Welcome! This forum has a treasure trove of great info – Scouters helping Scouters! Just a heads up, though - all content, information, and opinions shared on this forum are those of the author, not the BSA.
In the technology field, when you release improvements, it is supposed to make life on the user easier, not harder. It is supposed to improve the product to make it more intuitive for the user. I’m not sure who approved the SBIA+ calendar, but it sure doesn’t make building events, RSVP’ing, marking attendance easier at all. It makes it 10x more difficult, especially for those with large troops. Can you keep the new coding but bring back the old Scoutbook interface? I’m trying to get parents to get on and engage with it…and this just repulsed 90% of them.
Seriously, did y’all take a group of Scouts from a wide spectrum of troop sizes, etc. and Beta test this thing before forcing it? It sure doesn’t look like it.
It has been stated MANY times, the new calendar has been available to ANY unit to test and provide feedback since December. The number of issues dropped to a level where the BSA decided to transition to the new calendar.
Scoutbook is written on an unsupported platform that will not scale further. It must be replaced by a new, modern platform, which is the Internet Advancement interface.
I’m not asking for the old calendar to come back. I’m asking for the new user interface (GUI) to be similar to the old one. Same (or similar interface), newer platform. Some user on these forums said that he has been working IT for years and said it is very possible. For example, when Apple’s operating systems change…Monterrey, Sierra, Catalina, and now Sonoma, the platform is bettered to support new programs and such, but the GUI for the most part, remains unchanged.
Also, you are right, it has been available for units to “test” and give feedback, and from what I’ve seen on here (and Facebook), the feedback was that everyone hated it. But still, BSA persisted. I have a feeling everyone hated it, ignored it (kept working the old Scoutbook), and hoped that it would never get rolled out before their volunteer time ended. And I think those that did give feedback and heard the same stuff simply gave up hope because their input was going nowhere.
I got it…new ASP, etc., just make the GUI more user friendly.
My bank one time when they were putting out an app change contacted me and asked if I wanted to be part of a group to beta test it before they rolled it out. Me and about 50-100 other people across the country was given a test run. We clicked around and around and then gave them feedback…ie this function was easily accessible, this one wasn’t, etc. Their developers then went back and cleaned it up before going public. Did BSA do this with a specific group of folks? Big troops, small troops, Sea Scouts, etc.?
The BSA is not Apple and does not have the funding of Apple. The UI is what it is as there is no money to rewrite it.
Feedback on Facebook does not get to BSA IT.
Feedback on these forums was passed back to the development team and the UI has improved. For example, the time picker was changed to work like the Google Calendar time picker instead of having separate scroll wheels for hours, minutes, am/pm.
Yeah, that whole “BSA does not have the funding of Apple” is an old tired excuse.
This is 2024, companies hire IT folks to do this kind of stuff all the time. In 2013, a yearly Scout membership with Boys Life was $22. 11 years later and it costs about $95 a 350x increase over 11 years. Multiply that times a million scouts in BSA. Got it…bankruptcy, etc. etc. My little company that I work for (about 300 employees) is able to have a computer system that is fast, reliable, etc.
Yes it will be an investment, but can Boy Scouts really afford to NOT DO THIS RIGHT? This whole “internet thing” isn’t going away anytime soon. Best to bite the bullet and do it right the first time. Of course, BSA can always choose to frustrate 90% of the adult volunteers to the point that they leave, that sure wouldn’t help things.
I’m not trying to be argumentative, but BSA IT department is woefully lacking and this is the latest result. Perhaps National needs to allocate more funding or something, not sure, and I know that that won’t be decided here. BSA needs to get with the times.
I’ve got 72 Scouts in my Troop and this calendar is simply frustrating everyone. Parents do not even RSVP anymore. The buffering is horrendous…it just takes a long time to load. Trying to log basic attendance was so much easier when I can just click on the pictures and names of people and then when I hit save, see the attendance percentages. This attendance report format is terrible. The leadership grimaces every time we have to interact with the internet advancement calendar. Every. Single. Time.
Sorry edavignon, but despite any actual and pertinent reasons you may add, this is simply not an improvement…it is a degradation.
what are you talking about? You said “the new calendar has been live since December” and I replied that everyone has hated it since December. “Everyone” being the majority of us users out here who aren’t developers and on the forum every day. Run a poll and let’s see…but do not limit it to just this forum. Put it out to EVERYONE in BSA and truly get their feedback. Like the Citizenship in Society Merit Badge, I think you’ll see that everyone hates it.
The BSA has had significant staff reductions due to bankruptcy, including IT.
If you disagree with how the BSA allocates funds, there are channels for feedback. The forums are not the place for that as BSA staff does not monitor the forums. Everyone you see replying is a volunteer and we can just relay what we know.
Can you please tell me how scouts/leaders are supposed to RSVP? We are trying to figure it out and can’t. There isn’t a “reply” option in the reminder emails.
There is a known issue with the Send ASAP reminder that is being worked on by the developers.
Parents/Scouts can log in to Scoutbook, go to Events on the My Dashboard page, click on the event. This will take them to the event in Internet Advancement. The individual’s RSVP status can be changed at the top of the page. If the parent is logged in, the Scout will be listed slightly below under My Youth Connections where the RSVP status can be changed.
