They have quite a number of systems on different vintage platforms. They have prioritized / triaged the order of system upgrades / migrations. Their budget and project management capability is limited. So, we get what we get. We can complain (I do) and we can try to influence, but it doesn’t do a ton of good. They are very open to true bugs. So, I try to focus on using the systems the best I can AND point out every bug, no matter how minor. They do a decent job of squashing bugs as they do see them as unacceptable.
1 Like
@Stephen_Hornak — Record keeping, specifically correcting or adding past awards, leadership positions, etc. If you will, a ‘scouting resume, as @ZacharyMcCarty named it.
@Matt.Johnson — I’d be very interested to see their migration roadmap and the terminal architecture of their data management. From where I’m sitting … well, let’s just say I’m keeping a paper copy of everything.
Mark
@MarkWilkinson2 - how does any of this bring value to any scouts? I really would not be able to see your impressive and outstanding scouting career… scoutbook is about the scouts and not the adults.
@stephen_hornak — If it is about the scouts and not the adult scouters, why does it track scouter positions and training? How does this stuff bring value to the scouts? By ensuring every scout has a trained leader.
@MarkWilkinson2 - trained leaders is what my.scouting.org is for sport.
@Stephen_Hornak — Yep, and if you’ll notice, they’re trying to integrate those systems.
@MarkWilkinson2 - sorry but the trained leader reports are in my.scouting.org and the adult leadership positions are self reported until the purchase of scoutbook by the BSA. Again, I would ask how your scouting resume is of value to me as a long time committee chair… sell me on YOU.
I stand corrected. When Scoutbook was originally implemented, the developer had no access to import data from BSA systems. The list of Councils at that time was probably only those that existed then. After the BSA purchase, Scoutbook was updated to be able to read the list of Councils from Akela. New Councils can be added from this list. When a merger occurs, all current units and members of the merged councils are moved to the new council. Ended membership in the old council may remain in the old council. This is why you see some merged councils but not the full historic list of councils.
They shared it 2-4 years ago, but never comprehensively since.
What I have gathered publicly is that there are 3-5 systems.
Scoutbook is built on Microsoft ASP. It is outdated and monolithic. It is hard to update.
IA 2 is where Scoutbook is going. It shares the backend database, but uses a new platform. These forms are now in a 3rd party system they were in Scoutbook, but broke often.
The den leader experience is a 3rd interface that is built on top of the same database as IA2 and Scoutbook, but is very inflexible. They seem to say that it will get better some time in the future.
Awhile back, they tried to take a big step forward with IA 2 and expand the system to include a more comprehensive calendar. It failed miserably and was withdrawn in a week or 2. Nothing heard about it since, but I think it has taken a back seat to other pressing system developments.
There is Akela which may be the backend database.
There is ScoutNet and my.scouting. I’m not sure how they are related. ScoutNet may be the backend and my.scouting the front end.
There is some crazy old system that is only used to track eagle hours, but was used to track all before.
There was IA version 1, which not too long ago was still used for Explorers, but now Scoutbook supports Explorers.
There is some big transition that needs to happen with registrar tools at the end of the year. So, there isn’t a lot of other development going on to meet this big milestone. A part of that milestone is the new rechartering system. It is built in/on IA2. In the past, it seemed to have more common with my.scouting.
my.scouting, while the current system, has a main menu called legacy. The application system in my.scouting has improved a lot over the last year or so.
The training system is in a 3rd party system.
There are 2 Order of the Arrow Systems. NOARS or something like that for national registration of events and training. Then there is OA LodgeMaster. There is very minimal, but some integration for OA LodgeMaster to check membership and YPT status.
There are a couple of apps: Scouting and myScouting. Scouting is “the red app” and only for parents to interface with their Scout’s unit and advancement. There is myScouting which is an app version of my.Scouting. I often go to my.scouting on my iPhone directly. I use Scoutbook as a shortcut on my phone is isn’t 100% a webapp, but close.
This topic was automatically closed 24 hours after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
