Creating and managing your programs
A program is how your organisation runs one sport, division and gender in Dash for a year: its trials, its team, student officials and any school competition. You create programs from the My Programs screen, and Dash builds the events and intakes for you from your answers.
This guide is the same for CSNSW admins and for diocese and association admins.
The program types you can choose differ, and are explained in:
- CSNSW Programs: program types, for NSWCPS and NSWCCC
- Diocese and Association Programs: program types, for dioceses and associations
How programs connect
Every program belongs to an initiative: one sport, division and gender in the CSNSW representative pathway, for example “11 Years Girls Netball”. Each organisation that runs that sport joins the same initiative with its own program, and the initiative links them:
- A diocese’s program selects the diocesan team.
- The diocesan team can go on to the state program run by NSWCPS (primary) or NSWCCC (secondary), which selects the state team.
- The state team goes on to NSW PSSA (primary) or NSW All Schools (secondary).
Because the programs are linked, each one can see what the others need it to: a diocese sees the state’s championships and the CSNSW Sport fee, and the state program collects the diocesan teams as they’re selected. Nobody has to send lists between levels.
[Screenshot: the My Programs screen, with initiatives listed and one program joined]
1. Open My Programs
Log in to Dash and go to Pathways > My Programs. Set the region and year at the top of the screen.
- CSNSW admins: choose NSWCPS for primary programs and NSWCCC for secondary programs. Primary programs are made once on NSWCPS, and cover both Polding and MacKillop.
- Diocese admins: choose your diocese’s primary or secondary region, for the program you’re making.
You’ll see the initiatives your organisation can join. Joined initiatives show View; the others show Create.
NOTE: If you don’t see the initiatives you expect, your organisation’s Program Settings or this year’s season may not be set up yet. Contact Dash support.
2. Join an initiative
To create a program, choose its program type next to the initiative, then click Create.
The program type decides the shape of the program: whether there’s a trial, an expression of interest, how the team is picked and where students come from. Read the program types for your organisation before you choose. A program type can’t easily be changed once intakes have been created and families have started applying.
[Screenshot: choosing a program type and clicking Create]
3. Answer the Program Questions
Click View on your program. Before anything is built, you’ll be asked the Program Questions: for example whether you’re charging a levy, whether you need a Student Officials intake, or whether you run an expression of interest first.
Answer them with what you know now. Questions you can’t answer yet, such as a levy amount, can be answered later: if you’ll charge a levy, answer yes now and add the amount when it’s set. Families see a notice that the levy is still being determined until you do.
Click Submit when you’re done. Program Questions turns from grey to green.
TIP: Some answers change how intakes are built, and must be given before the intakes are created. Their help text says so. These include running an expression of interest, whether the program ends at the state event, and extra selection or team questions.
4. Create your events and intakes
Your program now shows what it can build, grouped as Selection, Team, Officials, Championship and School competition, depending on the program type. Each item is colour coded:
| Colour | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Green | Created |
| Grey | Ready to be created |
| Red | Not ready yet, because something else has to be created first |
Click a grey item to open it, answer its questions (dates, a responsible person and so on), and click Create. Not every question has to be answered.
You don’t need to create everything at once. Create your trial when you’re ready to take entries, and the team when you’re ready to select it. Levy, payment and apparel steps are added to an intake for you, once the Program Questions they depend on are answered.
[Screenshot: a program’s groups, with green, grey and red items]
5. Open the intake applications
Intakes are created in Draft, where families can’t apply. To open one, open the intake and click Open Applications. You’ll see a preview of what families will see; tick the box at the bottom and click Open Applications again.
NOTE: If your diocese uses quick setup, intakes skip Draft and open as soon as they’re created, so there’s nothing to do here.
6. Share the intake with families
Only the first intake in a program is open to everyone: the trial, the expression of interest, or the team when there’s no trial. Families reach it by its link or QR code. Every later intake, such as the team after a trial, is filled from the one before it, so it has no link to share.
To share an open intake:
- Open the intake and go to Information.
- Answer the questions for the information pack and click Save.
- Click Download Pack. You’ll get a Word document with your details, the link and the QRcode filled in, ready to send to schools.
Your organisation starts with the CSNSW default information packs, one for open intakes and one for selected students. To use your own, upload it in your Program Settings.
TIP: With quick setup, the program shows the intake’s entry link at the top of the screen, ready to copy and share, so you don’t need an information pack.
7. Keep an eye on your program
The program screen tells you where things stand:
- Status badges on the program, such as “Waiting on diocese progression” on a state program that’s still collecting diocesan teams.
- Notices from the program or from other levels, such as the state’s championships, the CSNSW Sport fee per student, or “Payments aren’t set up for your organisation yet”.
- Updates: when you change a Program Question, or something changes at another level, Dash updates the program for you. A levy change after families have paid is held for you to review first.
Getting help
Contact Dash support with the program’s sport, division and region, and what you were trying to do.
Last updated: November 2, 2026