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.
I appreciate all the work that has gone into the new logs. Below are some issues I found when looking at the new logs in IA and comparing to the mobile Scouting app and what was previously entered in the Scoutbook interface.
For logs that were transferred from the Scoutbook interface, all items show up in the mobile Scouting app, however on the web interface to Internet Advancement, only the last ~6 months of activities show up.
For activities transferred from the Scoutbook interface, the count of activities labelled “ENTRIES” does not include activities that do not show up under #1. Clicking on the “Download Previous Logs” lists the activities that do not show up in the interface as well as the ones that do.
Location names listed in the IA interface are truncated at 40 characters. Report shows full length location name.
Activities transferred from Scoutbook are not editable.
There is no interface in IA for parents/adults to add their own activities, only their children’s activities. Under “Youth Profile” the activity logs show up for a youth, but under “My Profile” for an adult, there is no activity logs section to enter activities.
There is no actual total of miles/nights/hours in the IA interface. Getting a total requires running the report.
Is this Scout registered in multiple units? We discovered last night that Scouts registered in multiple units have this problem. We have not seen it with Scouts registered in a single unit. A fix is currently in development.
We will investigate.
What is your roll in the unit? There may be differences in behavior depending upon the type of access you have.
The developers have been told about this. We explained it is a requirement that parents be able to enter log data for themselves.
I have two sons registered and see this issue only with the one in Scouts BSA. The one in Cub Scouts does not have this issue. Neither scout is registered in multiple units, however I am.
For my son in Scouts BSA, I am an ASM, but have no special permissions in Scoutbook. For my son in Cub Scouts, I am CM and a Unit Admin. I cannot edit activities for either one.
I updated the Zip field to include the 0 in front of the 6057 (I picked the camp from the drop-down list - Camp Workcoeman). Picked Sequassen which is in the same ZIP and it too is missing the 0 and I cannot save the record.
The date picker requires the spaces when entering a date manually - i.e. it does not recognize 10/18/20 - have to specifically enter 01 / 18 / 2020
Some camps from CT Yankee Council are not showing up in the drop down - e.g. Hoyt and Deer Lake - who provides / maintains the list.
When adding attendees to an event, I have to select them one by one in the drop down - why am I not presented with a unit roster list where I can place a checkbox next to each participant.
So far, I have to say I am disappointed about this update. I have lost useful functionality from Scoutbook, and overall the UX / UI is quite poor. My team is in software development, and I would have rejected this deployment on the basis of insufficient testing and attention to the User Experience - these are not edge cases that I am testing for, they are about as mainstream as they come.
(Sorry about not being cheerful about this - I am struggling to find a silver lining or something positive from my perspective.)
Thanks for the explanation. But if I can’t enter it, then the developers need to make it not show up in my view. Otherwise just adds to the confusion of the interface.
@ECScouter - if you look closer, the long cruise is a filter item. No harm no foul on filter items. The primary consideration is what shows up when you click the plus to add an activity.
Frost points are in the advanced tab on the camping activity.
A bit of exploring can go a long way
I see my son’s logs going back to 2014. If it was entered in scoutbook, it is in the migration.
More bugs to add to the list (not clear if others have listed these as these forum pages are so long and there isn’t a bug list in simple form I can find):
After coming to these ( discussions.scouting.org ) and then back to Scoutbook, clicking “My activity log” in Scoutbook pops open a new window login screen – apparently loses track of your login if you use another scouting.org tool?
clicking “My Activity Log” (assuming you’re now logged back in at IA) takes you to the Roster view, not the Activity view. If you are asking for (clicking a link to) an activity log, you should go directly to that individual’s activity log, not a group roster view.
running the Roster’s activity Log summary report, you get for youth and adults under Hikes incorrectly just 1 hike and incorrectly just 1 mile and under Service project incorrectly just 1, but correct hours at least. The separate detailed report (the “Activity Log” report) is correct however.
no way to edit/correct “Past Activities” that were populated from Scoutbook (why wasn’t the Scoutbook interface kept at least so we could fix things?)
no way to edit/correct past activities to adjust the conservation hours or JTE hours vs service hours…
I agree (it isn’t readily available as a “help” link button when you get stuck in IA – would be useful to have something there as most users shouldn’t have to come here to learn about it…
I cannot add the Camp-In’s that Heart of New England did and what National did the week later. I think it is asking too much data to create a camping experience.
I would be willing to assist @CharlesOlson and @ECScouter, So perhaps as the dust settles…I would gladly run a screen share to work through some of the concerns. I have found that as I work through the process the results are better.
I am sorry if I came across as either negative or hostile because that is not my intent. I have the utmost respect for the members of the SUAC, several of whom I have corresponded with for several years. The Forums have always been a place where we could have a frank discussion about Scoutbook: what works, what doesn’t work and ways to make it better. There are several features in the new Activity system that I like or think have tremendous potential. There are even a couple of features in it that I advocated for several years ago. That said, the roll out has some bugs that need to be worked out and we need better training materials on how to use the new tool. That will happen in due course, but right now we need let leaders vent about the bugs they are finding.
@CharlesOlson - I thank you for your post. I agree completely. Now I will say that as I dig through the new activities thing I managed to work around the Zip code bug. If it pre-fills the camp location which happens to be in a leading zero zip area I backed out all of the address data save for the camp name and state and was able to send.
Some early findings:
Scout enters an activity of any type within IA, they can delete it via the scouting app
Entering an activity for a future date - it is a place holder and no persons can be added until the date of the event or after.
I have entered test event types on future dates marked as do not use. If they remain as no attendee, hours, day or nights then no harm no foul
Editing past events can allow for changes via the pencil icon, then a number of options are presented. The approved entries I do not seem to be able to edit and save.
I tend to like to muck around with stuff, most often with the intent to break things but the more I muck with this the more I like it.
Additional insight:
If you find that in the list of past activities - overall view please remember to select the filter for person activities. The reason for that is because the log entries we most often done by the scout and listed in the scout record they will come over as personal activities. In order to edit them you would need to go to said scout and edit them there.
I am unit admin and Key 3 for both our Pack and our Troop. When I attempt to access the activity log, I can only see the Pack Roster. No link, no dropdown menu, no reference to our troop so am completely unable to access, view or update scout activities within troop. Obvious problem for scouts approaching upcoming COH and Eagle advancement requirements.
@MarkSchroer When you log in at my.scouting.org (my.Scouting Tools), are you able to access your troop’s info there?
When you go to Internet Advancement 2.0, in the upper right corner, do you see the Cub Scout icon representing your pack? If you click on the arrow next to it, do you see an option to select your troop?
At my.scouting.org I only have access to YPT and Training Reports for the Troop. I have access to a broad range of topics in the Pack. Lots of change going on in our council with our district boundaries being redefined and restructured. Most of the access I had 6 months ago has changed in bizarre ways. Not sure if this troop issue is related.
