Overview
New admins used to land on a blank dashboard and piece their setup together from workshops, videos, emails and support articles. Guided onboarding replaces that with a role-aware experience built into the product itself: on first login, PlayHQ asks who the admin is and what they're setting up, then walks them through a short "first week in PlayHQ" checklist tailored to their organisation type.
Club admins get a guided path to becoming registration-ready; association and league admins get a guided path to setting up their competition. An in-product assistant is available throughout to answer questions, point to a short video at the right moment, or let the admin take a self-guided tour instead — and if they get pulled away partway through, it picks up again exactly where they left off.
What happens when a new admin logs in
The first time a new admin logs in, PlayHQ asks a short question about who they are and what they're trying to achieve. Their answer builds a checklist of the tasks that matter most for their first week — for a club admin, that's the path to being registration-ready; for an association or league admin, it's the path to setting up their competition.
From there, the checklist walks the admin through each step in the product itself, rather than sending them elsewhere to read about it: it highlights the field they need, guides them through the setup, and confirms the step is done before moving to the next one.
Getting Help Mid-Setup
An admin doesn't have to leave the checklist to get help. At any point they can:
- Ask a question by typing it to the in-product assistant.
- Ask out loud using the voice assistant, if they'd rather talk than type.
- Watch a short video of the step being done, played inline.
- Take a self-guided tour if they'd rather explore the step themselves.
- Skip a step they already know how to do.
The assistant answers from PlayHQ's live help content, so its guidance should stay current without a separate update each time an article changes.
The assistant helps with the basics, it doesn't replace Support.
It's designed to deflect simple how-to questions during setup, not to handle everything a new admin might run into. If an admin says the assistant gave them the wrong answer, treat that as a normal support contact and let the product team know — it helps them improve the assistant's accuracy.
What's different for a new admin joining an existing organisation
Guided onboarding covers two situations, and they're deliberately different in weight:
- Setting up a brand-new club or association gets the full guided "first week in PlayHQ" checklist described above.
- Joining an organisation that's already configured gets a lighter touch — one guided flow and one email, rather than a multi-week sequence, since most of the organisation's setup is already done.
Known limitation during beta
- Governing and Regional Body admins aren't included yet. This release covers club and association/league admins only — tenant-level governance needs its own treatment and is planned for a later phase.
- Association-level guidance is lighter than club guidance. Club content is further along; more complex competition-management guidance for associations is being built out during the beta.
- Guidance is based on organisation type, not yet on specific role. A club admin and a club treasurer currently see the same club journey — true role-specific journeys depend on the roles & permissions work landing first.
- The assistant guides and checks, it doesn't set things up for the admin. It validates what's being entered and points the admin to the right step, but it doesn't yet configure complex setup automatically on their behalf.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can an admin skip the checklist?
Yes. Any step can be skipped if the admin already knows how to do it, and the assistant can still be used for questions afterwards.
What happens if an admin gets interrupted partway through?
The checklist picks up again exactly where they left off next time they log in — nothing is lost and it doesn't restart from the beginning.
Does this replace support workshops or 1:1 help?
No. It's designed to handle the basic how-to load so support and workshops can focus on more complex questions — escalation paths to a person are still available if the assistant can't help.
What if the assistant gives an admin the wrong answer?
Treat it like any other support contact and pass it on to the product team — this is being actively monitored during the beta.