Divisions and disciplines

The federation’s structure decides which classes exist. Every federation class is built from a division, a discipline, a category, an age group and a class level, and the rules, rankings and licenses all attach to that structure. You set it up under Federation → Structure.

Structure is in the navigation for Administrators and Owners. Every create, edit, delete and reorder on these screens needs Administrator or higher on the server; a Viewer or Manager who opens a link can read the structure but not change it. See Federation staff roles.

The building blocks

Block What it is Examples (from the app’s hints) Belongs to
Division A group of disciplines Breaking, Disco, Standard & Latin The federation
Discipline A specific dance form Freestyle, Popping, Lindy Hop A division
Category A competitor size Single, duo, groups, formation A division
Age group Ages allowed to compete together Adult, Youth, Junior A division
Class level A level of the class ladder A, B, Champion, SuperStar A division
Competition level A tier of competitions, with options for ranking-based competitions   A division
Class One combination of discipline, category, class level and age group that competitors enter   A discipline
Dance A dance style danced in the discipline Waltz, Tango, Slow, Fast, Jam, Old School A discipline

Categories, age groups, class levels and competition levels are shared by every discipline in the division. A class picks one of each.

Each block has a State: Draft, Active or Retired. A new block starts as Active; choose Draft when you create it if it is not ready yet. The lists under Structure show the state as a tag next to each name, the class table shows it in its State column, and the division and discipline pages show it in their header. In the menu column, only blocks that are not active are tagged. The public federation pages only show active divisions and active disciplines. The age-up batch skips retired age groups when it looks for the next age group (see Age moves).

Finding your way

Federation → Structure opens the first division. The page has a menu column on the left and the selected section on the right.

  • The menu lists Judging (the federation’s own judging setups) and then every division. The open division shows its sections, and Disciplines lists its disciplines. An open discipline shows its own sections.
  • Filter divisions and sections narrows the menu.
  • The header shows the division’s name, image, state and description, and, when you have access to statistics, the division’s Active competitors and Active classes.
  • Open this division in Members opens the class roster limited to this division. See Members.

Each section has its own address, so you can bookmark or share it.

Division sections

/federation/<federation>/division/<division>?tab=<section>

Section in the menu tab What it holds
Disciplines list (default) The division’s disciplines
Age Groups agegroup Age groups
Categories category Categories
Class Levels classlevel Class levels
Competition Levels competitionlevel Competition levels
Judging judging The division’s judging setups. Only a system administrator can change them.
Ranking ranking The division’s rankings. See Federation admin rankings.
Progression progression How each class promotes. See Promotion points.
Rules rules The division’s own rule overrides

Age Groups, Categories, Class Levels and Competition Levels each have two tabs, set with sub: List (sub=list, the default) and Rules (sub=rules). The Rules tab is only there for Administrators, and only once the list has at least one entry. Changing the division section clears sub.

Discipline sections

/federation/<federation>/division/<division>/discipline/<discipline>?tab=<section>

Section in the menu tab What it holds
Classes list (default) The discipline’s classes
Dances dances The dances
Class Rules rules Round rules for the classes. See How class rules work.
Rules discipline-rules The discipline’s own rule overrides. Administrators only.

Divisions

Add a division

  1. Press Add division. It is on any division page, or in the empty page when the federation has no divisions yet.
  2. Fill in the Division details:
Field Required Notes
Name Yes  
Description No Shown under the name
State Yes Draft, Active or Retired. New divisions start as Active.
Image No Shown in the page header
  1. Press Save changes. The new division opens.

Edit or delete a division

Press Edit division, change the fields and press Save changes. Delete in the same dialog removes the division after you confirm.

A division can only be deleted when it is empty. See Troubleshooting for what blocks it.

Order

Reorder divisions (shown when there are two or more) opens a list you drag into order. The menu follows that order, and Federation → Structure opens the first division.

Disciplines

Open Disciplines in a division. Click a discipline’s name to open it.

  • Add discipline: press it under the list, or in the empty page.
  • Edit discipline: on the discipline’s own page, under the header.
  • Order: drag the disciplines in the list.
Field Required Notes
Name Yes  
Code Yes Used in class names and codes created with Add many
Description No  
State Yes Draft, Active or Retired. New ones start as Active.

Delete is in the edit dialog. A discipline that has classes, or that competition classes use, cannot be deleted.

Categories

A category describes how many dancers a competitor has and which roles they dance.

Open Categories in a division. Add category is under the list; Edit category is on each row. Drag rows to reorder.

