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When setting up a service project, one of the questions asked is “Was this service associated with an Eagle Scout Project”
I suspect that the intent of this question is to avoid duplicate recording of service hours that are reported for the project by the Councils. However, if you click “Yes” the only available option for the Type of Project is:
This present a problem when the Eagle Project is also a conservation project because the Scouts who assisted with the project do not get conservation service hours counted in Internet Advancement which means when you are checking to see if a Scout completed a requirement that requires conservation service hours, those hours are not included.
To get around this, when an Eagle Project is also a conservation project, our Troop has been checking “no” to the question asking if it was an Eagle project. We think it is more important that individual Scouts get credit for working on a conservation project than avoiding possible duplicate recording.
It would be a lot more intellectually honest if there was an option for Eagle Project types that said “Assisted with a conservation Eagle Project.” that then credited the Scouts that worked on the project with conservation service hours.
Does it really make the connection between labeling it a conservation project and getting credit or no? Or is that a manual process like other service projects?
Yes. The way the program currently works, Eagle Scout projects can only have one type: someone else’s project and the Eagle project is conservation related, the Scouts who worked on it do not get conservation service hours.
@Matt.Johnson: its not a manual process. I guess each Scout could manually enter the work as conservation hours but then the hours get counted twice, once as part of the Eagle project and then again as individual service hours. I think that double reporting is what the programmers were trying to avoid, but the solution they chose ends up penalizing the Scouts who don’t get conservation service hours credited.
It seems like the most direct solution is, rather than conservation-related being a type, it becomes a separate flag (i.e. checkbox). Then, hours are counted in the system as conservation-related based on the flag, and the “type” applies to other parameters of the project. Alternatively, “Eagle Scout Project” could become a flag, instead of a type.
I’m sure there are a lot of other approaches, many of which might be “simpler” approaches for coding it.
Matt:
You are correct: service hours do not auto-populate rank requirements or the awards that have service hour requirements. It would be nice if they did but I suspect that is quite a ways down the road.
Our unit is probably a bit stricter than most in that when a Scout tells us they completed x-number of service hours for a rand, we look to see if those hours are recorded in IA2. If they are not, then the Scout has to turn in a service hour report that is used to create the IA2 activity. We started doing that because our Chartered Organization wanted to know how many hours of service our Scouts were performing each year.
Matt: No, if it is a Troop activity or an Eagle project, the Scout in charge (or occasionally, the adult adviser) of the event is responsible for submitting the sign-in/sign-out log to the Troop Registrar. When the service hours were performed as part of an OA event, the unit’s OA Adviser posts them.
There’s a Description/Notes box under the Type of Project box. If it’s an Eagle Project, I always make a note of what type of project it is, so I can easily go back and check, if needed. I also add a note to the Scouts Rank service requirement with the type of Service and how many hours. Makes it easier to track without everyone having to go back into IA every time.
Seems like a nice process. What about using the new eagle project reporting, though? It sounds like your process is fully in the main service hour reporting screens.
Absolutely. I use the Eagle Project Reporting tool for the Eagle Scout. I was addressing the OP’s issue with not being able to label the participants’ Service as Conservation in the regular Service hour logs for Rank Advancement purposes.
I believe that the Eagle Project Reporting tool goes to Council/National and just gives them overall totals for the Eagle Project. I don’t believe that the Eagle Project section gets included in the Service Hour log for the Eagle Scout, bc I just checked my most recent Eagle and her hours aren’t there.
I’m wondering now, if I should be logging the Eagle Scout’s hours as well, because it doesn’t look like they’re included in their service log at all.
I guess we have to find out why there is the option to say a normal service entry is eagle based if it can be counted in the eagle entry AND it doesn’t rolls up at least for the scouts.
I understand that. I still log individual hours for the participating scouts, but I think we all assume that the Eagle candidate is credited. It doesn’t look like they are though.
