Setting up is a copy, a paste and a deploy
What a school actually has to do to get an EasyPE tool running, and how little of it is typing.
1. Four things you do, once
Setting up an EasyPE tool is a copy, a paste and a deploy. It takes an afternoon, and most of that is the student list you already have.
- 1Make a copy of the tool's Google Sheet in your school Google account.
- 2Fill in the yellow cells on the Settings tab: school name, a staff password, your age groups, teams and sports. Leave anything you do not use blank.
- 3Paste your student list into the yellow columns on the Students tab.
- 4Deploy it as a web app (Extensions, Apps Script, Deploy) and open the link. The first time it opens it finishes setting itself up: it builds the remaining tabs, remembers its own link for the parent emails, and switches on the automatic reminders.
2. Yellow means type here. Grey fills itself.
The sheet uses one convention throughout. A soft-yellow cell is one a person fills in. A grey cell is one the tool writes and keeps right.
| Field | Who fills it | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | You type here | typed once, from your MIS export |
| Nickname | You type here | what staff and students see |
| Date of birth | You type here | the tool works out age group |
| Class | You type here | used for squads and registers |
| Gender | You type here | used for team splits |
| Parent emails | You type here | where invitations are sent |
| Student email | You type here | optional |
| Age group | The tool writes it | worked out from date of birth |
| Student ID | The tool writes it | permanent, never reused |
| Private parent link | The tool writes it | one per family |
| Fixture IDs | The tool writes it | generated per fixture |
| Titles and statuses | The tool writes it | kept in step for you |
If a cell is not yellow, you are not meant to touch it, and the tool will keep it right for you.
3. The data you paste is data you already have
One row per student. Your MIS exports a spreadsheet, and this is a spreadsheet, so it is a copy and a paste. No CSV template to match, no import wizard, no field mapping, nobody to email about a failed upload.
Add a new student at the bottom, delete the row when one leaves. The one rule: never type a different child over an existing row, because the ID and the parent link belong to that row.
EasyAthletics needs even less
Name, year, class and gender. School email and MIS ID are optional.
4. What the tool does for you
5. Every school is different, so it is all a setting
Nothing is hard-coded to one school. These are all settings on the Settings tab:
- Age groups
- Team names and colours
- The sports you run
- Who letters come from
- Venues and their codes
- Drop-off points (off by default, for schools that have none)
- Grade boundaries
- Which calendar to write to
- The staff password
- Whether email is in TEST mode going to one address or LIVE going to parents
A change on the Settings tab reaches the rest of the tool on its own.
6. Why a Google Sheet
- Your staff already know it.
- Your data never leaves your Workspace.
- IT approves one file instead of a new platform.
- Anyone who can use a spreadsheet can run the tool.
7. Ask before you commit
Not sure it will fit your school? Ask before you commit.
Email contact@easype.storeEvery EasyPE tool requires a licence. Set-up is an afternoon’s work, and the tool keeps its own data right once it is running.