Zone4 offers a dedicated system to automate the validation of USSA registrations to ensure your race data is as clean as possible. Zone4 has a preset field called “USSA Racing Licence” which takes care of validating and matching the number against the USSA database.
Setup
You can start off by building your registration form using one of Zone4’s standard or shared templates detailed here: https://help.zone4.ca/kb/1-create-a-registration/ Once you are at the point of editing your form: https://help.zone4.ca/kb/2-edit-form/ you can click “Insert an Element Above This” where you want to insert the new USSA field.
Then click the blue “Add Preset Fields” button
Then in the list of Preset Fields, select the USSA Racing Licence field.
When configuring the field, you can rename it as you see fit such as USSA Number or USSA ID. You also have the option of making this field mandatory by selecting “Required for Online Registration”. If made mandatory, on the public side of the registration as shown below, the validation system checks each person registering and will only allow currently active members to register into your race.
As well as checking current membership status, the USSA Number field also ensures that the entered number is a valid USSA number. Invalid numbers are flagged and not allowed if the field is made mandatory:
The USSA Number field also checks the name to ensure it matches the name associated with that USSA number. If the names is not an exact match, a warning is displayed and only the correct licenced name can register with the associated licence. This ensures that you never get a mismatch between a name and number, and that the registrant hasn’t made the mistake of using someone else’s number.
The final feature that is really useful to speed up entry for first time users of Zone4 is that the USSA Number field will automatically fill out all of the other fields from the USSA system. So if you setup your registration form as follows with the USSA number at the top, all the coach or athlete has to do is enter the USSA number and the following fields below will be filled out automatically which ensures perfectly clean and validated data.
If coaches use the Zone4 Quicklist feature, more field types such as full DOB, address, phone, and other information can be stored and available for use on future registrations further speeding up team entries.
Notes
If the USSA Number field is not made mandatory, the automatic data-prefill and warning system will still operate and ensure licences are correct and names match. Racers who do not have a valid or active USSA Number though will still be able to register but their USSA Number will be erased to ensure only valid USSA numbers appear in your registration data.
FIS Licences are also validated by the USSA Number field which ensures your FIS Licence field is valid for FIS races if they have a USSA number – foreign racers without a USSA numbers cannot be validated by the USSA Number field.
Note that Zone4 also supports the USSA points system which allows points to be automatically assigned to registered racers and shown on Confirmation Lists which can greatly help communicate with coaches and athletes about the status of their registration and seeding.
If a registrant ignores the red warnings on the initial registration page, and tries to submit bad information anyway, they are then refused at the confirmation state as invalid USSA Ids are erased and making the USSA number field mandatory ensures every participant requires an active one in order to register.
