Appointing referees across a series

The console is the same everywhere, but three things are defined per federation.

The referee slots on a match. Each federation has its own set of slots, and the column headings in the match table come from it. Profixio's built-in starting sets, which Profixio can replace per federation:

Other federations have their own set. Your federation administrator can ask Profixio support to change the federation's slot definitions.

Referee competences. The grades in the Competence filter are the federation's own; there is no shared scale between sports.

Whether nominations are used at all. A federation can skip nominations — referees are then set as accepted directly and never asked. A federation can also keep referees on a match when it is rescheduled, or treat a rescheduled match as needing a fresh answer. Both are federation policy configured outside this console; the console simply shows you the resulting status.

Referee pairs are mainly meaningful in sports where two referees work together as a fixed unit; handball is the usual example. Nothing prevents other sports from using them.

The console appears in the Profixio admin menu as Referee League Matches.

Four things must all be true before anyone sees it:

1. The federation has the module switched on. This is a per-federation switch; your federation administrator can ask Profixio support to switch it on. If it is off, nobody in that federation gets the page — not even a federation administrator.
2. The person is signed in with a confirmed email address.
3. The person is signed in under an organisation. A session with no organisation is refused.
4. The person holds at least one of: the Referee admin flag for that organisation, the User admin flag for that organisation, a federation or district administrator credential, or any referee credential granted to them in the Referees credentials screen (see Giving other people access).

Failing the first check produces a real 403 error page — the federation does not have the module. Failing any of the other three redirects the person quietly to My Profixio instead, which usually reaches support as "the menu item is missing" or "the link does nothing".

The console opens empty on purpose. Until you activate a match filter, the match table shows no rows at all. That is not a fault — see Finding the matches you want to work on.

Nothing appears in the match list until a match filter is active. The active competition or season you happen to have selected elsewhere in Profixio plays no part here — the filter is the only thing that decides which matches load.

Open it with the Match filter button above the table. The filter has five parts, and you only ever see data you are allowed to reach:

Each list has Select all items and Deselect all shortcuts, and your choices appear as removable chips so you can adjust before you commit.

Use additive selection changes how the parts combine. Left off, the parts narrow each other (a match must match every part you filled in). Switched on, matches are collected from each selection and added together.

Finish with Activate filter. The dialog closes and the matches load. Clear filter empties everything and leaves you with a blank table again.

Above the table you can additionally limit the loaded matches by a Start date and End date.

Saving a filter for next time

The choices you make inside the filter dialog are not remembered the next time you open it — but the filter that is active on the match list survives into your next session.

To keep a filter permanently, make your selections and press Save filters as, give it a Title and send it. The filter is saved and immediately activated.

• Activate a saved filter from the drop-down above the match list. Clear it again with the reset icon next to that drop-down.
• My filters lists everything you have saved, newest first, with three row actions: Activate filter, Show (reopens the whole filter so you can add or remove selections and save again), and Delete.

Saved filters are personal. They are stored per user and per organisation; you cannot see or use a colleague's filter, and they cannot see yours.

The referee panel is the source of every name you put on a match. Its columns are Name, Competence, District, Location, plus columns showing how many Referee groups and Referee partner pairings each person belongs to, and a calendar icon.

Ways to narrow it down:

• Competence — a quick filter for a single referee grade. Competences are defined per federation, so the list differs between sports.
• District — a quick filter by district.
• Free text in any column header. You can search in several columns at once, but only one search term per column.
• Referee groups — pick one of your saved groups from the drop-down and the list is reduced to exactly those people.

Struck-through names mean the referee is not available for the matches you currently have selected. The check runs against the referee's own calendar: either they already have an overlapping match, or they have entered an unavailable period. You can still appoint them, but you will be asked to confirm first. See Availability, clashes and busy referees.

Clicking the calendar icon on a referee row opens that referee's personal calendar, showing their assignments and the periods they have blocked out.

A federation can have hundreds or thousands of registered referees. A referee group is a saved shortlist that you can switch on to reduce the referee panel to just those people.

A group is only a filter. You cannot appoint a whole group to a match in one action — that is what referee pairs are for.

Open Referee addons (the ⋮ menu above the match table) and choose Referee groups.

Creating a group

1. Optionally pick a Competence first — that is the fastest way to get a sensible starting list.
2. Enter a Group name.
3. Tick the referees to include. Every column in the referee table can be filtered by free text, and you can filter several columns at once (one term per column).
4. Press Add to referee group. The group appears in the list at the bottom of the dialog.

