SchoolsBuddy Seasons and Rollover: What to Do and When, From the Support Desk
From the SchoolsBuddy Support Desk - How to manage season transitions cleanly, what to archive, what to carry forward, and the timing mistakes that create the most disruption.
Season transitions are one of the most reliably busy periods for our team. Schools that have a clear rollover process sail through it; schools that do not tend to find themselves in early September with a mix of last year's activities still visible to parents, this year's activities not yet configured, and a support queue full of "why can my parent still see last term's football sign-up?" messages.
Here is how to run a clean season transition in SchoolsBuddy - what to do, in what order, and when.
Support desk insight: The most common season rollover mistake is doing everything in the wrong order - publishing new activities before archiving old ones, or archiving old ones before exporting the data you still need. Sequence matters. Follow a defined order and your rollover takes an afternoon. Get the sequence wrong and you can spend days untangling it.
Step 1: Export Data Before You Archive Anything
Before touching the previous season's activities, export the data you need to retain. Once an activity is archived, data is still stored in SchoolsBuddy but is less immediately accessible. Reports you might need from a closing season include:
- Participation records (who attended which activities and how often)
- Registration and payment records for any paid activities
- Consent form responses for off-site or residential activities
- Attendance records if these feed into pastoral or co-curricular reports
Export these before the season ends, not after. Waiting until you need a report and then realising the data is harder to access in a closed season adds unnecessary urgency to what should be a routine step.
Step 2: Close Registration on Outgoing Season Activities
Before archiving activities, close registration on all outgoing season activities. This removes them from the parent-facing portal so families cannot register for something that is no longer running, while keeping the activity data accessible in your admin view for the data export step.
A common mistake here is archiving activities directly without closing registration first. If an activity is archived while registration is still technically open, some parent views may behave unexpectedly depending on browser cache and portal refresh timing. Close registration, confirm the activity has disappeared from the parent portal, then archive.
Step 3: Copy and Configure New Season Activities
SchoolsBuddy allows you to copy activities from a previous season as a starting point for the new one. This is a significant time saver - but it comes with a risk: copied activities carry over settings from the previous season, including dates, capacity, and registration windows, which need to be updated before the new activity goes live.
When copying activities for a new season, treat every setting as requiring review rather than just updating the obvious date fields. The five settings most commonly missed when copying are the same ones flagged in the activity setup article: capacity, eligibility filters, payment configuration, registration window dates, and staff assignment. Work through all five for every copied activity.
Step 4: Test Before Opening Registration to Parents
Before opening any new season activity to parent registration, log in as a parent account and complete a test registration. Confirm the activity appears correctly, the registration form works, the payment process (if applicable) completes without error, and the confirmation email contains accurate information.
This test should take no more than 10 minutes per activity type. For schools with many activities, test one of each type - a free activity, a paid activity, and an activity with a consent form - rather than testing every single one individually. If those three types work correctly, the others are likely configured consistently.
Timing: When to Do Each Step
| Step | Recommended Timing |
|---|---|
| Export participation and payment data from outgoing season | Final week of the outgoing season |
| Close registration on outgoing activities | Last day of the outgoing season |
| Archive outgoing season activities | First day of the break between seasons |
| Copy and configure new season activities | During the break - minimum one week before new season opens |
| Test parent-facing registration flow | Two to three days before opening registration to families |
| Open registration to parents and send communication | As planned - with all of the above confirmed complete |
In Summary
- Follow the rollover sequence: export data, close registration, archive, copy and configure new activities, test, then open to parents.
- Export participation, payment, and consent data before archiving - not after.
- Treat every setting on a copied activity as requiring review - do not assume date changes are the only update needed.
- Begin rollover preparation at least one week before the new season opens to parents - not the day before.
The SchoolsBuddy Support Desk is available to walk through season rollover with you before your next transition. Reach out through your FariaSupport plan and we can schedule a guided session.