Set up a points-based challenge

If you have a challenge that allows people to achieve different levels by doing different things, a points challenge is probably for you! With a points challenge, you add a value to different actions.

Important notes before setting up your challenge:

1. Sometimes administrators ask us if they can simply edit a past challenge rather than create a new challenge from scratch. You should definitely not do this! Instead, you will want to duplicate an existing challenge or create a new one.
2. Points will not be awarded retroactively. Points cannot be awarded until someone is enrolled in the challenge. Previous activities will not trigger points, even if it was during the dates of the challenge.
3. Confirm that points are active on your site by following the steps in this article.
4. Set up your site's point values by following the steps in this article. Although you can add points per challenge, point values are universal.

Create a Challenge

Follow the steps below to create a challenge based on points:

1. Log in as a library administrator.
2. Go to Setup > Manage Challenges.
3. Click on Create a Challenge.
   
4. Select Earning Points for the way in which people can earn badges, and then click Next. 
5. On the next screen, select Create My Own Challenge to create your challenge from scratch or select a challenge template to load and modify. 

Challenge Setup

The first part of the challenge you will work on is challenge setup. This is where you will enter some basic information for your challenge. Follow the instructions below to complete the challenge setup page: 

1. Enter challenge name: What do you want to call this challenge? The name will be visible to patrons. We strongly recommend picking a unique name, i.e., Summer Reading 2021 (Ages 0-5), instead of simply Summer Reading. 
2. Provide a challenge description: Tell your patrons all about your challenge! If you want to provide a paper reading log, be sure to link to a PDF (printable) version of the log within the description. You may use html code in your description to add things like italics, boldface, color, hyperlinks, and more.
3. Set the challenge position: If you are offering more than one challenge at a time, determine where it will appear on a patron's page. 
4. Add a header image: Include a challenge image. The ideal size for this image is 920x351px. Beanstack accepts jpeg, jpg, gif, or png files up to 10MB.
5. Scope your challenge by age or grade: To which ages or grade levels is this challenge available? Remember, if you are scoping a challenge according to grade level, you want that registration field to be required on your site.
6. Set the challenge dates: What are the dates on which this challenge will be live and available to readers? Note that in the date fields. If you leave this blank, the challenge will be considered ongoing.
7. Determine if the challenge is staff only: Is this challenge intended to be only for those with staff level access? If so, select Yes, only for staff members. This is a setting you may change later, but may be helpful for training/testing purposes!
8. Determine if the challenge is available for pre-registration: By toggling this selection to Yes, patrons will be able to view and register for the challenge before its start date.
9. Determine if you would like to enable alternative challenges: Decide whether readers may participate in this challenge and any other challenge, or if they need to choose between this and another challenge. 
10. Select additional required registration information: Select which questions you want to require your readers to provide before enrolling in the challenge. Note that if they already provide this information when they register for Beanstack, it is likely unnecessary to require your readers to provide this information again.

Badges

The next section of your challenge to set up is badges. This is where you will determine the points milestones, choose badge images, and attach any rewards or certificates you see fit.

• At the top of the page, you will see the earnable badges types that you have enabled for your challenge. Here you should toggle on Earning Points if it's not already selected.
  
  
• You will also see the earnable point types. This is where you can decide which types of logging should earn points.
  
• In the middle of the page, you will see Badge Time Restrictions. Select Any Time if you want badges to be earned at any time during a challenge, i.e., on or after 12:01 a.m. ET on the challenge start date and on or before 11:59 p.m. ET on the challenge end date. Select Restricted if you want badges to be earned within a specific time frame. Note that restricting your badges will change logging in your challenge from cumulative to episodic. 
  

Next, you will note there are three types of badges in a points challenge: the Registration Badge, Completion Badge, and Points Badges. 

Including a registration badge is recommended for all challenges! Follow the steps below to add a registration badge: 

1. Select Add a Badge.
   
2. Choose a badge image: Here you can select badges from different badge groups.  If you click on one of the groups, you will then only see badges associated with that group as options below. This is an optional action, and can save you time if you already know the group to which your preferred badges are attached.  If you have uploaded your own custom badges they will also show up in the filter options.
   

