How One WordPress Site Replaced Five Expensive Platforms for the IACS

What We Built (And Why It Mattered)

Phase 1: The Foundation

We started with their website. Clean design, easy navigation, backend set up so the IACS team could actually manage things themselves without calling us every time they needed to make an update.

Key pieces:

• Events portal for athletics and fine arts
• News and announcements system
• Scalable structure (because we knew more was coming)

Phase 2: Conference Portal

IACS hosts a big state conference every year. Registration used to mean coordinating schools manually, chasing down sponsor information, and keeping track of payments across different systems.

We built a custom WooCommerce setup:

• Multiple ticket types (early bird, late registration, member vs. non-member pricing)
• Automated sponsor signups with content submission forms
• Payment processing in one place

Result: Conference registration got way more efficient. Less manual work, fewer errors, everything organized without separate software.

Next time: As the conference closed in, we noticed a problem – people would want small refunds based on who was attending. Next time, we will not be using WooCommerce for ticket sales. WooCommerce was great for the sponsorship tiers but not tickets.

Phase 3: The Real Challenge

Here’s where it got interesting.

Athletic directors needed to report scores, update rosters, and manage teams online. But it couldn’t just be another form someone had to manually process. It needed to be automated, accurate, and accessible only to authorized users.

So we built a complete athletics management system inside WordPress.

What the System Does

Custom structures for teams, rosters, schedules, and scores. We’re not talking plugins—custom post types and fields built specifically for how IACS works.

AD-specific dashboards. When an athletic director logs in, they see their dashboard. Just their teams. They can add scores, update rosters, manage schedules.

Automated standings calculations. This was the tricky part. Different sports have different rules. Some use point differentials, some don’t. We built custom PHP logic that calculates standings based on sport-specific rules. Athletic directors report a score, and standings update instantly.

Printable and exportable reports. Need a roster for a tournament? Want standings for a coaches meeting? Everything generates as clean PDFs or exports to Word and Excel.

Permission controls. Athletic directors only access their own teams. At season’s end, permissions turn off so archived data stays intact.

Everything lives inside WordPress. No subscriptions. No separate platforms. One system.

What the Client Said

When we rolled this out, Mark McVey (IACS Executive Director) sent us this:

“We had a coaches meeting this week and informed them that the online score reporting is nearing completion, and they are excited about it. Thanks so much!”

People were actually excited to use this. Not just “it works,” but “we’re excited about it.”

What Changed

For Athletic Directors:

• Score reporting is faster and simpler
• No confusion about where to go or what to do
• Standings update automatically
• They only see their teams (keeps things simple)

For IACS Admin:

• Everything centralized in one place
• Automated calculations mean fewer errors
• Season management is straightforward (turn permissions on and off as needed)
• Professional reports generated in a few clicks

For Schools and Families:

• Standings and schedules update in real time
• Everything is transparent and accurate
• Better engagement because information is easy to find

Why This Worked

Most organizations would pay for a third-party athletics platform or try to piece together plugins. IACS wanted something custom that actually fit how they operate and could grow with them.

We didn’t try to do everything at once. Website first. Then the conference portal. Then athletics. Each phase built on what came before. IACS only paid for what they needed at each stage.

The best part? It’s all in their WordPress site. IACS manages everything from one place, and their audience keeps coming back to their website instead of getting scattered across different tools.

If Your Organization Has Similar Problems

Are you dealing with manual processes, scattered information, or systems that don’t talk to each other?

We build solutions that fit your specific needs. No generic templates. No features you’ll never use.

We’d love to help your school, association, or business create systems that streamline operations and make life easier.