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 not a commissioner, but I am a council board member and I am working with a committee of volunteers who are resourceful and capable scout leaders. Some are new to scouting but a number are long term scouters. They seem to have a number of problems with these two programs that are just time sucks for them. I am striving to understand the way these two programs interact. I am not a computer “expert” but a reasonably competent user of programs but of course, I am using neither of these programs.
I have a number of questions but I just will start with basic info to see if this is the right place to ask them.
What is the interoperability between My Scouting and Scoutbook. Does entering a youth into My Scouting mean they will “automatically” show up in Scoutbook?
My volunteers feel “snowed under” by a rolling tide of monthly renewals, though they appreciate the emails that advise them that someone is coming up for renewal. This seems to be a recently new feature. Many of them remember when people renewed “all at the same time”, which is what I think I remember. Anyhow this is an ongoing burden. Is this a problem across many councils or have other councils found solutions.
I’ll stop there just in case this isn’t the correct place to be posting my questions. Thanks.
@JanetHanson- the days of the everyone renews at once when Scouting America moved to a subscription based membership. The members renew on their timeline and the unit at the end of the year. Recharter is no longer a thing. When someone applies on-line they are added to the roster at scoutbook/scoutbook plus with the overnight sync from my.scouting.org.
Thank you. As you can tell, I’m sort of starting from zero. Rolling renewals are a fact of life.
One more question–in general is the pathway to merit badge counselor application through the council office or through one of these two programs? When there is a lag in an applicant showing up in the system, I’m trying to identify where the barrier might be.
I am not sure what lag you are referring to, but sometimes registered adults do not show up immediately because the criminal background check (CBC) has not come back. The local council Registrar would be the best person to talk to about those issues.
My question was specifically about Merit Badge Counselors and a lag between when their paperwork is submitted and when they show up in Scoutbook. I think I need to understand how that application is handled in our local council office to identify barriers. Thank you for chiming in.
@JanetHanson Here is how it works in our Council. When a MBC application is submitted, the MBC information sheet with badges being requested and qualifications is routed to the Advancement Committee (who are volunteers) for review/approval. Once they make a decision, the registrar is informed. Assuming the badges are approved, the Adut application to be registered as a MBC is processed. After the overnight system sync the approved badges can be added to the person’s profile. Also, as Jennifer mentioned all registrations including MBC’s need to clear the background check. Badges cannot be added until the background check clears.
Once badges are added, it can take 24-48 hour for that to sync with SB.
So, there are several steps and dependencies from the time paperwork is submitted.
24 hours after an MBC is registered they will appear in Scoutbook. The Council then needs to add the MBs for which they counsel. This update is immediate after the MBs are added.
Good to know! Many but not all of our MBCs already have some role in scouting so many but not all will have cleared the background check but makes perfect sense. Thanks to you and @KennethLaCrosse
I’m going to abuse everyone’s good will with one more question. In your council what procedures do you use to orient parents and leaders with more responsibilities (SM, ASM, Advancement Chair) to Scoutbook. Are units just instructed to have them watch the videos? Is it a topic at Round Table? A training topic? If it’s a training topic, are there resources you use from within Scoutbook. Some of my committee felt it would be helpful for newbies to have access to a “Sample Scout Troop” to learn on so that the wouldn’t introduce error into their “official” Scoutbook. I really feel with computer programs, guided, hands on practice can increase confidence.
Thanks in advance for your answers. One of my committee members was aware of the forum and obviously a user of it. But several in my small committee weren’t. I feel there might be simple steps to increasing confidence with using Scoutbook.
@JanetHanson- units are not universal in using scoutbook and scoutbook plus. Some do not use it at all. Some upload from 3rd party tools. Some use all features. It’s a broad spectrum
@JanetHanson There are many training resources available. Most importantly is the positions specific training that those positions need to complete to know what the duties and functions as well as expectations are. BSA Learn Center The training is updated yet many feel it’s a one and done. As IT recourses are adopted then there is further updates provided in the learning center. There is also a consolidated page that is visited quite frequently for updates. Position Trained Requirements | Scouting America and for position specific Position Specific Courses | Scouting America it’s all just a click on the options to the left.
Historically, there has been a sandbox environment for classic Scoutbook. My understanding from posts here by SUAC volunteers is that no such environment is planned by Scouting America IT for the Scoutbook+ interface. If your council wants to lobby for such an environment, you likely need to reach “up” via official channels to national in order to make the case. Once IT has made a decision (or been given direction from national), it’s generally difficult for the SUAC volunteers to make inroads on that front. Even if a sandbox environment were eventually to be implemented, I suspect it wouldn’t exist until well after classic Scoutbook is fully retired and SB+ is the single official unit-interface to the advancement database.
