I am looking to figure out a good way to import advancement data into scoutbook from tentaroo. I used to be able to use advancement.csv, but I can’t find that file any more or the way to import it.
The export report from tentaroo is not in the correct format, so I want to see if they will create a scoutbook-friendly format.
Then, I need to know how to import it!
Thank you for any help / insights.
What is the file format? Is it TXT? Is it line separated? It might be a Internet Advancement file?
It is a csv file that doesn’t list each requirement completed on a separate line like advancement.csv for scoutbook requires. My problem is that I can’t find advancement.csv in scoutbook or the ability to import it any more. I’m afraid they have disabled this feature.
Go to pack/troop roster > import roster.
It’s not the most obvious place for it, since you can no longer import a roster.
Thanks this is helpful … it seems they no longer provide the import file format itself (advancements.csv) … is that true?
I have an older copy.[advancement.csv|attachment]
Let’s avoid posting personal data - this seems like an issue you need to discuss with Tentaroo
You can go to export/backup > advancement.csv to get the format of the advancement already entered. I did notice our help files don’t really take you anywhere useful now.
and we are not 100% Sure that CSV file is watched to be manually worked by staff anymore
I am running a simple test to see what happens with it since it’s been a while.
IMO, it is useful functionality. So, I’ll definitely advocate for keeping it and/or fixing it if necessary.
There is no personal data here – this was an export sample from scoutbook that I did in 2017 when that file was available.
My effort is part of a WoodBadge ticket. Troops are wasting an extraordinary amount of time inputting advancement from summer camps and other events. Helping streamline this process would create a lot of efficiencies for many troops. Thank you for advocating for this.
If your camp uses Black Pug/scoutingevent.com, they can flip a switch to allow you to download a file that works with the feature assistant extension.
@jacobfetzer - that certainly would be nice, but the councils are split on vendors, BlackPug, Tentaroo and DoubleKnot. I have several council tentaroo logins and a few that we have been to summer camp with so I will look at what they provided us as well.
@Stephen_Hornak Shoot! He even said Tentaroo in the OP. Thanks.
@jacobfetzer - no problem… done that many times myself. I can say that reporting in tentaroo is nice. The only issue I have ever run into is signing up for summer camp sessions for scouts only to find that the camp had not set a valid high limit on class size. That was the first time I had ever experienced a wait list on basketry.
The report produced by tentaroo is almost good enough. I could manually parse it if I knew the scoutbook advancement import option.
Once we knew that, we could give the file format specifications to tentaroo developers who should be able to code that very easily.
Whether they are willing to do it is another matter, but since black-pug has done it, I suspect they will.
I can look into the black-pug import extension … but I don’t have access to the black pug file format export.
The format Black Pug uses to export matches the advancement.csv import, with an extra column to identify the unit.
Tentaroo’s export format does not contain sufficient information to import without heavy massaging, at least the last time I looked in to it. There was no guarantee that the naming of the badges or requirement letter designations would be consistent - the reports seem to be designed to be human understandable, as opposed to being compatible with being parsed by software. Additionally, the versions of badges are not in the export.
To be practical to import or create a mapping tool to facilitate importing, Tentaroo’s data should be consistent and contain all the needed information. If they are willing to modify their export I can work with them to provide an import via the extension.
Can you provide the exact specifications or sample files that they would need to design an export file? The last advancement.csv import file I have is 4 years old.
Many thanks.
To get the file format, simply do an export from Scoutbook and look at columns A thru J. The Black Pug file has one additional column at the beginning called Unit. The contents of that column must include the unit number on each line (there can be additional text, the import just looks for a numeric unit number and discards any extraneous text)
Column names are Unit, BSA Member ID, First Name, Middle Name, Last Name, Advancement Type, Advancement, Version, Date Completed, Approved , Awarded.
Each line in the file is either a completed requirement or a completed badge.
For completed Merit badges, the Advancement Type is “Merit Badge” , Advancement is the full name of the badge, e.g. “Water Sports”, the version is the version year, e.g. “2017” (as it appears in the “Enter Merit Badge Req.” Quick Entry), date completed is a date, e.g. “8/5/2020”
For Merit Badge Requirements, the Advancement Type is “Merit Badge Requirement”
The tougher part to spec is the value for the Advancement field. The values should match the requirement numbers exactly as they appear in the “Enter Merit Badge Req.” Quick Entry. For example, Animation has a " Animation #3a[3]" and personal Fitness has
“Personal Fitness #6c Body”. Version and date are the same formats.
The Approved field value should be set to 1. Awarded is ignored but the column must be present.
The extension does not require values for BSA Member ID - it will attempt to match names and query the person doing the import on mismatches.
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