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 have three Scouts in my troop who completed their Eagle Boards of Review a week or two ago, but Scoutbook doesn’t show this.
Since we have a Court of Honor coming soon, I called my Council office and was told their back-end system shows everything completed for all three. They didn’t know why Scoutbook didn’t have that, but guessed it might be because of a change in the back-end systems that happened on the first of the year? No-one knew if, when, or how the discrepancy would be fixed.
I cannot tell if there is really an issue with a broken data sync between back-end and front-end, or if the sync really is just that slow. I’m still looking, but so far have not found any documentation that would set expectations in this regard. (It sounds like getting the whole packet back from National may take a while, but isn’t this just putting a date from one electronic database into another - should be pretty quick and easy?)
127957303, 126652398, 125128953 - Eagle isn’t in my.scouting, it probably hasn’t been awarded by National yet. Your council can ask National for a status.
We’d been under the impression that the Council would enter the BOR date when the review was done - long before any formal approval or award packet could make its way back from National. Since they said they could see it on their end, it was concerning that nothing showed up on ours.
The unit can enter the BOR date in Scoutbook at any time, you just can’t approve it. Council’s have no way to enter the BOR date in Scoutbook.
Once Eagle is approved by National, it will be marked approved in Scoutbook. If the unit did not previously enter the BOR date, this will also be done once National approves Eagle.
All - we are in the same situation as you on this, as our troop has three scouts who have completed Eagle. We got this on 1/18/2022 from our District’s Advancement Chair:
Hi troops
I received this message last night. Eagle paperwork may be delayed
“Note for the Advancement Committee – The system where we used to electronically verify Eagle applications is no longer available to us. I must certify all the applications manually and that does take quite a bit longer. We have had a lot of problems with the new system and things are a bit backed up, but I am doing the best I can with what I have to work with. Please pass the message on to units that they should be sure that everything is logged in Scoutbook, including the position of leadership. I have no way to add that, and it is delaying the verification and certification of Eagles. I am hoping National is working on a fix for this (and a number of other issues with our new registration system), but we have not received any answers on that. This is not a Council issue, this is a country-wide issue in BSA. Please pass on the message to be patient with the delay. Thank you!”
We also have a Eagle COH coming up soon with elected officials participating and are working on making arrangements for this, which may include purchasing the Eagle presentation kits prior to hearing back from National/Council.
If you schedule an ECOH before the council officially hears back from National you take a risk since the rank is approved by national, not your local council. Having been involved with hundreds of Eagle applications, there are a number of things that may cause a delay in national approval of Eagles.
From the Guide to Advancement: (section 8.0.3.0)
The Eagle Scout medal or patch must not be sold or
otherwise provided to any unit or to the Scout, nor
should the court of honor be scheduled until after the
certificate is received at the council service center from
the National Advancement Program Team.
William - thanks for your email. The thought of purchasing the presentation kits was just an idea we came up with but it seems like that really isn’t an option so we will just figure something else out. Thanks again!
The GTA goes on to say: Alternatively, a council-generated report from the PAS/ScoutNET system may be used to purchase Eagle Scout items in lieu of the official certificate.
Since the report isn’t coming from PAS/ScoutNET anymore they need to change that, but when the approval is recorded by national in Scoutbook and Internet Advancement, you should be able to print an advancement report and take that to the Scout Shop. That will occur prior to the certificate arriving at your local council.
You still should wait for that to occur before scheduling an ECOH, since, again, there are many things that can delay National’s approval of an Eagle.
@WilliamNelson Thanks for the update. We have an Eagle Scout who completed his EBOR the first week of November 2021 and has been waiting for the National verification. The BSA administrator in his profile shows the date, so he’s all set there. Are you saying all Councils have this tool so verifications should be coming soon now? I can imagine there is quite a backup as we were advised that none from our state have been processed but with no resolution at the time we inquired (before last week) - we are in Michigan. It’s been a long wait for these Scouts.
Yes, they all have the tool.
If you look at his record in Scoutbook or Internet Advancement and you see that the rank is approved, then you can print an advancement report from there and show that to the Scout Shop for the award. If it isn’t marked approved there, give us his member ID and we can double check to see if National approved it yet.
His Scoutbook profile shows that it was approved by the “BSA Administrator” three days after he completed his EBOR in November (and indeed he was verified before the EBOR). He has not received his certificate or NESA number, and our Council told us not to hold his ECOH until we receive these materials. It sounds like however this new tool will help the process across the finish line. Thanks for the insight.
If he has his Eagle approved in Scoutbook. Go ahead and print the advancement report and pick up the rank at the Scout Shop.
With holidays and COVID, it could take awhile for the certificate to actually arrive at your home. I suggest contacting your council for a status on that.
