While I can't comment on college assigning, I can comment on how we get scholastic (high school, middle school) assignments here in my little corner of Connecticut.
Before Arbiter was invented, we got our entire schedule for the season at one time, on paper, in the mail, after we had sent in our availability calendar (also by mail) to our assigner. Of course there were changes (weather, etc.) that were often phoned to us, occasionally mailed to us. Those of us that would work for other assigners (Catholic middle schools, recreation, travel, etc.) would then contact those "mini" assigners with our "open" dates.
After Arbiter was invented, our assignor decided to "trickle" out our assignments (he didn't have to rely on snail mail or phone calls anymore) so that he could easily make last minute changes (weather, matchups, etc.). Most of our guys hated this. They were used to making plans (vacations, holidays, other assigners, etc.) around their assignments, and now they had to do the reverse, making plans (vacations, holidays, other assigners etc.) early, blocking out dates on Arbiter, allowing the assigner to make assignments around blocks. We eventually got used to it. Some of the "mini" assigners (Catholic middle schools, recreation, travel, etc.) actually began using Arbiter and were able to "link" availabilities.
We now get our scholastic (high school, middle school) assignments about two weeks in advance, allowing our assigner to easily make last minute changes (weather, matchups, etc.). As JRutledge mentioned earlier, we often get to see some information (date and time of game, but not level, gender, or site) about a month in advance.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JRutledge
... we might have dates, but not sites until later on in the year ...
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And, of course, we have to keep our Arbiter blocks up to date, even for small stuff like a family gatherings, movie nights, poker nights, etc., or we get fined if we have to turn back an assignment because we didn't block out that date.