PLEASE NOTE: A hierarchy upload can only happen when the hierarchy is completely empty, BEFORE any departments have been added, even if they were later deleted. Please complete and upload your Excel hierarchy before you go to the hierarchy tab. Once you have added a department to the hierarchy manually, even deleting that will not allow an upload.
Documents linked below:
FairEntry Hierarchy Tips: This document lists best practices, as well as examples and explanations of how your hierarchy setup is linked to animals, projects, reports, and premiums. It's important to read this guide as you begin setting up your hierarchy, so that you don't spend a lot of time creating a spreadsheet hierarchy that either won't upload, or won't work the way you expect.
Hierarchy Import Template: Blank hierarchy upload with column headers as required. Also can be downloaded in FairEntry from the Set Up>>Fair Details page.
FairEntry.RabbitsPoultryOptions: Please read this document before deciding which of the starter solutions is right for your fair. There are many considerations in creating Rabbit and Poultry departments, due to the extensive Type/Breed/Color/Age/Gender/ID variables for those two species.
FairEntry Starter Solutions: Correctly formatted options for various departments within your fair. You can copy/paste the information in these into your own hierarchy, and edit to customize. Starting with one of these can save significant time in creating your Excel spreadsheet. Each option lists pros/cons and considerations.
Top Five Technical Format Hints: (The most common issues that prevent upload)
- You cannot have any blank cells in columns A-E until you get to the end of your classes, and all cells in column E must say "No" (unless you are a state fair connecting to county fairs).
- Do not include colons in your class names--the only place a colon can be used is to separate the class number from the class name. "02: Bread-Gluten Free" will upload; "02: Bread: Gluten Free" will not upload because of the extra colon.
- There must be exactly one space between the colon and the name of the class. Leaving out the space or adding two spaces will not work.
- Each division can only have one Division Type assigned to it. So although you may have a list of 20 classes in that division, the division type has to be consistent for all classes in the division. The division type must be spelled and capitalized exactly as one of these: Market Animal, Breeding Animal, Other Animal, Static, Event.
- All classes must be listed on the same worksheet, and it must be the first worksheet in the Excel file, if you have multiple sheets. The first sheet is going to upload, and all others will be ignored. You can only upload once, so be sure all classes are going to upload.
Top Five Usability Hints: (The most common issues that we advise about)
- Sort your spreadsheet by department-division-class. That's the order that your hierarchy will appear in the program. So looking at that, is it what you intended? Look at divisions that have more than 9 classes. If you do not have 01, 02, etc. they will alphabetize as 1, 10, 11, 12, 2, 20, etc. So be sure to use leading zeroes.
- Do not include Champion "classes" in your hierarchy. Although the animals will be shown in the ring, the exhibitors cannot choose to enter that class at entry time. Champions are set up in Awards, and the show program can be customized with Champion Lines at appropriate places.
- Do not set up your weight classes in your hierarchy--like "Light Heavyweight Steer". Exhibitors will not know what their animal will weigh at entry time. Set up one Market Steer class, and then you'll use the Class Breaks tool to get your show classes by weight once you have the weights from check-in.
- Keep your class names short and succinct, with only the information necessary for the exhibitor to make the correct choice. Don't include "rules" in the class name, and remember that the entire hierarchy path is going to print on the entry cards, show programs, and other reports. If that is too long, it will either truncate or wrap, and you won't like either of those. Stay well short of 50 characters in the class name.
- Avoid using specific dates/years in your class name. If you use "1/1/2024 - 4/30/2024" in a class name, you will need to remember and update all those classes every year to keep them current. Instead use "1/1 - 4/30 current year" so that the class name remains relevant in a new year.
For both of the last 2 points above, you can use a Custom Field Content Block to provide information that the exhibitors will see when they make entry into that portion of the hierarchy. You could list the range of dates for Jr. Heifers, for example; or you can remind horticulture exhibitors that stems must be attached. That will be better than including the info in the class name.
Division types: (How are they different?)
In terms of program functionality, there are only two different actions caused by a Division Type:
Static & Event - Do NOT allow animal information to be added to the entry
Market Animal, Breeding Animal, Other Animal - DO require animal information with the entry
Beyond that, there are just different options for filtering reports. For example, entry cards can be printed for any one division type. The standard entry cards (as opposed to custom cards) contain different information based on the division type... Market Animal entry cards contain the weight field, Breeding Animal entry cards contain the birthdate field.
You can also filter your custom reports by division type. An example would be a report of all static entries, regardless of what department/division they are entered in, or for all of your market livestock.
In theory, you could use Other Animal for all of your animal divisions--you can use the same setup options for all 3 animal types. You would be using Custom Entry cards to get the info you need on the entry cards, and would filter other reports by hierarchy, rather than division type.
Animal Division Types: Market, Breeding, Other - Fairs tend to use "Other Animal" for horses, pets, poultry, and rabbits. If you have your breeding and market animals in the same division, you would just use either Breeding Animal or Market Animal for that division, doesn't matter which. Use "Event" for your Showmanship divisions within the livestock departments.
Static: Typically this is used for something that is BROUGHT to the fair--posters, displays, and "building exhibits".
Event: This can be defined as something that HAPPENS at the fair. No animal information is required, but the exhibitor is involved in presenting an entry. This is the recommended choice for Showmanship (where you do not need to know which animal the exhibitor is showing); or for a communications entry.