Organization Overview
De La Salle Collegiate in Michigan manages 14 varsity athletic programs serving over 400 student-athletes and their families. Like many schools, their athletic department juggled multiple disconnected systems—using Arbiter for official assignments, Schedule Star for game scheduling, and Final Forms for student registration. This fragmented approach created inefficiencies, doubled work, and made it difficult to maintain a single source of truth for critical athletic data.
In June 2024, De La Salle Collegiate made the decision to consolidate its entire athletic operation onto the Arbiter platform. The results? Significant time savings, improved team collaboration, and peace of mind knowing everything lives in one centralized system.
The Challenge
Managing Athletics Across Multiple Disconnected Systems
For Casey Wila, Associate Athletic Director at De La Salle Collegiate, the biggest pain point was clear: too many systems doing too little together.
“We were using Arbiter for officials, Schedule Star for scheduling, and Final Forms for registration,” Casey explains. “Juggling multiple systems was our biggest challenge. We wanted to consolidate and make things more efficient.”
The Real Cost of Fragmentation
Beyond the frustration of logging into multiple platforms, the fragmented system created several operational challenges:
- ⚠️ Data entry redundancy: Information had to be manually transferred between systems
- 🧾 Communication gaps: No centralized record of coach and parent communications
- 😡 Training complexity: Staff and families needed to learn multiple platforms
- ⚠️ Compliance concerns: Critical documents and records scattered across different systems
- 📬 Budget inefficiency: Paying for multiple non-integrated products added up quickly
The Decision to Consolidate
What made De La Salle Collegiate consider Arbiter for their complete athletic management solution? Two factors stood out:
- Financial benefit: The cost of paying for multiple disconnected systems versus a single integrated platform
- Operational efficiency: Having one centralized system where everything could be accessed and managed
But making the switch wasn’t without concerns.
Our biggest obstacle was training staff and families and getting Arbiter to integrate with our existing school information systems.
— Casey Wila, Associate Athletic Director
The Solution
A Sales Process Built on Understanding
De La Salle Collegiate was upfront about their needs from the start. “We told Arbiter we were interested, but it was going to be a slow-moving process,” Casey recalls. “The sales team was very understanding and met with us on our schedule over the course of a few months.”
The Arbiter team didn’t rush the process. Instead, they:
- Met with internal teams, admin teams, and IT teams
- Talked through the logistics of change
- Educated the De La Salle staff on the platform’s capabilities
- Addressed concerns about integration and training
Streamlined Setup and Integration
Once De La Salle Collegiate committed to the transition, the implementation exceeded expectations.
Key success factors during implementation:
- Responsive support: “I was always able to get someone on the phone immediately if we needed support or troubleshooting.”
- Knowledgeable team: “Arbiter team members were super helpful in answering questions or finding the info if they didn’t have immediate answers.”
- Smooth rollout: The platform went live with families on July 1st, 2024, just weeks after the June decision.
The setup was extremely streamlined. Arbiter worked directly with our IT team to integrate their systems with our existing ones.
— Casey Wila, Associate Athletic Director
The Results
The impact of consolidating onto Arbiter was immediate and measurable.
- ⏱️ 15-20 hours saved per month on data entry, roster management, scheduling, and eligibility tracking
- 💰 Nearly $5,000 in annual cost savings from eliminating redundant systems
- 🔐 Single point of access for all athletic operations
- ✅ Improved collaboration across the entire athletic staff
- 😌 Peace of mind with centralized compliance and communication records
- 📳 Better coach and parent experience through mobile access and streamlined processes
The benefits extend beyond the athletic director’s office:
For the AD Team:
- If one team member is out, others can easily find information and answer questions
- Centralized data eliminates the need to jump between platforms
- Improved collaboration through shared access to the same system
For Coaches:
- Mobile app attendance tracking eliminates manual processes
- Easy access to roster information and student data
- Quick Connect texting for centralized, trackable communication with athletes and parents
For Compliance and Liability:
“I now have peace of mind knowing that everything is in one place,” Casey says. “I don’t have to worry about transferring things from Final Forms to Schedule Star to our website. Now, I have one central place with all my info and a record of communication that I can reference.”
I can’t speak highly enough of having everything consolidated under one umbrella. The time savings can’t be overstated.
— Casey Wila, Associate Athletic Director
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