Editing a group — press Edit on the group in the list. You can rename it, add referees (search by free text under the option picker) and remove referees (the X next to a name). Save before closing the dialog.

Deleting — each group has a delete action, one group at a time.

Removing someone from every group at once — search the referee out in the referee list inside the groups dialog, tick them, and use Remove referee from all referee groups. This only touches groups you created; other people's groups are untouched.

Groups are private. A group is saved against the user who made it. You only ever see your own groups.

In this console a group is always a list of named people. Where referees register themselves and pick the dates and classes they are willing to referee (see Referee registration for a tournament), referees can also be grouped by date or by class; the three kinds of grouping — dates, classes and named persons — combine as a union, and once a group is active only those referees appear in the referee search.

Referee pairs exist for sports where two referees normally work together, and usually the same two. Handball is the classic case.

Unlike groups, a pair is used when appointing: pick one half of the pair for a slot and the other half is placed in the next referee slot automatically, so you do not have to appoint them one at a time.

Open Referee addons (⋮) and choose Referee partner.

Creating a pair

1. Optionally filter by Competence.
2. Enter a Referee partner name. It is not mandatory — left blank, a name is generated from the two referees' surnames.
3. Tick exactly two referees. Fewer or more is refused.
4. Press Add to referee partner.

Editing — press Edit on a pair to rename it, or to swap a referee out (X next to the name) and another in. Always leave exactly two referees in the pair. A pair saved with one referee, or with three, cannot be used when you appoint with it.

Deleting — each pair has a delete action, one at a time. Deleting a pair does not touch referees already appointed to matches through it.

Removing someone from every pair at once — tick them in the referee list inside the pairs dialog and use Remove referee from all referee partner. Be aware this leaves those pairs with a single referee, which makes them unusable for appointing until you add a second person back.

Pairs are shared. Every pair created is visible to everyone in the federation and its districts. Pairs have no season of their own — they stay until somebody deletes them, so there is nothing to copy or re-create at the start of a new season.

In the pairs list, the Competence column shows the higher of the two referees' competences, and District shows the district of that higher-graded referee.

Using a pair — in the referee panel, the pair icon on a referee's row lets you choose which of that person's pairings should be active. Then appoint that referee to a slot as usual; the partner is filled into the following slot. If someone was already in that slot, they are replaced.

There are three ways to appoint a referee, and they all write the same thing.

Drag and drop — click and hold a name in the referee list, drag it onto the match row and drop it in the cell for the slot you want. Works on empty cells and on cells that already hold someone.

Search directly in the cell — click a cell and a search box opens. Type all or part of a name and pick from the results, which show the referee's competence and location alongside the name. Works on empty and already-filled cells.

Select a referee, tick the slots, press the button — best when you are filling many slots with the same person. Activate the referee with the radio button in the referee list, tick the cells you want to fill, and press Set referees.

Whichever way you use, the appointment is a draft. The cell turns white, not green, and the referee sees nothing. It becomes visible to the referee only when you publish it — see Publishing an appointment.

Replacing someone is the same action: appointing a new referee to a filled slot removes the previous one from that slot.

Removing referees — tick the cells (or tick whole match rows) and press Delete referees. Beware when selecting whole rows: if you have hidden any referee columns, the referees in those hidden slots are removed too.

Swapping two referees between slots — select two appointments on the same match in different slots and use Switch referee. This exchanges their slots without removing either of them.

Publish referees is the button that makes drafts real. It stays greyed out until you have ticked at least one appointment cell or at least one match row.

Every option comes in two shapes, and the difference matters:

• "… in selected matches" acts on the individual appointment cells you ticked.
• "… all referees in all selected matches" acts on every appointment in the match rows you ticked — including appointments that currently have a different status, which will be overwritten.

Nomination deadlines

After choosing a nominate option you are offered a date under Enter date if you want to limit nomination:. It is optional. If you set one:

• the date applies to every appointment you are nominating in that action, not one by one;
• a clock icon appears on the appointment cell, and hovering it shows the deadline;
• the referee sees the deadline on their match card;
• once the deadline has passed the referee can no longer answer. The nomination stops counting as pending.

Taking something off Buy & Sell

Tick the appointment and press Delete referees. The slot goes back to empty (white).

