With the release of the Bulk Schedule importer for Organizations it is now possible to export a schedule from many league management solutions and import that schedule into GameChanger from the GC Staff Portal. Below we will go through the steps to export a schedule from Sports Connect and import it into your Organization that you created in GameChanger.

If you're using the bulk schedule import tool for Sports Connect teams, make sure teams do not individually post their schedules in Sports Connect. Doing both will create duplicate events in GameChanger.

1. Export Schedule to CSV in Sports Connect

Access the schedule that was created in Sports Connect. There is a dropdown in the Sports Connect web application that will allow you to export that schedule to a CSV. This will be used as a starting point for importing into GameChanger using the Bulk Schedule importer.

Once the CSV is exported, you may open the CSV in any spreadsheet editor. For the purposes of this article we have imported a sample CSV into Google Sheets (a free solution). 

While most spreadsheet editors allow for formulas, the commands are not always written identically between them.  The examples provided below will work in Google Sheets but you may need to adjust the formulas based on your chosen editor. 

1. Select the CSV from your computer after exporting it from Sports Connect and then import it into your spreadsheet editor:
   
   
2. These are the columns that we will be most concerned with when importing this data into GameChanger:

2. Change the Data to Match the GameChanger CSV Format

Now that you have the CSV imported into your editor, there is a little more work to get it ready for the Organization Bulk Schedule Importer.

1. Combine the Location / Field columns into one combined "location" column
2. Compute "duration" in minutes from the Start Time and End Time
3. Convert the Start Time to be in format HH:MM PM
4. Remove columns that are no longer needed (rename and reorder the rest)

Combine the Location / Field columns into one combined "location" column

To combine Location and Field into one merged column (so you don't lose the Field number/letter) create a new column, label it "Merged Location." 
 

You can use a simple formula in Google Sheets (and in many other editors) to join the Location and Field columns into a new combined text value:

• = cell1 & " - " & cell2   (example shown below)

Apply the formula to the rest of the cells in the new column by dragging the "blue square" in the lower right corner down to the rest of the rows in the column:

Compute "duration" in minutes from the Start Time and End Time 

To import your schedule CSV, you will need combine your Start Time and End Time into a Duration column formatted in total minutes as a single integer without decimal points (i.e. 90 minutes instead of 90.00 minutes). 

The formula to combine these cells in the desired format is a little more complicated but is still entirely achievable. 

1. Enter the formula as = (cell1 - cell2)*60*24 
   (see values for cell1 and cell2 in above screenshot, match to your particular CSV)
    
2. With the entire column selected go to the menu and select Format > Number > Custom Number Format (at the bottom) and choose the integer value ("0") and hit the Apply button:
   
    
3. Apply the formula to the rest of the cells in the new Duration column by dragging the "blue square" in the lower right corner down to the rest of the rows in the column.

Convert the Start Time to be in format HH:MM PM

Start Time is the only field that will be needed along with Duration, but the expected format will be in AM/PM without seconds rather than in military time (i.e.  6:00 PM instead of 18:00)

In Google Sheets:

1. Select the Start Time column
2. Select Format > Number > Custom Date & Time in Google Sheets
3. Scroll down and select 1:25 PM as the example time format

Remove columns that are no longer needed (rename and reorder the rest)

You can now remove the columns selected below in blue as they will no longer be needed:

Lastly simply reorder the columns to the following sequence and change the labels to be all lowercase:

• date / time / home / away / location / duration

^^^ This is the final format needed and is ready to be imported! ^^^

3. Save Your File Changes for Import

Now you have all of the data you will need formatted properly to import your Sports Connect schedule into a GameChanger Organization.

TBD opponents are not yet supported

Lastly, if you do not have an opponent for a particular game and want to have a placeholder, you have a few options:

1. Simply create a team in the organization called "TBD" and schedule against it. When the head-to-head matchup is created it will schedule the game against that team, but you can always edit the opponent later with the finalize opponent when you are ready
   
   Learn more here: Scheduling Placeholder ("TBD") Games in GC Leagues & Tournaments
    
2. Remove the TBD games from the CSV and add those games one-by-one later when both opponents are determined.

Save your new .CSV

Last step is to save off all of the work you just did as a new CSV.  Select File > Download > CSV to save your new edited Sports Connect CSV to a new file:

This will be used as your starting point for the GameChanger CSV.

4. Create Your Organization and then Invite or Create Teams

As described in the article Creating an Organization and Inviting Teams it is fairly straightforward to create a new Organization and Add Teams from within the GameChanger app(s). 

All teams will need to have joined the Organization in order for you to schedule head-to-head matchups with those teams.

You have two options as the Organization Administrator to get teams into the Organization:

1. Create NEW teams yourself, add them to the Organization instantly, invite the Coaches to take control of those teams you created.
2. Find the EXISTING teams in Team Search, invite those Teams/Coaches, ensure the Coaches accept your invite.

Once the Teams have all accepted their invites and joined into the Organization, it will look something like this:

5. Import CSV into Organization Bulk Schedule Importer

Now that your Organization exists and has teams joined to it, go to http://web.gc.com to access your Organization and the Bulk Schedule importer.

For example, from the "AnyTown Little League 12U" organization above, I would access the Bulk Schedule Importer from the "Add Games" dropdown menu:

Click the Import Teams' Schedule from Spreadsheet item above and then follow the instructions in this Bulk Schedule Importer blog post to get those hard-earned head-to-head events scheduled for all teams in your Organization.

Good luck with your season!