Forwarding is the step that involves moving an entry and all its uploaded content to the next tier of the competition. Once a local club has done their judging, winners will be selected, and Gold and Silver winners will be able to move to the next round. This guide covers the following topics:

Golds usually all forward to the next stage, and Silvers get the opportunity to forward with a fee. If you are unsure about this process, ask your Region's main admin.

Question 2: How do I forward entries?

The forwarding process for winners is done during the process of awarding winner status. This is achieved by selecting an option during winner assignment, of either "Forward to next round", "Entrant must pay fee to enter next round", or "Do not forward".

There are two ways to set winner status; using scoring ranges or manually. Here are guides to both of those:

Upon setting the winner status, Gold entries will immediately show up within the admin account at the District level, and will be ready to be assigned to judges and continue on in the process. Silvers will only progress once they are marked as paid within Forwarding Manager >> View Pending.

Entries are still visible within the local club after forwarding, for administrative purposes.

Question 3: What are Forwarding Fees and how are they paid?

The forwarding fee is the cost set for rolling up to the next level. All monetary transactions for forwarding take place outside of OpenWater - you will directly liaise with your District to configure this. The purpose of this feature is for keeping track of these payments, and being able to pull reports.

Forwarding Fees are set into the OpenWater account at the District level and are pushed down into all the local club accounts. Local admins can view these under Round Settings >> Forwarding Fees. There is no option to delete fees set at the District level.

IMPORTANT: If you are a District admin looking to update these fees, you will need to edit them in the rounds marked LOCAL - if you set fees in the REGIONAL competitions, these will not roll down to the local clubs.

Question 4: What is the purpose of the Forwarding Fee feature in OpenWater?

The forwarding fees feature exists so clubs can keep track of payments owed and made, both between the different clubs, and between club and entrant.

The system allows admins to pull reports and lists, accessible from both the local club and the District club. It also controls the forwarding of entrants who need to pay before moving to the next level - these will not appear in the District account until they have been marked as paid.

Unlike submission fees for entering the competition where entrants can log in and view their balance and pay, there are no invoices created for forwarding fees. Users do not log into our system to pay in any way, as money is handled through your own payment system such as paypal transactions, mailed checks, etc.

Question 5: What is the Forwarding Manager? Why can't I see it in my menu?

The Forwarding Manager is the area in which forwarding is controlled - this includes viewing lists of Golds being forwarded, seeing the list of pending forwards (such as Silvers who have yet to pay), and pulling reports of what has been paid, and what is owed to whom.

It appears on the top menu next to Tools ONLY when items have been forwarded or set to forward with payment. If you don't see it here in your menu, check that you have forwarded entries.

Clicking on the menu item will reveal a dropdown menu with the following items:

View forwarded: Seen what has already been forwarded to the next level of this year's competition.

View pending: View the list of entries that still require payment to progress to the next level. You can mark entries as paid from within here, and this will forward them to the next level.

View by entrant: View the status of entries by entrant name, including a tally of all that require payment and all that are forwarded.

Download Summary: Pull reports of forwarded items, including payment details.

Question 6: How do I pull reports of what is being forwarded?

The Download Summary menu item is where the main forwarding reporting features are situated. These reports can be generated from both the local club and the District, and are helpful in both seeing what is being forwarded, and also for use in checking what items have been physically sent/received.

Troubleshooting: I forwarded in error or otherwise made a mistake - what now?

Just as it is instant to forward an item to District, it is also instant to revoke a submission from the forwarded round. Here are some common issues with forwarding, along with how to painlessly resolve them!

Unlike the fee paid when the entrant submitted their entry, forwarding fees are not paid within the OpenWater system. The forwarding fee feature is simply for tracking and reporting, so you will need to speak to your District to find out how to accept payments for this (such as through Paypal, or via check). Once you have accepted your payments outside of the OpenWater system, you can use our forwarding fee feature to mark entries as paid, and roll the entries up to the Regional level of the competition.

If an entry was accidentally sent to the next round, it can easily be revoked. Click Tools >> Scores / Results >> Judging Results and locate the entry - select the box to the left of it and click "SET WINNER STATUS" from the buttons at the top. Re-mark the winner status, this time being sure to select "Do not forward" from the radio buttons. Once you re-set this winner status, it will override previous settings for that entry and will pull it out of the next round.

The correct forwarding option was probably not selected when assigning the winner statuses. You can either go back to the Scoring Ranges feature and re-set all of the scores, or manually assign the winner status individually from the "Scores / Results" menu item under Tools. When re-setting the scores, be sure to select either "Forward to next round" or "Entrant must pay fee..." as required.

You probably haven't forwarded anything yet. This feature is set to activate in your account once you forward something, so as soon as you have set something to forward, you will see it on the menu to the right of "Tools".