Hi-
I’m writing to flag an issue we just experienced with Scoutbook Plus and to raise a broader concern about the overall functionality of the platform.
Earlier today, SB+ sent out six duplicate reminders for the same event at the same time. This went to 130+ parents in our unit. As you can imagine, many of our families are already frustrated with what they perceive as “spam” from SB+. While they understand it’s not truly spam, repeated and unnecessary notices create a poor user experience and are causing some parents to opt out of email notifications entirely.
The problem is that when parents opt out, we lose a critical communication channel, and then have no effective way to reach them with important information about meetings, events, payments, and safety-related updates.
This ties into a larger concern:
When is National going to deliver a well-functioning, fully integrated software platform that units can use to effectively and efficiently manage all aspects of their operations? Specifically, we need a reliable system that can handle:
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Communications and targeted messaging
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Newsletters and announcements
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Calendars and event scheduling
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The full suite of tools required to manage a unit using modern technology
I recognize that SB+ is a work in progress, but it is frankly staggering that we still don’t have a platform that meets current standards for reliability and user experience, or that aligns with the quality of third-party tools many of us have used in the past.
Thank you for your time and for any clarification or assistance you can provide. Our goal is to support our Scouts and families as effectively as possible, and having a dependable platform is a big part of that.
