OiO Network: An off-ice officials community of practice
OiO New Mexico style - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: OiO New Mexico style (/thread-9.html)


OiO New Mexico style - craigkendall - 07-04-2022

Having had the privilege of speaking with a few of you, it's obvious most of us followed the same blueprint for laying out our work. Some folks have fewer OiO's working each game, some have more. In some cases the scorekeeper is also the timekeeper. We have our penalty box folks track line changes and therefore they capture the plus/minus for goals. We added a position we call shots spotter and have them seated in the stands near the broadcast crew for maximum ice vision. One keeps an analog record of shots on goals, the other enters shots into HockeyTech in real time so our timekeeper can update the SOG for each team on the scoreboard.

I'm sure you are similar with subtle differences. I'm going to ramble a little about our likely nuances.

We have a OiO Director role and that person is responsible for recruiting, training, scheduling, evaluating the work, etc.. We also operate with an assistant director of sorts though it's not official. Our trained scorekeepers are sort of our sounding board. When we have some area of the work that requires feedback, this is our go-to group for input.

When we first started to organize, there were lots of reply-all emails going around among the crew and many attached spreadsheets. It was maddening, and, being a web developer/programmer, I decided (early on) enough was enough. So, I built our organization a custom web application that is used to coordinate our work. It has become fairly sophisticated, and is currently being modified to manage the work for multiple leagues (as in we are getting a NA3HL team and there are rumors of an ECHL expansion in the area soon).

While there is general info available to anyone interested in our work, each OiO has their own log in and administrators have access to a lot of admin functions. We track which OiO's are trained and ready for which positions in each OiO's individual profile. Once home games are added to the system, each OiO logs in and indicates their availability for scheduling. Then the OiO Director has some scheduling tools that allow him to see only the OiOs trained for each role available for each game being staffed. This is the core strength of the system. It makes scheduling much easier.

Another key feature is the automated reminder emails. Weekly during the season, every OiO who is scheduled to work that weekend will on Monday receive an email reminding them they are scheduled to work specific games that week and which role they are assigned. There is also a followup reminder automatically sent out on each game day.

Additionally, the system is built to give the Admins the ability to bulk email the group (or segments of the group) without using a personal email account (and therefore reducing the likelihood of reply-all's as each OiO gets an email to just them). This eliminated the flurry of emails that would happen on any communication.

You can see the public side (look in the footer for menu of public pages) of the site at: https://www.nmoio.org and for anyone interested I'm happy to give a tour of the back end via Google Meet.

How about you? What tools help you stay organized and in touch with your OiOs?

RE: OiO New Mexico style - jamessweet - 07-19-2022

(07-04-2022, 10:13 AM)craigkendall Wrote:  Having had the privilege of speaking with a few of you, it's obvious most of us followed the same blueprint for laying out our work. Some folks have fewer OiO's working each game, some have more. In some cases the scorekeeper is also the timekeeper. We have our penalty box folks track line changes and therefore they capture the plus/minus for goals. We added a position we call shots spotter and have them seated in the stands near the broadcast crew for maximum ice vision. One keeps an analog record of shots on goals, the other enters shots into HockeyTech in real time so our timekeeper can update the SOG for each team on the scoreboard.

I'm sure you are similar with subtle differences. I'm going to ramble a little about our likely nuances.

We have a OiO Director role and that person is responsible for recruiting, training, scheduling, evaluating the work, etc.. We also operate with an assistant director of sorts though it's not official. Our trained scorekeepers are sort of our sounding board. When we have some area of the work that requires feedback, this is our go-to group for input.

When we first started to organize, there were lots of reply-all emails going around among the crew and many attached spreadsheets. It was maddening, and, being a web developer/programmer, I decided (early on) enough was enough. So, I built our organization a custom web application that is used to coordinate our work. It has become fairly sophisticated, and is currently being modified to manage the work for multiple leagues (as in we are getting a NA3HL team and there are rumors of an ECHL expansion in the area soon).

While there is general info available to anyone interested in our work, each OiO has their own log in and administrators have access to a lot of admin functions. We track which OiO's are trained and ready for which positions in each OiO's individual profile. Once home games are added to the system, each OiO logs in and indicates their availability for scheduling. Then the OiO Director has some scheduling tools that allow him to see only the OiOs trained for each role available for each game being staffed. This is the core strength of the system. It makes scheduling much easier.

Another key feature is the automated reminder emails. Weekly during the season, every OiO who is scheduled to work that weekend will on Monday receive an email reminding them they are scheduled to work specific games that week and which role they are assigned. There is also a followup reminder automatically sent out on each game day.

Additionally, the system is built to give the Admins the ability to bulk email the group (or segments of the group) without using a personal email account (and therefore reducing the likelihood of reply-all's as each OiO gets an email to just them). This eliminated the flurry of emails that would happen on any communication.

You can see the public side (look in the footer for menu of public pages) of the site at: https://www.icewolvesofficials.com and for anyone interested I'm happy to give a tour of the back end via Google Meet.

How about you? What tools help you stay organized and in touch with your OiOs?


Craig,

This is a wonderful idea that you guys have implemented into you program.  I am excited and happy to read about it.  I have been in the NAHL OiO for a long time and am excited that this program of sorts is coming together.   Here in Minot, i have 5 off ice crew members that I am responsible for.  I also work at our hockey rink part time roughly around 20 hours a week during ice hockey season. 

As far as keeping in touch we have a group text chat that I have created with our group here. We text a week in advance to see who will be working the game.  It works out great. The Tauros Front office also does let me know of any changes or the big group of volunteers that work security in another group chat that I/we are a big part of. I do my best to keep my team in the loop of the OiO.

Wondering does everyone have a game day routine, or how early you guys show up to the rink to get things ready for game day?

Looking forward to the replies.

Thanks JR

RE: OiO New Mexico style - craigkendall - 07-20-2022

Hey JR! Thanks so much for your input.

Our crew has a staggered arrival at the rink. Our Scorekeeper is the crew chief for the night and arrives with the Timekeeper 1.5 hours before puck drop. This allows them to get everything put in place for the arrival of the remaining crew at 1 hour before puck drop.

We have routines posted on our website at https://www.nmoio.org/oio-jobs.php - We regularly review and update them as routines or requirements change.

How about anyone else?