When you nominate someone, the appointment appears in that referee's own pages and calendar and they get a notification. From there they can:

• Accept this match — the appointment turns green.
• Deny Match — the appointment turns red.
• Put on buy/sell list — after accepting, a referee can hand the appointment back. It turns yellow and becomes available for other referees to apply for. The referee can take it back off the list again with Remove from buy/sell list, which returns it to accepted.

Watch the grid rather than your inbox: declining does not currently send anybody a message, so a decline is only noticed when an appointer looks at the match list.

Three limits are worth knowing when a referee reports that they "cannot answer":

• If you set a nomination deadline and it has passed, the referee can no longer accept or decline.
• The referee must be registered as a referee for that federation.
• Whether handing an appointment back is allowed at all is a per-competition setting — see Competition settings: Buy & Sell, Rebid and anonymity.

As soon as you select at least one match or appointment, the console checks whether each referee in the list can actually take it. Two different things are checked:

• Clashing matches — the referee already has an appointment on another match whose time overlaps. Matches are treated as running for their scheduled slot length (90 minutes if no length is set).
• Blocked periods — the referee has entered a period in their own calendar when they are unavailable. Referees do this themselves from their personal referee calendar; administrators can also enter blocked periods for a referee.

Unavailable referees are shown with their name struck through in the referee list. You can still appoint them — you simply get a confirmation question first, which names the reason. An appointment that ends up in a clash is flagged in the grid with a warning triangle; hover it for the reason and the clashing match.

If the clashing match belongs to a competition marked Anonymous referee that you are not entitled to see into, the clash is still reported but the other match is not named — you are told the referee is busy, not who with. See Anonymous competitions.

You are also asked to confirm before changing the referee on a match that has already been played.

Buy & Sell is the mechanism for offering an appointment to the referee pool instead of appointing a specific person.

Getting a slot onto the list. Either an appointer publishes it there (Publish selected referees for Buy/Sell), or a referee who had accepted the appointment hands it back with Put on buy/sell list. A slot can be put out with no referee ever having been assigned to it. The cell turns yellow.

How referees see it. Every eligible referee in that federation sees the open slots for a match in the Buy and Sell list and can press Apply for … the relevant role. It is an open pool, not an offer aimed at one person. A referee can withdraw an application again.

Auto-accept. Some competition levels are configured so that a referee who applies is appointed immediately, without an appointer choosing between applicants. Referees see an Autoaksept Mode badge on the Buy and Sell list when this applies. The appointment goes straight to accepted and the referee is emailed.

Handing the slot to an applicant. Open Rebid | Buy & Sell above the match table. It lists every open slot in the organisation, with filters for season, date, role, competition, venue and district, and a badge showing how many referees have applied. Expand a row to see the applicants — name, competence, date of birth, email, mobile, and a calendar icon that opens that referee's calendar. Press Assign on the one you want.

Assigning does three things at once: the referee is put in the slot, the appointment is published to them (they get the assignment email), and all other applications for that slot are discarded.

Whether Buy & Sell is available at all is set per competition — see the next section.

Open Referee addons (⋮) and choose Competition settings to configure the competitions in your organisation. You need the Referee admin flag, or the Referee admin permission, to see this entry.

The list is one row per competition, showing Name and District, and it can be filtered by season and district. Two settings can be changed, individually per row or on many rows at once with Multi-editing (tick the rows, choose the values, Save changes).

These same two properties appear as filters above the match table (Type, Anonymous referee), together with a Top level filter, so you can quickly isolate the matches they apply to.

A competition can be marked so that the identity of its referees is hidden. This is used where the federation does not want referee appointments in a particular league visible to other appointers.

When a competition is anonymous:

• Its referee cells read Anonymous instead of a name, in the grid and in the Excel export alike. An empty cell still reads as empty, so you can tell that someone is appointed without seeing who.
• Nobody who is masked can appoint, move or withdraw referees there. Attempting it is refused with "You are not allowed to assign referees in anonymous series".
• Clashes caused by an anonymous appointment are still reported when you appoint elsewhere, but the clashing match is not named.

Two things see through it, and only these two:

1. Being referee admin of the organisation that owns the competition. Referee admin of a different federation does not help, even in a shared list.
2. Holding an individual grant for that specific competition, given in the Referees credentials screen.

