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.
I am posting a newly released FAQ with this post. Specific to transferring youth:
What are reasons I cannot transfer a youth?
Only youth in our database with a “parent relationship” can be transferred so a notification can be made. This relationship can be corrected in ScoutNet, contact your scout office to have them make this connection.
Youth that are too young to join a unit will not be able to transfer (such as a Cub Scout joining a Venture Crew).Transfer and Multiples for My.Scouting Job Aid 11 18 2020.pdf (604.5 KB)
I went to see if my Scouts had parent connections in my.scouting (I’m the Scoutmaster). I was surprised that I could not see who their parents were. I never looked before, but this seems like something that should be added as a report or an extension of a report. It would allow units to “self check” the parent to Scout relationship. Am I missing where I can see this? I know I see it in Scoutbook, but I assume that isn’t “official”.
Ugh, more work for our busy council registrars to go and link scouts and parents in my.scouting. This needs to be a self service thing that a parent can do when they log into their own My.Scouting account. I know this capability used to exist, since I did it for my own son.
The thing that stinks is we can’t have them be surgeons, we are having them be generalists. If could all check before we have to transfer everyone that a parent is there and connected, we would only have to pass on the ones that are missing BEFORE it is needed.
It is surprising that this isn’t part of recharter. I would even say that it would be a wise requirement, like the other recharter checks, to require each scout to have a “parent on record”. Seems almost even like a youth protection type thing even. Say there was something where council or others needed to get ahold of a parent. There are youth in the system with no parent on record. Again, doesn’t seem right. I know recharter is hard enough.
It probably does now, but way back when my son joined, I guess that link didn’t happen because I had to link him. It also doesn’t help for a second parent that isn’t on the youth application. This should be something a parent could do in their own My.Scouting profile.
In order to see the Member Manager, you need to be one of the unit’s Key 3 or a Key 3 Delegate. I believe it’s also available to Chartered Org. Rep. Delegate and Executive Officer.
That sounds like a bug, because the Pack Trainer does not typically have a need to access the Member Manager – just the Training Manager. If they do, the unit can add them as a Key 3 Delegate.
There is also a New Member Coordinator registered position, which should give automatic access to the Member Manager.
There is a Registration Inquiry role that is supposed to give read-only access to the Invitation and Application Managers.
There was a Registration Support role that gave access Training Manager, Member Manager, Invitation Manager, and Application Manager. I am not sure what happened to it.
It does not appear one can Multiple in MBC either… at least not intuitively yet.
(speaking of - “Multiple” as an action button doesn’t speak volumes to me)
When I attempted to add MBC as a Multiple, it provides the Error: “Applied to Organization should be different from Existing Organization”. Presumably MBC would have been an option later in the process, as there was no Role selection prior to the Background questions, either. Which makes system-sense in that those will change conditional to the Org selection. Not intuitive either, though, and will likely result in support questions.
So the question is: What is the Unit Type (Pack, Troop, Crew, Ship) or Unit Number selection to be able to add Merit Badge Counselor to a given Application?
Thanks for the continued progress, folks! Very encouraging.
The new system appears to have been designed to support new “multiple” registration for units only. That helps with transitions of Cub leaders to Troops, and Troops to Crews. But it doesn’t yet appear to help with Council/District positions, including MBC.
That said, I’m wondering if you “might” be able to register with a District if you have the district application link (which district leaders can find in the invitation tool). However, I’m guessing that won’t work if you’re already registered in a position on the District level, as the Application tool seems to prevent this. While that makes sense for units (where you can only register in one position at a time), that’s not the case for other levels.
All that said, I gather from another thread that there are more features planned to support District registration.
And therein lies the rub… this terminology makes sense to registrars and long-time district volunteers, but no one else. So why do we keep building new technology that only further confuses our volunteers? Maybe we should use the opportunity to rethink the underlying processes (or at the very least, the interface)?
Personally, I would love to see the system evolve to where you register once with the BSA (with all the attendant checks), and perhaps manage your annual membership renewal yourself. Then, a second system would allow you to apply to as many unit/district/etc positions as you like, which would then be reviewed through a separate process on a rolling basis. But I’m a dreamer
