Got very specific feedback from Vivien Tan on my data issues. One important new fact: Email addresses must be unique in Scoutbook. This is something admins can check and often get corrected with the counselors. Working to get it updated in the documentation. The Scoutbook team is on it and making good progress!
I understand they are also working on improving the error messages. Go team, go!
MIchael, et. al.: The unique email address requirement has existed for months, maybe a year. When I download, I find messages in the email field saying āchangeyouremail@scoutbook.com.ā Certainly not self-explanatory. I was told months ago that they going to improve the error message. Iām guessing the message is formatted like an email address so it will pass through the many unknown filters applied during upload processing.
WHICH, by the way, is not working again today; at least for me. Step 1 of processing gets through ~200 of 1100 records. Tells me processing is complete. The issues a message, about an error occurring processing. Please try later. Click finish.
Iāve got a District Executive on my case because a MBC is not appearing in Scoutbook. Iāve been trying to upload my Scoutbook update file for 2 weeks. While everyone at Scoutbook world headquarters may be trying very hard, I find the many problems with the administrative side of Scoutbook unacceptable and would like an explanation from the IT people including what future plans exist to make our lives more difficult.
And if you donāt know, they changed the name of the download file to include a date which is a good idea. Iāve been renaming them to include a date for months. However, the new name format broke my automated process to perform the rename and move the file to an āincomingā folder in my Scoutbook folder. Arrggh!
I am (obviously) irritated by what I view as an approach to software development and rollout that is not quite professional. Disclaimer: Iāve worked in computer technology, in various settings, since the days of the IBM 026 keypunch. IBM 026 Key Punch
I have a long list of other gotchas and grievances in and with Scoutbook. Iād write them up but it would take an hour.
I do appreciate the efforts of the SUAC members who are helpful and are taking the bullets for the software developers.
Michael,
I shared the Spreadsheet in a new Topic: āSpreadsheet to compare MBC Upload and Download Filesā in the ScoutBook Users area. Hope you find it useful.
Greg
Michael,
On the subject of āMember ID does not existā I had a counselor who had been registered in our Council for 3 years, completly disappear from ScoutNet. Or at least from our Councilās access to ScoutNet. No matter how I searched ScoutNet, by name, or by MemberID, we came up blank. We finally found her because she was still listed as an adult member of her troop. When we accessed her record thru the Unit Roster, it showed that she was registered in a SFBA, a different Council! No telling how she got moved from our Council to SFBA. With this knowledge, my registrar was able to get the someone at National to move her back into our council. We didnāt get any explanation as to how or why her membership was moved.
So strange things go on in ScoutNet/Aleka/??? systems.
Greg
Bob,
Iām another long timer going back to the PDP-11. My father-in-law worked on SEAC, the first functional Von Neuman architecture computer. (Data and program in the same memory.)
I would point out, if software were easy, neither of us would have had a career! I confess some of the recent updates, including the change of download file name, were due to my enthusiastic advocacy. Iām sorry if they lead to angina for youā¦believe me, I feel your pain. But you must admit that trying to pre-announce and address individuals about updates would add more cost and probably not work. I was raised in the Bell System philosophy of five 9ās of reliability, and software updates took an army of programmers and were done every six months. Now we deploy and beta test liveā¦and some of us get burned.
I do understand that a more sensible, sustainable MBC management system is in the works. So let us pool our resources, listen to each otherās pain, and cheer on the programmers who are sincerely working hard to make all of this work on top of a gurngy legacy back end.
Andā¦quite rightlyā¦they are working hard to support Scouts and Leaders and Parents as a priority. If a few admins get dinged in the process, thatās the right call. We can listen to and support each other.
YiS,
Michael
Scoutbook has always required every account to have a unique e-mail address. We see the changeyouremail address most often when spouses share a single address and are both registered leaders or a registrar entered a parentās e-mail address for a Scout then the parent later registeres.
If someone sees this e-mail on their account after logging in with they my.scouting.my.scouting.org ID and password, the address can be changed by going to My Dashboard ā Administration ā My Account ā email
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