The setting is per competition, and it is changed in Competition settings (⋮ → Competition settings, column Anonymous referee). A person granting access to others cannot grant access to a competition they are not themselves entitled to see; the attempt is refused with "You are not allowed to grant access to anonymous series".

Open Referee addons (⋮) and choose Referees credentials. You need the Referee admin flag or the Referee admin permission to see it.

Step 1 — find the person. Type their complete email address. There is deliberately no free-text search on people: an exact match is required, because handing out permissions has to be checked against the whole user database and free-text searching it would expose personal data. Only active accounts are found. If the address is not in Profixio you are offered Create new user — enter Full name and Email — and the account is created there and then.

Step 2 — choose the permission and its level. Five permissions exist:

Each is given at one of two levels: Federation or District.

• Signed in for the federation, Federation is available by default; to pick District you must first choose a district from the drop-down.
• Signed in for a district, District is the only level available — you cannot grant federation-wide access, and you can only see and change permissions within your own district.

Step 3 — save with Save user. The saved permissions are listed under the person's name.

Per-competition grants. Tick the option that opens the competition list, search out the competitions you want (several at a time is fine), choose whether the grant covers All matches in the competition or only District matches — that is, only the matches played at the granting district's venues — and save. This is the mechanism that lets a district appointer reach a competition owned by somebody else, and it is what unlocks an anonymous competition for one named person.

Removing. Delete a single permission with the bin icon on its row, or clear everything with Remove all referee rights from user. Neither needs a separate save — removals take effect immediately.

Who may hand out permissions at all. Only administrators. Federation-level administrators can grant for the federation and every district; district-level administrators only for their own district. There is also a Referee admin flag set directly on a person's federation membership; it grants the same reach inside this console as the Referee admin permission, but a person who only has that flag cannot get into the rest of Profixio's administration.

Publishing and unpublishing appointments generates notifications automatically. They are queued and sent a few minutes later, batched so one person does not receive a burst of separate messages, and delivered by email and app push.

Automatic messages go out when:

• a referee is nominated on a match;
• a referee is accepted on a match;
• a referee is removed from a match they had been nominated for or had accepted.

A referee declining does not send a message to anybody. The appointment turns red in the grid and that is the only signal, so appointers have to watch the match list rather than wait to be told.

Purely internal changes do not notify anybody either: a draft appointment that has never been published produces no message.

Changes to the match itself — time, venue or teams — notify the appointed referees as well as the team contacts. Whether that happens, and whether the referees keep or lose their appointment when a match moves, is decided by the federation's own settings and by the system that made the change, not by this console.

Work down the list and stop at the first item that matches.

The whole page or menu entry is missing

• Is the module switched on for that federation? It is a per-federation setting; your federation administrator can ask Profixio support to switch it on. If it is off, nobody in the federation gets the page.
• Is the person signed in under an organisation? A session with no organisation is refused.
• Do they hold any qualifying permission — Referee admin, User admin, a federation or district administrator credential, or a permission granted in Referees credentials? Without one, they are quietly redirected to their start page.

The page opens but the match table is empty

• Is a match filter active? This is by far the most common cause. With no filter the table is deliberately empty. Open Match filter, make selections, press Activate filter.
• Is the right season selected in the filter?
• Are the Start date / End date boxes above the table narrowing the result more than intended?
• Does the filter cover competitions the person is actually entitled to? A district appointer only sees their own district's competitions plus any competition they hold an individual grant for.

Matches show but a particular competition is missing

• Is it a top-level competition? Those normally need an explicit per-competition grant rather than a district-level permission.
• Is it owned by another district or by the federation? Then the person needs a per-competition grant for it.

Referees show as "Anonymous"

• The competition is marked Anonymous referee. Only a referee admin of the owning federation, or somebody holding an individual grant for exactly that competition, sees the names. Fix it either by granting that person the competition in Referees credentials, or by turning anonymity off in Competition settings.

A referee says they cannot see the appointment

• Has it been published? A white cell means the appointment exists only in the console. Use Publish referees → nominate or accept.
• Is the referee registered as a referee for that federation?

A referee cannot answer a nomination

• Check the clock icon on the cell. If the answer deadline has passed, the referee can no longer accept or decline. Re-nominate without a deadline, or with a new one.

A referee's name is struck through and I cannot tell why

• They clash with another match at that time, or they have blocked the period out in their own calendar. Open their calendar with the calendar icon on their row. You can still appoint them by confirming the warning.