Manual: Features-UID

Overview

What is a UID?

Each individual participating with a Referee Chapter or RidgeStar Site is generally identifiable by his/her Common Name within the confines of the individual Chapter and/or Site. However, if the same individual uses different Sites, s/he may or may not use the same Common Name. This produces a complication when attempting from one site to identify activities associated with the same individual in another site. UID is the Acronym used to describe a distinct Universal IDentifier (a numeric value) that is reserved for a single individual and can be used across all sites to distinctly identify the individual (even where the individual's Common Name is not the same in all the sites).

Why use the Concept?

Basically, it's how one site can relate a User in their site to that same individual in another site without relying on the name being identical everywhere. This is most useful where the Sites are attempting to share information (such as a Referee's Assignments).

How is the concept implemented?

If Feature=UID is active, there will be a single page generally named Administrator: RidgeStar-UID that will permit Chapter Administrators to search for and establish new UID entries (as necessary). This UID is then stored in the User Profile for the individual (dusUID) and is subsequently used to coorelate the individual in the local site with the same individual in other sites.

Where's the UID table stored?

The UID table is hosted by www.RidgeStar.com and contains only basic information that permits the Site Administrators to identify the proper UID value for an individual. It is NOT a "Public" resource available at RidgeStar.com to the general Internet community. The UID table contains the UID value itself (a unique number), the Common Name for the individual, as well as an optional BirthDate and USSFNumber (these two are useful when resolving two individuals with the same First and Last name, to determine if they are the same individual or two different individuals).

The UID table also contains the "StateRefID" which contains the unique numeric identity of the User inside the local State Referee Committee's Registration database. This is required if the Chapter periodically checks and obtains the current USSF Registration data for the User to verify proper USSF Registration.

The UID table can be populated in two basic ways:

Add one user

Clicking on the Add symbol will cause Administrator: RidgeStar-UID to select the next available UID value and present you with a form where you can enter the Name (which must be unique within the UID table) and an optional BirthDate and USSFNumber. MAKE SURE you type the name carefully because, once entered, you cannot change it.

Add multiple UIDs from your Users table

Clicking on the Users symbol will cause Administrator: RidgeStar-UID to select the indicated Users from your local Users table that have a defined UID value and bulk store them (if not already defined) in the UID table.

Comments

The UID mechanism is a co-operative effort amongst all participating Chapters and Sites. We rely on the Administrators providing proper information and using the data to facilitate their cross site efforts.

The UID mechanism is a collection point only with all actual User based information remaining in the individual Sites. Further, to avoid any potential complications and confusion, once a UID is assigned to a Name (or a BirthDate or USSFNumber provided), that data cannot be updated via the Chapter Site. Should Update be required of an existing data elements, please contact webmaster@ridgestar.com for "UID Support".