Once you select the badge, the ability to add a reward will also become available. You may select an existing reward on your site or create a new reward. Once you add a reward, it will be available to use for other challenges as well. We recommend using rewards for digital or physical prizes, and not for challenge information, instructions, or words of congratulations. Keep in mind that the instructions for recipients will appear with a badge when it is earned, will remain on the reader’s dashboard, and will also go to their email as a notification. For example, you may want to indicate a “pick up by” date for a prize in the instructions.

Follow the instructions below to add a reward to your registration badge: 

1. Return to the badges page of your challenge setup and scroll to registration badge.
2. To add a new reward, click on + Add New.
   
3. Add instructions for how readers can receive their reward. 
4. Then, click Save and add.
   
5. You can now select your new reward from the registration badge's drop-down menu.

Next, you have the opportunity to add a completion badge. Ask yourself, at what increments do we want to acknowledge achievement with a virtual badge, or virtual badge and a prize? For example, consider completing this phrase, “I want a reader to earn a badge for having read ___ books/mins/hrs, etc.” You will have the chance to determine what a completion is for the challenge later in the setup process. 

Follow the instructions below to add a completion badge:

1. Return to the badges page of your challenge setup and scroll to completion badge.
2. Select Add a Badge.
3. Select the badge image you would like to use.
4. Determine if you would like to add an existing reward or create a new reward for the completion badge. Is there a reward available for having completed the whole challenge? If so, add the badge and reward here. If you plan to connect a completion reward to a logging badge or activity badge, then do not add a completion reward or it will be awarded twice!  Set up a completion badge reward the same way you would a registration badge reward.
   

Time to set up your points badges!

Follow the instructions below to add points badges: 

1. Return to the badges page of your challenge setup and scroll to points badges.
2. Select Create a Badge.
3. Click on Choose Badge to select the badge image you would like to use.
4. Choose the points goal. In this example, we are creating a badge that will be awarded to those who earn 10 points.
   
   Note that unless you added badge date restrictions to your points badges, earning points is cumulative. This means you would set points badges for 10 points, 20 points, 30 points, and so on, rather than three badges for 10 points.
   
5. Determine if you would like to add an existing reward or create a new reward for the points badge. Add an existing reward by selecting it from the drop-down menu or create a new one by selecting Create a Reward.
   Readers will receive a notification when they earn a reward, and this will also be indicated for staff to see on the reader's page.
6. Determine time restrictions if necessary. If a badge may be earned at any time during your challenge, simply leave this section blank. If not, indicate the dates during which it may be earned. 
   
7. Click Save and add! 
8. Repeat for as many points badges as you'd like to set up.

Tickets

Adding ticket drawings to your challenge is optional. Ticket drawings allow readers to determine where they want their entries to go if you have multiple drawing options available to them. 

For example, if a reader earns three tickets, they may decide where to allot their tickets based on the drawings available. See this helpdesk article to set up a ticket drawing. 

Completion Requirements

The final part of building a challenge is determining the completion requirements. This is where you can decide how many badges or which badges are required to complete the challenge. Which badges must someone earn in order to finish the challenge, versus which are going the extra mile?

1. Require all badges: Select this if you want a patron to earn all the logging and activity badges in the challenge in order to complete it.
2. Require specific badges: Select this if you want a patron to earn specific badges to complete the challenge, and then click on the badges they must earn.
3. Require some badges: Select this if you want a patron to earn a specific number of badges to complete the challenge, but it doesn't matter which badges. Type in the specific number of badges they must earn. Note: You can also click on specific badges if you want them to have to earn a certain badge within the specified number of badges. 

Saving a Challenge 

Last step! Ready to finalize your challenge? Determine if this challenge is still a draft or if it should be published. 

Draft: Save as a draft if you do not want this challenge to be visible to any readers or staff members.
Published: Once you save a challenge in a published state, it is live on your site. Even if the start date for the challenge is in the future, if the challenge is published, it will then be available for pre-registration.

Remember to click save and repeat for any additional challenges you plan to offer!