Use the instructions below to copy a previous year's fair to the new year's fair. These are The Big Three - issues that cause the most tickets and calls from returning fairs:
- Not re-attaching animal types to divisions in the hierarchy--this prevents all entries into any animal classes. Select each division on the Hierarchy screen, then use the Hierarchy Editor tab to re-connect animal types to the divisions. See Adding Animals to Entries
- Not changing the registration entry dates to the current year--print the standard report Hierarchy>>"Entered Hierarchy Settings" to find all the places that those dates were entered. See Entry Registration Dates
- Not changing the new fair to be the "Primary Fair"--done on the Organizational Administrator screen, where all fairs are listed. See Designating the Primary Fair
Copy Your Fair:
- Log in to your Fair's Organization account (this can only be done by an Organization Admin).
- Click "Add a Fair" in the top right corner.
- Click "Begin New Year" beside the name of the fair that you are copying.
- Enter the name for this year's fair... basically add the correct year to the name of your fair.
- Enter the new fair's start and end dates, being careful about the year.
- Select the (year) fair that you would like to copy--normally this is the latest fair.
- Select which items to copy over. Most fairs copy everything, but there are circumstances where you would not do that.
- A common one is the Buyers or Sale destinations--you may wish to start fresh with those.
- Custom Fields (will those be the same as last year?)
- Staff (you may wish to remove staff and start fresh as they volunteer and permissions are needed).
- Click Save to create your new fair.
Complete the Setup for the New Fair:
- Be sure that the new fair is designated as "Primary" before you open entries.
- Update the Registration Start and End Dates. If you have set multiple dates for different departments, print the Standard Report Hierarch>>"Entered Hierarchy Settings" to find them all.
- Re-link Animal Types to each division using the Hierarchy Editor.
- Re-upload your fair logo, and update information in the Welcome Message (Setup/Fair Details).
- Check your custom fields to be sure that they are pertinent to this year.
- During Entry Registration, the setting for Allow Online Buyers (Setup>>Fair Details) has to be set to "No". If a buyer account exists with the same email address as one used on an Exhibitor Group account, the system defaults to the Buyer login when the email is entered. So, in order to login and make entries, that setting has to be set to No during the entry registration time.
- Multi-Entry--During the Copy Fair process, all parts of the hierarchy are set to the default of Single Entry process. If you use Multi-Entry in your fair (or parts of it), you will need to re-set that. This is especially important for 4-H Online fairs that restrict entry by project enrollment.
Optional Annual Setup
All Fairs
- If you have custom reports that filter/sort on date fields, update those.
- If you have classes that use dates in their names (born before 2/1/2024 for example) update those class names.
4-H Online Fairs
- Request 4-H Integration. Be sure to pick the correct program year.
- If you require project enrollment, re-link the projects to divisions, after importing the project list.
- Any staff members that are set up through 4-H Online manager accounts will need to be re-invited each year.
Connected Fairs (county fair connected to a state fair)
- Fair-to-Fair connection must be request and approved (after the connected fair is created and ready to connect).
- You MUST synchronize the hierarchy every year, even if there were no changes made to the state fair hierarchy. The synchronize process links the current year county fair to the current year state fair, and allows for entry promotion. Without synchronizing, the classes are not linked and no promotions can be done.
See also: Copy Fair Training Video
Other Articles:
Editing Your Hierarchy After Upload
(make changes to your hierarchy after you have copied to a new year)
Fair to Fair Connection for Counties
Requesting 4-H Online Integration
4-H Online Animal Types in FairEntry (Check to be sure that you don't have duplicate Animal Types, one created in FairEntry, and one imported from 4-H Online)
Requiring 4-H Project Enrollment
Managing Exhibitor Groups with Staff and Buyer Accounts