In terms of money, cost for Scoutbook is $0.
The question becomes, is the time spent using Scoutbook and the parent / scout access to data worth the tradeoff of Troopmaster being a more polished program with a monetary cost and no parent / scout access to data.
Some folks believe Scoutbook is worth the extra effort because of parent and scout access. Others do not. Overall, money seems to be a minor consideration.
Having been a troop/pack master user cost was one of several factors that moved us to scoutbook. The limited access, over automated items, and the client/server framework platform all added to the move decision. Is troopmaster loaded with reports which we never used something that attracted users sure. I had a zero learning curve in our transition but perhaps I was lucky but under troopmaster there was notable need to help out leaders stuck.
The final decision is what ultimately works for your Units and leaders. It just was not a fit for us.
William:
For some they focus on the de minimus aspects of one or two or even three dollars per Scout per year. So if finances are a decision making concern (as it is for some units) then SB wins hands down since it is free.
Clearly TM has been around for many more years and for some units their investment of all that data is too much to leave behind. TM does have some features that SB does not, but one big one that SB has that TM doesnāt have is that SB is a part of BSAās IT suite and it communicates with BSAās associated appsā¦ something that TM does not do 100%. If the decision were to be made by a new unit, I think it makes no sense to NOT use SBā¦ donāt even start with a third party alternative.
I think for a unit already invested in TM the issue (as already discussed by others) is the transferring of data. I will note that since BSA bought SB IMHO TM has done itās darnedest to make it very painful to give up TM.
YiCS,
Rick Hillenbrand
National Commissioner Service Team; Technology Chair
(C) 703-477-5835
Please only send e-mails to >>>>>> rick_hillenbrand@alum.mit.edu
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YiCS,
Rick
I can speak to the question from a different perspective. While I am currently a District Commissioner, not currently associated with a Unit, I use ScoutBook a lot as a Merit Badge Counselor. From that perspective, counseling 8 merit badges during the pandemic, the ability to sign off Blue Cards electronically has been fantastic. Once a Unit Leader selects me has a Counselor for a specific badge, I receive an email, set up a Zoom Meeting with the scout and a parent and go from there. As requirements are completed, I find it every easy to enter ScoutBook, look up the merit badge, find the scouts records and check it off. When the requirements are all finished, a sign the blue card in ScoutBook and off it goes to the Advancement Chair.
Iām a long-tern Troopmaster user - used Packmaster back in the day, then started with Troopmaster inā¦ 2003 I think? I took a long hard look at Scoutbook when it first came out, back before BSA bought it, and it didnāt begin to measure up. Iāve watched it over the last few years, especially since it became free from BSA, because A Scout Is Thrifty, and Iād still choose Troopmaster. Yes, you pay for it, but on a 3-year license itās only $60 per year, which is pretty cheap for what you get. One thing Iāve observed is an ever-growing list of Scoutbook bugs and complaints on these forums, while Troopmaster just keeps humming along and getting the job done. On the rare occasions Iāve had a problem (maybe twice in 18 years), the Troopmaster tech team has responded and fixed it within a day or two at most. How fast are bugs being responded to in Scoutbook? I have to deal with Scoutbook a bit through Internet Advancement, which has generally been pretty straightforward with the file Troopmaster generates. My most recent experience with IA2 is a bit of a nightmare - itās now showing me another troopās roster, and has mingled our activity logs. Great fun.
Someone mentioned a lack of parent/scout access in Troopmaster - that hasnāt been the case since Troopmaster Web, which came out several years ago. Your TM administrator can set levels of read/write access for parents, scouts, ASMs, etc. and they can access a variety of data. My ASMs use the app to record advancement at meetings and on trips, then sync with the main database whenever they have Internet access. Scouts and parents can look at advancement progress, trip attendance, all kinds of data.
Some day Scoutbook may be a worthy alternative to Troopmaster, but todayās not that day. My license is up for renewal this summer, and my recommendation to the committee is to stick with Troopmaster for another 3 years.
TM is so much more robust that I hesitate to leave it. Although it is a bit of extra work we run both systemsā¦ SB in order to purchase awards and TM for the beauty of its granular reports
As advancement coord, my biggest issue with SB is you have to go through multiple screen loads for each requirement when transferring from the handbook to SB. In TM, all the requirements are on one panel, and you just tab from one to the next.
I know the idea is the Scout marks it done, then the SM marks agreement, then the Advancement person does the finalize tick, but getting the parent then scout to log in has been an impossible task when using TM (we even gave unit dues discounts a couple of years running and only got about 30% participation!).
