Last Updated: Wednesday, 30-Aug-2023 18:28:47 EDT
What has Changed
As of the Spring of 2018 Special Olympics Canada has replaced the old ActiveSOC database with a new database and the Special Olympics Membership Portal. This has brought about many changes in the way we do things.
Changes are still happening, this page is an attempt to supply a overview to these changes.
The SOC Database
Special Olympics Canada has replaced the old ( ActiveSOC ) database with a new database, data was transferred from the old to the new database, and the concept of Sessions was added.
One result was that contact ID's were changed.
Special Olympics Membership Portal
This portal is designed to
- allow new volunteers and athletes to register with SOO through the portal,
- allow all registered athletes and volunteers to maintain their own profiles directly, and to apply to enroll in programs through an online interface,
- allow club Head Coaches' and Managers to manage their club on the portal.
As of June 2019 the portal is the only available path to create a new registration or enrollment
It is SOO's intention that the athlete's profile be kept up to date on the portal, removing the need for the paper forms we have been requireing for the athletes each year. For this to work we have to know that the profile information IS being kept up to date. At this time this is not certain.
Sessions
Sessions were introduced. This was new. In the past when an individual was enrolled in a club they stayed a member of that club until removed. Once Sessions were to be fully implemented new enrollments need to be submitted for each season.
On August 31, 2019 all current enrollments expired, going forward a new session is REQUIRED for each new season.
As of September 2021 SOO is requiring that all sessions start on September 1, and end on August 31 of the following year. This will require all members to become enrolled in the new session.
Waivers and Media Release
We all signed waivers, and were asked for a media release when we initially registered with SOO. As of September 2021 SOO wants all members to sign off on the waivers and Media release each year. If a member submits their own enrollment request this happens automatically. SOO does accept paper waivers but hopes to keep them to a minimum.
Many of our athletes are capable of signing their own waivers. For those who cannot it gets more complicated. If a Family Admin is in place for an athlete the parent can sign off on these for the athlete. While a Group Home Admins may submit enrollments for their clients, they can not sign the waivers for the athlete.
The situation for an athlete who s unable to understand in order to sign for themselves, or for whom a parent or guardian is unavailable the situation has not been resolved.
COVID-19 and RTP
In the middle of all these changes and adjustments all sports were shutdown in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In preparation for when clubs could open up SOO added a complicated Attendance tracker to the portal in aid of contact tracing. This was used to list ALL attendees, members and otherwise.
As things opened up summer of 2021 a Return to Program (RTP) proceedure was put in place for clubs meeting in person.
As of May 1, 2022 the RTP requirement ended.
Portal Upgrade, August 2023
There was a major upgrade of the portal on August 17, 2023. After a few initial glitches the improvements were obvious.
- Performance was very much improved
- Processes were streamlined
- The anual renewal of Participation Waiver, Privacy Policy, and Code of Conduct was replaced sith a single Terms & Conditions which only had to be signed once. Basically what we had before 2018.
- The media release will be reviewed once a year.