Lottery Assignments

The lottery assignments page gives each eligible family a lottery number for one account type’s lottery in a session. Reach it from the Registration Windows tab by clicking Manage Assignments.

Assigning Numbers

The page is titled Lottery assignments — [Account type] and shows a table of Lottery #, Family, Account ID, Opens At and Notified, with a N families counter. Until you assign numbers it reads “No lottery numbers assigned yet. Use Randomize or Import CSV to assign.”

Three ways to fill it in:

• Randomize — opens the Assign lottery numbers dialog. Under Randomize new numbers, click Randomize to give every eligible family (those with the matching account type for the session’s season) a fresh random number. Existing assignments are replaced.
• Copy from another lottery — in the same dialog, pick a source under Pick a source lottery and click Copy numbers. Families keep the same number across queues, which matters when one family is in several in-person lotteries. Families missing from the source are left unassigned for you to edit or import.
• Import CSV — see below

To adjust a single family, click its number in the Lottery # column, type a new one and click Save. Remove takes a family out of the lottery.

Importing from a Spreadsheet

1. Click Template to download a CSV of every eligible family (columns account_number, family_name, lottery_number, with current numbers filled in)
2. Fill in the numbers and click Import CSV, then Choose CSV file
3. Under Map Columns, match your columns to Account ID and Lottery Number (headers like “account”, “member id”, “lottery” or “number” are matched automatically) and click Preview Import
4. Review the Preview (N valid rows) and click Import N Assignments

Importing replaces all existing assignments for this lottery. Rows whose account ID can’t be found are reported (“N rows had errors”).

Caution

A CSV with the same account ID or the same lottery number on two rows can’t be imported. The preview shows Cannot import — duplicates in CSV with the offending IDs and numbers highlighted, and the import button stays disabled until you fix the file.

Sending Invite Emails

For an in-person signup day, click Send invite emails. The dialog shows how many families will receive an email (families already notified are skipped unless you tick Re-send to families who already received the invite). Edit the When & where text — date, time and location of the event — and click Send. Each family gets Your lottery number is #N with that text in a When & where box. The result toast reports how many were sent, skipped (no email) or failed.

Note

The automatic “Your registration window is open” emails are not sent for lotteries in in-person mode — the invite email is the only notice those families get. See In-Person Lottery.