This summer all assigned MBCs for our troops were removed from Scoutbook and the ability to assign MBCs was not working. It would be best to have a column for assigned MBC in the backup to allow us to reassign them in Scoutbook after that functionality was restored.
If MBCs were removed it means their Council MBC position ended - MBC is not a unit position, it is a council position. Check with council on it @JamesDenman
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I believe both the merit badge in progress and the incomplete merit badge reports from the troop reports menu have what you are looking for.
Our council had an issue with Scoutbook where the MBCs were active in Council, but the information was not getting updated in Scoutbook. Therefore Scoutbook dropped them from the scout’s merit badge info and did not allow me to assign any MBCs to any scout’s open merit badges. Now that the problem has been corrected, I need to re-assign those MBCs to the merit badges they were assigned to before the problem started. I do regular backups in Scoutbook for just this type of situation. Unfortunately, the advancement backup does not include the assigned MBC. I’m asking that that information be added to the backups in case this situation happens again.
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What’s wrong with the reports I suggested?
@jacobfetzer & @Stephen_Hornak - The info I need is not in Scoutbook, so it will not be on the reports. I’m trying to correct a problem that happened last summer where my council was unable to load active MBCs into Scoutbook. For the entire summer we could not assign MBCs to scouts merit badges because (even though they were registered MBCs with our council) Scoutbook did not have that information. What I am trying to do is add information that was in Scoutbook, before this summer, back into Scoutbook. If it had been in the backup for advancement prior to this summer, I would be able to add that information without issue. Quite frankly I am a little surprised that this information is not in the backups as it is integral to allowing MBCs to enter completed requirements into Scoutbook instead of forcing me, the advancement chair for my troops, to enter everything.
If an MBC marked any req as Counsleor Approved, that information should be in Scoutbook and mey be usable to at least partially recover from your situation.
I will add your request to the backlog but I cannot say if or when the BSA will implement it.
I’m not real sure what your getting at. You made a new feature request, and I pointed out that the same info is available elsewhere. The fact that you didn’t run the reports at the right time is not relevant to the feature request.
There is already a counselorapprovedby field in the advancement export, also. Is that not populated?
Well Jacob, let’s start with a definition: Backup and Recovery describes the process of creating and storing copies of data that can be used to protect organizations against data loss. The purpose of the backup is to create a copy of data that can be recovered in the event of a primary data failure.
Here is the series of events that prompted me to make this request:
May 2023
I take regular backups using the Scoutbook Export/Backup GUI tool.
MBCs are assigned to Scout’s open Merit Badges in Scoutbook and I am allowed to assign MBCs to newly opened Merit Badges. All is good.
July - September 2023
MBC renewal has taken place for my Council and MBC assignments are now missing from our Troop in Scoutbook.
In addition, I am no longer allowed to assign MBCs to open Merit badges, even though they show as registered in my Council’s software, Scoutbook does not allow me to assign them to Merit Badges.
October 2023
I am now able to assign MBCs again. I go to the backup from May and WHAT!!, no column for assigned MBC in the Advancement backup? Sadly, I am now tasked with checking with each scout and confirming with MBCs. We currently have 54 scouts between our boy and girl troops, so this is no small task. It will take me weeks to get Merit Badge Counselors assigned to open merit badges.
So, what is the solution here? Obviously, I have no way to generate a list of who was assigned before July, so any solution will not help me with my current situation. Running a report after the fact works only if the MBCs have entered some requirements into Scoutbook before the renewal fiasco. I’ve found that MBCs are not always that diligent entering requirements at the time they are earned, so that information cannot be relied on to be there. A backup, on the other hand, would always have that information.
What I was hoping to do with my request was to help you improve your product by adding a very important bit of information to a process you already have in place. Seems like a reasonable thing to me.
As for your comment: “I’m not real sure what you’re getting at. You made a new feature request, and I pointed out that the same info is available elsewhere. The fact that you didn’t run the reports at the right time is not relevant to the feature request.” I found it insulting and totally uncalled for. If you don’t understand the reason for the request, don’t throw insults back at the requester.
Thank you for understanding the request Eda. I hope it will be implemented as it should be a simple fix and the missing information is really causing me a lot of extra work.
@JamesDenman I apologize for insulting you. That was not my intention as I was responding quickly between doing other things. I have a good handle on your issue and what you are trying to do. This has happened within my council as well.
It’s worth noting that a true backup would allow you to somehow upload that back into the system or automatically restore to that point. That will not be the case here. So, to me, the export/backup is really just another report under a different name.
The reason I’m trying to push you toward “reports” is that development work occurs a lot quicker. Even though Ed has gotten it added to the backlog, we have no idea when or if it will be completed. In my experience, there’s a good chance it won’t be done the next time your district recharters. So, I would highly encourage you to see if the reports I mentioned meet your needs going forward (as a workaround).
@jacobfetzer Thank You for your response. Apology accepted. I agree that the export/backup is not a true backup and I do use it for reporting as well as a “snapshot” at a particular point in time. I was really surprised and disappointed that the assigned MBC was not in the backup, considering the fact that MBCs cannot enter requirement information unless they have been assigned to each open MB. I will start running reports in addition to the export/backup to make sure I have more information available in case a similar problem happens again.
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