Field Required Notes
Name Yes  
Code Yes Used in class names and codes created with Add many
Description No  
Image No  
State Yes Draft, Active or Retired. New ones start as Active.

The roster limits (minimum and maximum members, required dance roles) are set on the category’s Rules tab (Category rules). Registration and class memberships are checked against them. The maximum cannot be below the minimum, and a category cannot require more distinct roles than its maximum number of members.

A category that has classes cannot be deleted.

Age groups

An age group sets the ages that may compete together.

Open Age Groups in a division. Add age group is under the list; Edit age group is on each row. Drag rows to reorder. The age-up batch does not use this order: it finds the next age group from the minimum and maximum ages.

Field Required Notes
Name Yes  
Code Yes Used in class names and codes created with Add many
Minimum Age No  
Maximum Age No Leave empty for an open-topped group such as Adults 21+
Description No  
Use Birthday Yes Enable to use the participant’s birthday instead of the calendar year they were born
State Yes Draft, Active or Retired. New ones start as Active.

How the age of a couple or group is decided, and how to change it, is set on the age group’s Rules tab. See Age category rules.

An age group that has classes cannot be deleted.

Class levels and competition levels

Class Levels and Competition Levels work the same way: Add class level or Add competition level under the list, Edit class level or Edit competition level on each row, drag to reorder, and a Rules tab for each level’s overrides. Each has a Name, a Code and a State. New ones start as Active.

A competition level’s Code must be unique in the whole federation, not only in its division. Saving a code that another competition level already uses is refused with “Another competition level in this federation already uses this code. Choose a different code.”

Class levels are the steps a class ladder promotes through. Competition levels are tiers of competitions; a competition level’s rules can, for example, stop a tier from awarding promotion points (see Promotion points).

Classes

The discipline’s Classes section is a table of its classes: Name, Code, Category, Class Level, Age Group, Advance By, Licenses, Rules, Target Class and State.

  • Add class: create one class. Pick its Category, Class Level and Age Group, give it a Name and Code, and set Advance By, Target Class and State. A new class starts as Active.
  • Add many: a grid of categories against class levels. Click the age group codes to select the combinations you want and press Save changes. Each class is created active, named from the discipline, category, class level and age group, and coded from their codes.
  • Link Class Levels: select classes and confirm. Within each category and age group, the selected classes are put in class level order, and each one gets the next one as its Target Class.
  • Select classes and use the delete button to delete them.
  • Drag rows to reorder.

Promotion settings on a class (Advance By, Target Class and the threshold) are explained in Promotion points.

Rules

Rules are set in layers that follow the structure: federation, division, discipline, category, age group, class level, class. The most specific layer that sets a value wins.

Each layer has its own place in Structure:

Layer Where
Division Division → Rules (Division rules)
Discipline Discipline → Rules (Discipline rules)
Category Categories → Rules (Category rules)
Age group Age Groups → Rules (Age group rules)
Class level Class Levels → Rules (Class level rules)
Class The Rules button on the class row. With several classes selected, the rules are saved to all of them.

Only set a rule where it differs from the layer above; empty fields inherit. Check the merged result in Federation → Rulebook. The rules themselves are documented under Federation Rules.

Rankings

A ranking belongs to one division and counts results from the federation classes you add to it. Create and manage rankings in the division’s Ranking section. Each ranking there links to Open rule review and Open enforcement log. The full workflow is in Federation admin rankings.

When a competitor moves to another age group, a ranking carry percentage decides whether their ranking results follow; see Age moves.

Licenses

License items can be scoped to a Division and a Discipline when you create them. A class then lists the license items it accepts:

  1. Open the discipline’s Classes.
  2. Press License rules in the class’s Licenses column. The badge shows how many are set.
  3. Add the license items and choose whether each is required at registration, at progression, or both.

Only active license items that match the class’s division and discipline are offered. The full workflow is in Federation admin licenses.

Troubleshooting

Message Cause
This division has disciplines Delete or move the disciplines first.
This division has age groups / This division has categories / This division has class levels / This division has competition levels Delete those first.
This division has judging records The division has judging setups.
This division has rankings / This division has ranking leagues Delete the division’s rankings and leagues first.
This division has classes / Discipline has classes Delete the classes first.
This division is used by competition classes / Discipline is used by competition classes Competitions have classes in it. It cannot be deleted; set its State to Retired instead.
Category has classes / Age Group has classes Delete the classes that use it first.

Not in this version

  • A discipline, category, age group or class level cannot be moved to another division, and nothing in Structure can be copied.