Travel squad staffing and duty-of-care ratio simulator
Problem
The travel coordinator plans staffing and rooming for a squad trip in a spreadsheet tab, picking a chaperone count that feels right against the duty-of-care policy, which exists as a document nobody reopens once they think they remember it. When the squad list changes close to departure, a late call-up, two withdrawals, an extra player travelling for medical reasons, the staffing ratio is not recalculated. Whether the trip still meets policy is checked informally, if at all, often as a phone call to the safeguarding lead the night before the coach departs. By then, adding a chaperone or a room is expensive, and sometimes none is available. The same scramble happens on every trip because nothing carries the ratio forward from the last one.
Product idea
A scenario tool built around the same duty-of-care ratio policy the safeguarding lead already applies by hand: age-banded chaperone ratios, room-sharing rules, staff-to-player minimums. The travel coordinator enters or uploads the current squad and staff lists, then adjusts a small number of levers, adding three under-16 players, removing a chaperone, splitting the squad across two flights, and sees immediately whether the plan still holds, how many additional staff or rooms it would need, and where the shortfall sits. It does not book anything and does not hold player documents. Each scenario produces a short summary that can be attached to a booking request or sent to the safeguarding lead for sign-off, so the ratio question gets answered before seats and rooms are committed rather than after.
Who it is for
Travel coordinators building trip staffing plans, team operations managers who commit the budget, and the safeguarding or welfare lead who signs off the ratio, particularly for academy and youth squads.
Possible first version
A single-trip web form: upload or enter the squad and staff lists as CSV, set age-banded ratio rules once, then run scenarios by changing squad size, age mix or staff count. Output is a pass or fail per scenario with the shortfall in staff or rooms shown plainly, exportable as a PDF summary. Version one holds no player documents and does not check passport or visa status. It does not connect to a travel booking platform or a squad management system; scenario inputs are entered by hand each trip.
- Build classification
- Micro-tool
- Rough effort
- 1-2 week prototype
- Roles involved
- Travel coordinator, Team operations manager, Team administrator
- Relevant to
- Academy & youth, Professional club, Collegiate athletics, Women's league
- Systems in play
- Spreadsheets and slide decks, Messaging groups, Travel booking platforms
- Product framing
- Test or simulate
Questions we get asked
What do we need to have ready before this is useful?
The current squad list and staff or chaperone list, in a spreadsheet is fine, and the duty-of-care ratio rules written down in one place rather than kept in the safeguarding lead's head. If that policy has never been documented as actual numbers, age bands and minimum staff counts, that gap needs closing first. The tool applies a rule set; it does not invent one.
Does this replace the travel roster we build for every trip?
No. This tool does not build a travel manifest or track individual traveller details such as passports and consent forms; that is a different job. It answers one narrower question: given a proposed squad and staff count, does the trip meet the ratio policy. Once a scenario passes, the resulting numbers feed into whatever roster or booking process is already in use.
Our safeguarding lead already knows the ratio rules by heart. Why formalise this?
Because the ratio typically gets checked once, early, before the squad list changes, not every time it does. This tool makes the check cheap enough to rerun whenever the list changes instead of relying on memory the night before departure. It does not replace the safeguarding lead's judgement; it gives them a scenario to review rather than a phone call under time pressure.
Who keeps the ratio rules and staff list current once this exists?
The travel coordinator owns updating the squad and staff lists for each trip. The safeguarding or welfare lead owns the ratio rules themselves, since those change with policy rather than with any single trip. If nobody updates the rules when policy changes, the tool will keep producing correct-looking answers against an outdated policy, which is worse than not having the tool at all.
Is this your workflow?
Tell us one sports workflow that still runs on paper, spreadsheets, WhatsApp or an outdated system. We will map it and show you what a simpler product looks like.
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