It seems pretty clear that one of the biggest stumbling blocks for MANY issues come from the fact that Scoutbook is the “official” location for different adult positions. If Scoutbook is to be THE PLACE for scouting, then it needs to have these official.
All of the Scoutbook adult positions should feed from my.scouting. Thus we wouldn’t have this constant “but I am the Scoutmaster”, then “check my.scouting”, “but it isn’t right”, well then “fix my.scouting” .
Scoutbook should work with my.scouting to add in additional roles as needed, but the adult positions should all come from my.scouting.
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Coordination between the two systems is complicated. Positions and responsibilities do not match up one-to-one when you start comparing the data.
The my.scouting unit roster is maintained by the council, typically by the registrar. A person is limited to only one registered position in a unit (COR excepted). The list of possible positions is limited. Units typically only report who is doing what once a year at recharter. Tenure in a position is not tracked when a change is done midyear. (Exploring and STEM Scouts are not included below.)
- Executive Officer / Institutional Head (IH)
- Chartered Organization Representative (COR)
- Committee positions
a. Chair (CC)
b. Member (MC)
c. Pack Trainer [a funtional role in other programs]
d. New Member Coordinator
e. Unit Religious Emblem Coordinator
f. Unit Chaplain
g. Unit Scouter Reserve and College Scouter Reserve
- Direct Contact Leaders and Assistants
a. Unit Leader (Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, Crew Advisor, Skipper)
b. Assistant Unit Leader (ACM, ASM, ACA, Mate)
c. Sub-unit Leader [Den Leaders] (LL, TL, DL, WL) (someday these will merge to DL) [Lion Guide is gone]
d. Lion Coordinator (LC) [pack position]
e. Sub-unit Assistant Leader [Assistant Den Leaders] (ADL, AWL) [Lion and Tiger dens can have multiple leaders, but no assistants]
Committee responsibilities are assigned by functional code to a registered adult, typically a committee member.
- Unit Secretary
- Unit Treasurer
- Unit Fundraising Chair
- Unit Popcorn Chair
- Unit Product Sale Chair
- Unit FOS Chair
- Unit Advancement Chair
- Unit Membership Chair
- Unit Membership / Webelos Transition Chair (if separating Webeloes responsibility)
- Unit Camping / High Adventure Chair
- Unit High Adventure Chair (if separate from Camping)
- Unit Transportation Chair
- Unit Outdoors / Activities Chair
- Unit Good Turn Chair
- Unit Training Chair (if not Pack Trainer)
- Unit Chaplain (if not registered as such)
- Unit Health and Safety Chair
- Unit Scout Show / Special Activities Chair
- Unit Blue and Gold Chair (pack)
The Scoutbook roster is maintained by the unit. As such, it can be easily updated throughout the year. A person may hold multiple positions at the same time, each one is tracked for tenure.
- Executive Officer
- Chartered Organization Representative
- Committee positions
a. Chair
b. Member
c. Secretary
d. Treasurer
e. Unit Fund-Raising Chair
f. Unit FOS Chair
g. Unit Advancement Chair
h. Equipment Coordinator
i. Membership Coordinator
j. New Member Coordinator
k. Pack Trainer
l. Unit Training Chair
m. Unit Youth Protection Champion
n. Unit Religious Emblems Coordinator
o. Unit Chaplain
p. Unit Scouter Reserve and College Scouter Reserve
- Direct Contact Leaders and Assistants
a. Unit Leader (CM, SM, Crew Advisor, Skipper)
b. Assistant Unit Leader (ACM, ASM, ACA, Mate)
c. Sub-unit Leader (TL, DL, WL; use DL for Lion/Wolf/Bear Den)
d. Sub-unit Assistant Leader (ADL, AWL; use ADL for Lion/Tiger/Wolf/Bear Den)
- Scoutbook Administration
a. Unit Admin (pack, troop, crew, ship)
b. Sub-unit Admin (den, patrol)
Coordination between the systems has started. When a person registers as a leader, my.scouting will add their position to their Scoutbook record (if it can match the person, and doesn’t find the position already assigned). Otherwise, it will create a new account for the adult. However, it is a one way connection - Scoutbook does not currently tell my.scouting what positions a person has.
I’ll offer the opinion I’ve offered on this subject before.
Until the BSA permits any adult (not just the COR) to register for more than one position in a single unit, this will make it difficult if not impossible for many units to function. Too many units with very shallow benches for adult leadership (or just a few people who have enough time to cover multiple jobs) will find themselves unable to fulfill their adult leader roles (e.g. our former Cubmaster who was also the DL for his son’s den, our CC who is also an ASM, folks in states where the difference between a “direct contact leader” like an ASM or DL and a “non-contact leader” like a committee member makes a legal difference). Many units don’t have enough adults willing or able to serve to have just one role per adult.
In addition, we’re already suffering issues where a delay or error in council processing (or unit submission) can lead to the wrong person having access as Key 3 in my.scouting. If this were to extend to all of the adult leaders in a unit, there would likely be large numbers of units with Scoutbook/IA2 access problems that would require the council registrar to sort them out. I can’t imagine if the registrar or one of our unit Key 3 had to manage all of the functional roles, too.
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This is the features request form and thus, this is my feature request is to commit to “one truth”.
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Well, “one source of truth” forces an org to get their act together. Either the policy says one role and you live by it, or you change the policy. Either the registrar maintains the data, or they don’t.
The pain we have been seeing the last month are due in part to more than one “source of truth”.
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You left out another option, which is “you die by the policy.”
I’m not arguing that it wouldn’t be better for the BSA to change the policy, then handle everything in one place. I suspect, however, based on past experience with how BSA software has been implemented/re-architected, that the response will be to change so that the policy is automatically enforced on all units, whether it works or not, and units will collapse.
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