So, for me SB would take about 10 times more time that TM as advancement chair!
I do like SB for MBs and would argue it is the only way to produce the Eagle Scout Rank Application (Iām also District Advancement Chair and if the Rank App is produced from SB, it saves LOTS of headaches and fewer issues arise)ā¦
If you are using TM right now, my biggest piece of advice would be DO NOT SWITCH AWAY! We made the switch from TM to SB a few months ago, and I would not do it again. TM is so much richer in features and reporting, not to mention has so many fewer bugs, that it makes the cost argument kind of silly in my opinion. Agreed with @TimothyMusson that SB makes my tasks as advancement chair 10 times (at least) as long as the same tasks in TM.
There might come a time when SB has matured enough that I would move off this position, but I definitely regret making the switch when we did.
Does anyone have any feedback on Troop Webhost in the same vein as the TroopMaster discussion?
Thanks for asking this question! Weāre TM users too and seeing all these problem posts for months makes me think weāre going to keep it!
I ran Scoutbook when it was subscription based and TroopMaster at the same time so that I could do a true comparison. After a 6 month trial period, I made the recommendation to my troop Not to switch to Scoutbook. It was not very user friendly then and I donāt see that it has improved. With TroopMaster Web the parents of our scouts can see all the information. They do not need to create accounts on my.scouting.org which can sometimes be problematic. You can create your advancement report in TroopMaster and have it create the upload file to Internet Advancement 2.0. The only problem you may have is the fact that you must be either one of the Key 3 for your unit or a Key 3 delegate. Scoutbook currently requires a yearly (after recharter) certification of your Key 3 delegate or Advancement Chairman. In all the years I have used TroopMaster and now the web version, I have never had a problem with generating reports needed by unit. I have always found it to be very user friendly.
I would say this is what we do right now. Want to move to scoutbook eventually but there is not enough features at the moment.
TroopWebHost DOES produce the IA2 file. Like Troopmaster, TroopWebHost provides a complete integrated solution, which for TWH includes accounting, budgets, JTE, fundraising, event management, calendars, advancements, public/private web pages, photos and document storage, and more. And their new mobile app is GREAT!
Just curious for all the TM users here. Thereās mention that there are a lot of reports available on TM, but not on Scoutbook. Our Pack has only used Scoutbook and Iām curious what reports are available on TM/PM that make it head and shoulders above Scoutbook and itās reports? I ask as it has been mentioned above that the reporting is superior and the reason for using TM.
@ZacharyMcCarty - we were a troop/packmaster set of units. At that time there were few alternatives. They have a number of canned reports that deal with unit management. At one point they advertised being scoutnet certified. There were also automated data entry points that took human interaction out of the equation. There was also a learning curve along with the client/server framework that would cause data lockouts. The website does roll through their features and reports. The methods to me seemed contrary to how the GTA defines the process. It was also a great contributor to the advancement gatekeeper model. Things may have changed but that was my view 10 years ago.
It may indeed seem easy to say ā¦ yeah stick with xā¦ no go with y. In the end it is what works for your unit and leaders. Honestly at this point how many providers are there in the market.
Troop/Packmaster
Troopwebhost
Scoutmanager
Troopkit
Trooptrack
I really no longer have any desire to argue the pros and consā¦ I just want to do what needs to be done for my units and scouts thank you very much.
Just saw your post. TroopMaster Web does in fact generate the report needed for IA2.0. Use the tab labeled submit to council. It recreates the import file needed. You must login to your my.scouting.org account in order to upload the file to IA2.0. This is done thru a Scoutbook link and you must be either one of the Key 3 for your unit or a Key 3 delegate.
I was talking about a different site called troop web host in this post. I know troopmaster generates the reports and I love it!
Troop web host is amazing! It handles everything highly recommend. I recommend you try out their demo site here: Troop ABC Demo
Sorry I misunderstood. I have never heard to the site. Been a Troopmaster user with current troop since 2009 when troop reformed. When my sons were in scouts in the 1990s the troop they were in were actually part of the beta version testers of Troopmaster when it was only PC based. Love the new web based version and so do the other leaders in the current troop. Now I just have to get the Scoutmaster and the Assistants to mark completions on mobile version and sync to web. They are getting better and now I only have to verify that the information is recorded in the Scout Handbook. My job as Advancement Chairman is getting easier and the leaders feel more involved.
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