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.
When a scout is in both a Troop and a Crew, everything appears to go through the Crew first regardless of primary registration or position.
Example 1: My son was in both a Troop and a Crew (He is now only in a Crew). His primary registration was with the Troop. His primary position of responsibility was Senior Patrol Leader of the same Troop. When bringing up his profile, it defaulted always to the Crew. He was NOT set in the Crew to work on Scouts BSA advancement (so that setting was turned off). When printing his Eagle paperwork (while still registered with the Troop), it put in his Crew membership on the Eagle application.
Example 2: My daughter is currently part of both a Troop and Crew. The Crew is the default on her profile even though the Troop is her primary registration, and her troop leadership is set as her primary role. When entering items in on her profile (camping log, for instance), it keeps reverting back to the Crew even when I pull up the profile in the Troop.
Example 3: As a merit badge counselor, I am working with a troop to teach Pioneering merit badge. When entering in passed off requirements through the Merit Badge Counselor tools, there is one scout I am unable to enter anything in under. She is set up the same as the other scouts, and shows on my list, but it continuously says that she is not started on the merit badge. The only difference is that she is in a Crew as well as a Troop. My guess is that it is looking at her Crew membership and seeing that she is not set up in the Crew for that merit badge, and that is why the error. If I navigate to her profile and enter in the requirements on the merit badge that way, it works fine, and also shows me as the invited counselor.
This really needs to be resolved. Especially the third scenario. There should be a way to set priority, but BSA advancement should only go to the Crew if and only if the setting is checked in the Crew profile. I have verified that it is turned off in all scenarios above.
While waiting for a resolution, keep the blue cards handy and explain to each scout the problems you are having with logging online.
Explain to the scouts to hold on to their cards (membership and blue), especially their portion once the badge is completed. That way they can walk their Eagle app and their cards to council HQ, and mark any corrections that need to be made.
It’s nice to know that we’re at the situation normal that we were with the Eagles in my crew 10 years ago.
A Scout on the trail to Eagle Scout can be registered in a troop, and in one or more other units at the same time, for example, in a crew (Venturing), ship (Sea Scouting), post (Exploring), and/or lab (S.T.E.M. Scouting).
A Lone Scout on the trail to Eagle Scout can be registered in one or more other program units, for example, a crew (Venturing), ship (Sea Scouting), post (Exploring), and/or lab (S.T.E.M. Scouting).
Scoutbook
What program units a Scout can advance to Eagle Scout in are governed by the Guide to Advancement. (However there is the Lone Scout option available to Scouts in certain situations.)
My understanding is that Scoutbook does not support tracking the trail to Eagle Scout for Lone Scouts who are not registered in a troop, crew or ship. Is that correct?
I have never encountered this issue for our scouts who are in both our troop and a crew. The difference might be that I am not a registered leader in the crew, and therefore do not have any access to the crew’s Scoutbook account (I’m an admin in the troop). I do see their crew membership listed, but don’t have any problems when entering troop advancement.
I don’t have issues entering it in when I first go to the troop. It is when outside the troop (MB Counselor) that the problem arises. I notice the navigation issues with my kids since I regularly go into their accounts and have full access to them.
I have added an item to the backlog to show the Scout’s profile page from the unit that the Scout was accessed from and to allow a default unit to be selected for use when the Scout is entered from a page that does not identify a unit. I do not know when this will be scheduled for development work.
I am also encountering that issue, and wonder if it is at all related to which unit the Scout joined first? The Scouts I am having access issues with were both members of a Crew before joining a Troop.
I don’t believe it is. My son was in a Troop first. There are other scenarios that might apply with him such as moving councils, but I don’t believe it is related to what the scout is a member of first. I believe it is the backend verifying membership starting with Crew and working down from there, then stopping once it identifies a membership. I have run into this exact scenario in apps that I have developed, and am certain that is what is happening. Could be wrong, but that is what I would personally check first if I were troubleshooting, and in my experience, is most likely the case.
