TIMS is DEAD! & Registration for 2017 opens May 19th

[Conor Ryan]

Looks like TIMS will go the way of the Floppy.

http://www.firstinspires.org/team-registration-site

We are excited to announce the release of the NEW Team Registration portion of our website, which will replace the existing Team Information Management Systems (TIMS)*. With this change, the need for four separate program Team registration systems goes away – the new team registration is now an extension of firstinspires.org website.

The process will reduce time on administrative activities, resulting in more time for Coaches and Mentors to work with their teams. Features include:
Simple, easy-to-use “wizard” approach to all program registrations;
Reduced data requirements and streamlined entry choices;
Simple dashboard launch point for all registration-related processes that shows the overall status of the user’s teams across all four FIRST programs (e.g. If a Coach has a FIRST LEGO League Team and a FIRST Tech Challenge Team, he/she can check the status of each team from one location);
Register, pay for, and manage teams using a common workflow for all four FIRST programs;
Payment and grant processing functionality shows grants awarded and allows user to pay for multiple teams at once; and
Optimized experience for both desktop and smartphone browsers.
The new site will be launched with our FIRST LEGO League season opening on May 10th and then will be available for the opening of the other programs seasons:

FIRST Tech Challenge on May 18th,
FIRST Robotics Competition on May 19th,
FIRST LEGO League Jr. on August 1st.

All existing user accounts will remain the same, and all existing teams will be rolled forward to the new season as we normally do at this time of year and will be accessible from the new site. View example pages from the new site here.

Other FIRST sites are not changing at this time – but stay tuned as we continue our journey to improve the FIRST digital experience!

I hope this change goes smoothly and this addresses some long term systemic issues the community has raised. I hope they beta tested it.

[TehSwegGey]

As long as they don't accidentally loose team #s

(Especially for FLL as well, since I knew some teams that got really lucky with their # when they went to static ones and they would be bummed if they lost their #...)

[JesseK]

A few things that are useful to existing teams:
"Manage my existing team"
"Register for an event"

Hopefully this is just a 'new team'-based dashboard, and not all of them?

[coalhot]

*redacts all comments he has about this change*

[markmcgary]

Originally Posted by JesseK

A few things that are useful to existing teams:
"Manage my existing team"
"Register for an event"

Hopefully this is just a 'new team'-based dashboard, and not all of them?

When FIRST introduced their new website, I went ahead and created a new 'account', not thinking to try my TIMS credentials. I just now succeeded logging in using both my new account AND my TIMS account. When I login with my TIMS credentials, the dashboard looks different then the 'new team'-based dashboard but there is no sign of 'Manage my existing team' or 'Register for an event'. That's likely because I am not a primary or secondary contact.

[JesseK]

Originally Posted by markmcgary

When FIRST introduced their new website, I went ahead and created a new 'account', not thinking to try my TIMS credentials. I just now succeeded logging in using both my new account AND my TIMS account. When I login with my TIMS credentials, the dashboard looks different then the 'new team'-based dashboard but there is no sign of 'Manage my existing team' or 'Register for an event'. That's likely because I am not a primary or secondary contact.

Good call - I just tried my TIMS login info using the "Login" button in the upper-right. I don't remember it working before, but it worked this time. Here is the dashboard I have. Not sure what I did, but at the moment I'm getting a "400 - Bad Request" after trying the back button too many times while diving in to some of the links.

[Billfred]

I just hope it works.

[MooreteP]

If the new FIRST website is any harbinger, I'm not looking forward to this concoction.

[Bob Steele]

Originally Posted by MooreteP

If the new FIRST website is any harbinger, I'm not looking forward to this concoction.

^ This.....

[rsisk]

Originally Posted by TehSwegGey

As long as they don't accidentally loose team #s

(Especially for FLL as well, since I knew some teams that got really lucky with their # when they went to static ones and they would be bummed if they lost their #...)

I would be very upset if we lost our FLL team number: FLL #26 Robochimps

[BSV]

Originally Posted by rsisk

I would be very upset if we lost our FLL team number: FLL #26 Robochimps

No worries, the FLL team numbers are the same (we're 11 and 21, and I was able to get the YPP to work so am halfway registered).

I don't see a place to edit much stuff for the FRC teams, though, aside from sponsors, and our main sponsors are not listed.

[ATannahill]

Originally Posted by Conor Ryan

Looks like TIMS will go the way of the Floppy.

http://www.firstinspires.org/team-registration-site



I hope this change goes smoothly and this addresses some long term systemic issues the community has raised. I hope they beta tested it.

Was there an email blast about this? The post does not seem to be part of a blog. Did you find it by exploring the website or did it appear on an RSS feed?

Edit: I found this post, which for some reason has not come through my RSS reader yet.

[Landonh12]

I'm already having problems with it...

Our coach invited me to be a contact for the team, and when I go to accept the invitation, it tells me "Oops! Something went wrong!" and then grays out the Accept button.

Tried two different browsers... Come on FIRST...

[MechEng83]

Originally Posted by Landonh12

I'm already having problems with it...

Our coach invited me to be a contact for the team, and when I go to accept the invitation, it tells me "Oops! Something went wrong!" and then grays out the Accept button.

Tried two different browsers... Come on FIRST...

It's technically not supposed to go live for FRC until next Thursday at noon Eastern. I've logged in and tried to do a few things, some with success, some without. I'd wait until the 19th to see if full functionality is up.

[scca229]

Originally Posted by rtfgnow

Was there an email blast about this? The post does not seem to be part of a blog. Did you find it by exploring the website or did it appear on an RSS feed?

Edit: I found this post, which for some reason has not come through my RSS reader yet.

The blast came through my email on 5/12 @t 8:25AM AZT, Part of Subject: New FIRST Team Registration


Logging in with my old TIMS shows me attached to the my normal team but not able to do much yet since it isn't live.