B-Admin-TimeB-Admin-Time vs Spreadsheet and Group Chat
A spreadsheet and a group chat are where almost every private sports group starts — and they work well as long as the group is small. Below are the concrete differences where it starts to fall apart: 20+ regular players, several sessions a week, guests and sports benefit cards (e.g. Multisport).
| Area | Spreadsheet + group chat | B-Admin-Time |
|---|---|---|
| Session sign-ups | Typing names into the spreadsheet by hand, or counting “+1”s in a chat thread. | Players sign up themselves, and the spot limit is enforced automatically. |
| Waitlist | Someone has to remember the order and message the next person by hand. | A freed-up spot automatically goes to the first person on the list. |
| Settlements | A separate column or tab; mistakes are easy with 20+ people. | Payment status per player and per session; the cashier confirms in bulk. |
| Benefit cards / guests | You have to remember by hand who has a card and who pays. | The card type shows as a badge next to the player. |
| Notifications | A message to the whole group, even when it concerns only some people. | Private push notifications to the player concerned, and admin announcements for the whole group. |
| Short of players | An announcement in several chats and collecting volunteers by hand in private messages. | A session opened to players from outside the group in the “Games nearby” directory or by link; the admin approves requests. |
| Ranking / results | A separate spreadsheet, or no ranking at all. | An ELO ranking calculated automatically from match results. |
“The biggest problem was keeping up with changes. If someone signed out, signed up, or swapped with another person, you had to remember to fix it in the spreadsheet too. Because the spreadsheet was edited by many people, there were mistakes and outdated information.”
“Before we started using B-Admin-Time, running the group mostly meant coordinating through chats and keeping track of players, games and arrangements by hand. It took a lot of asking around and coordinating. With the app, everything is much more organized and consistent.”
See the details of individual features: sign-ups and the waitlist, settlements, ELO ranking and open sessions, or go straight to the full pricing.
Frequently asked questions
Does a spreadsheet really stop being enough?
For 5-6 regular players a spreadsheet works fine. The problem appears with 15-20+ people, several sessions a week and rotating guests — then maintaining the spreadsheet becomes a separate chore.
Do I have to migrate data from the spreadsheet?
No — you set up the group from scratch, and the start is free for 14 days, so you can try it on the next few sessions alongside your existing spreadsheet.
What if the group is small and a spreadsheet is enough?
In that case the Lite plan (PLN 35/month, up to 15 people) is a cheaper alternative to keeping up the discipline of a separate spreadsheet — but if the spreadsheet truly works, there’s no reason to change.