in to ESTHER (the current approval portal). After a sanction/recognition has been submitted, all the data will be in an approval email that you either approve or mark as edits needed
Event Documents - all the event documents will be in this approval email, so you do not need to go searching for them in Dropbox
Meet Announcement - the event director cannot move forward with their sanction/recognition if they do not check a box saying they have their meet announcement and have talked with their LMSC

What's Changing for Event Directors

Please review these changes so you know what the event director is experiencing. Many of these changes are important for your role as well, especially event types and locations database. Here is a video overview of the event director's view of the system.

Design - it will offer a more modern and mobile-friendly layout
Login - a USMS My Account login is required, which provides a quick way to access event info
Dashboard - one place where upcoming and past events are visible, as well as the ability to add a new one
Types of Events - created more ways for events to show on the calendar
- Sanction/Recognition - this will stay the same
- Calendar Listing - this is for any event that is planning to be sanctioned or recognized but is hoping to get promoted now (even if all the documents aren't ready)
- Other - any event that is not applying for a sanction or recognition but is hoping to show on the calendar
Meet Announcement - required to be done before applying for a sanction, so the approval process will be smoother
Promotional Event Details - added new ways to help promote your event
Informational Event Details - added more fields to help the USMS staff promote, and members learn more about an event
Locations Database - for sanctioned/recognized/calendar listing pool events, the ability to select from pools that are only in our measured pool database, which is easily searchable and indicates if the times can count for the results database
Uploading Documents - all documents will be securely uploaded in the event sanction system, not separately in Survey Monkey
Quicker Turnaround Times - all of these enhancements and an easier approval process for our sanctions chairs mean events get reviewed faster

What's Next

The new system will launch in March
You can continue to approve sanctions in the ESTHER system until we launch. We will shut down sanctioning for a week before launch so we can transition all the event data to the new system. We will alert you as we get closer to this shutdown.

Thanks again for running an event with us, and we are excited to share this new system with you. Please let us know if you have any questions.