All of the existing posts seem to run into dead ends on this topic. Sorry if this is in the wrong area…
It appears that Scoutbook does not do Rank Advancement import from the Black Pug data provided from Summer Camp. It only does the Merit Badges. What are we supposed to do with the rank data in the CSV to get it into Scoutbook? It seems they would only provide this if there was a way to use it, but that’s not looking to be the case. We have 125 requirements completed, and even with Quick Entry, this is going to take quite a while to manually enter.
Upload File & Print Report for Scout Shop in Internet Advancement (IA) - Scoutbook Knowledge Base suggests we use “Internet Advancement 2.0” to upload a file, but it does not include the format of the file. Further, it’s unclear what permissions are needed…I’m an ASM, which I would think falls under “unit leader” but the import is greyed out. Lastly, the page also says, “Scoutbook users should not use Internet Advancement.” This may be why import is greyed out, but also may be a reason to avoid pursuing this feature as it may corrupt Scoutbook and/or other record systems.
Given this, is there a way to import rank advancement information? If we do it per Scout, it will literally take a couple hours to complete this. Quick Entry might cut this down to an hour as it will still require picking each rank, then rank items, and the Scouts who complete each; these may or may not be consistent by rank.
Thanks for any guidance anyone can provide!
No. No way to do it. Gotta do it the old fashioned way.
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Sorry to say but Black pug doesn’t interface with Scoutbook so it is necessary to enter all info manually. You will have to go through the same process for Merit Badge Challenge so be prepared.
If you have the right permissions and if you use the Feature Assistant Extension for Scoutbook, then you can Import Black Pug Data – for merit badges only, not for ranks. This is in Scoutbook.
In Internet Advancement, you need to be one of the unit Key 3, a Key 3 Delegate, or designated as Unit Advancement Chair at my.scouting in order to upload an advancement file from a third party program.
Does this mean it is Ok to use Internet Advancement to import, contrary to the statement referenced above that this method should NOT be used for Scoutbook users?
If so, can you provide details on using this method, such as the file format?
Lastly, is there any work being done on Scoutbook to import Rank data from Black Pug exports?
Responding to an earlier comment: Black Pug provides a “Scoutbook Export” for events that can be imported into Scoutbook using the Chrome extension. This is well documented and works, however it only does Merit Badges. Its inability to import the rank data (even though it is included in the export from Black Pug) isn’t very clear, but implied by the focus on merit badges and omission of options for rank.
@JacobKirsch - the file import into internet advancement is provided for the users of apps like troopmaster/packmaster and not for general use.
There is a historical reason Black Pug exports Ranks and Awards along with Merit Badges.
Just prior to creating the extension - I worked directly with Black Pug to have them create an export that contained those items. In the early days of Scoutbook, there was an import function for them, but it just sent the file to Scoutbook member care who had to run some manual backend process to actually import - and that could take several weeks. I also had a tool that preceded the extension that could import them instantly.
However - that tool required manual updates whenever rank/award revisions were made in Scoutbook and it was too much work for me to maintain. So - when I created the extension I chose to not implement them until I could find a better way (I had found such a way with merit badges). Ranks and Awards are a very small fraction of the advancements that could be earned at summer camp so it was a low priority for me.
So now you know why Black Pug has them in their export.
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Thanks for the explanation, Gary!
I was hoping to use such a feature not only for camp, but general rank entry. The Scouts will bring us their books showing what they completed, and it’s very time consuming to enter them into Scoutbook. There often is no guarantee that multiple youth completed the same requirement. Our treasurer bought TroopWebHost to help keep track of financials, and I was hoping it’s method of being able to record multiple requirements at once would help, but it also relies on using the import function. I wish there was clearer instructions on using this in Internet Advancement.
After a few meetings where advancement is worked on, we have Scouts “manually sync” their handbooks by marking the requirements complete. Our advancement coordinator than goes through and marks these leader approved.
@JacobKirsch Internet Advancement does not support Requirements at this time - only completions. In our Troop the Handbook is the Truth, I rarely marked requirements off for scouts in Scoutbook. Just marked the whole rank done.
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Meaning they mark them in Scoutbook themselves? I was thinking about delegating the responsibility to older Scouts: they could take photos of the books and let us know when done so they could be approved.
This is still a missing feature. You can’t delegate it to a Scout. A Scout can mark it complete that basically says they are ready to demonstrate it.
One method to approximate what I think you’re aiming for would be to have the senior scouts sign-off the handbooks, then have the individual scouts whose work has been signed-off upload photos of the sign-offs and mark the requirements “Complete” in Scoutbook. Then, the relevant scouters can mark it “Leader Approved”.
Good idea, thanks! Forgot about the photo upload feature.
