CAPS Startup Guide

Purpose: This guide outlines the complete workflow for configuring your institution’s CAPS environment.
Follow these steps to ensure a successful setup and prepare for the July 1st operational launch.

Step 1: Create Your Institutional Plan

Success in CAPS starts with a clear internal plan. Before configuring the system, meet with your institutional
stakeholders to define and document ownership for key tasks.

Action Items:

• Define Task Owners: For each team, who is responsible for:
  • Uploading and maintaining Rosters?
  • Setting Cap Allocation?
  • Entering Agreements?
  • Approving Rosters, Cap Allocation, Agreements, and Transactions?
• Plan for Separation of Duties: Remember, the user who enters data cannot be the same user who approves it. Plan your workflows accordingly.

Step 2: Submit Required Forms & Team Lists

This step is a prerequisite to ensure all your teams are available in CAPS when you begin building rosters and assigning user permissions.

• Submit Team Upload Spreadsheet: Complete the CAPS Team Upload Spreadsheet by listing every sport your institution fields.
• Submit DSA Form: Ensure the Designated Student-Athlete (DSA) form is also completed and returned as instructed. Contact CAPS support if you have any questions.

Step 3: Configure System Roles & Users

• Create Functional Roles:
  • Navigate to Manage Roles (⚙ icon).
  • Best Practice: Create roles based on function (e.g., “Roster Editor,” “Compliance Read-Only”) rather than by individual names or titles. Start by Copying a base role (“Inst Edit” or “Inst Read”) and renaming it.
  • Reminder: Every institution must have at least two Institutional Admins. Grant “Delete” permissions with extreme caution.
• Add Users & Assign Roles:
  • Navigate to Manage Users (⚙ icon). Click Create new user and enter their full name and
    institutional email, then assign their role.
• Notify Your New Users: Inform your newly added users they will receive an activation email and must complete the mandatory Cybersecurity Training to access the system.

Step 4: Set and Approve Your Cap Allocations

This step is foundational for all financial activity in CAPS. It can be done in parallel with building rosters.

• Set Your Cap Allocation:
  • Navigate to the Cap Allocation tab.
  • Best Practice: First, set your allocations for New Incremental Scholarships (max $2.5M) and Alston (max $2.5M).
  • Allocate the remainder of your total $20.5M cap across your sports in the Rev Share category.
• Submit for Approval:
  • Once your allocation is set, click Submit for Approval.
  • CRITICAL DEPENDENCY: Your Cap Allocation must be submitted and approved by a
    second user before any financial agreements can be approved.

Step 5: Build Your Team Rosters

• Prepare Roster Data:
  • Download and populate the official Excel template (“import-roster-template“) from within the CAPS roster import screen. This is the best way to avoid upload errors.
  • Ensure each student-athlete has either an NCAA ID or their Legal Name, Date of Birth, and Institutional Email.
• Import Rosters into CAPS:
  • Navigate to your desired sport, select Add Students to Roster > Import from Excel.
  • Upload your file and follow the prompts to match or create profiles. Rosters must be created before you can add agreements to student-athletes.

Step 6: Add & Approve Agreements

With rosters created and cap allocations approved, you can now manage agreements.

• Add Agreements:
  • Navigate to a student-athlete’s profile and add their agreements (Scholarship, Rev Share,
    Alston).
  • Best Practice: Prioritize adding and approving agreements with the nearest disbursement dates first (e.g., start with July disbursements).
• Submit Agreements for Approval:
  • Remember, any agreement you create or edit must be approved by a second user with the
    appropriate permissions.

Step 7: Review Ledgers

• Review Your Ledgers:
  • Once agreements are approved, navigate to the Cap Ledger tab (at both the Institution and Team level) to see the real-time impact on your overall cap. This is your single source of truth for tracking