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 woulds like to see improvements to the Training Manager access:
Ability to see ALL ADULTS affiliated with the Troop, even if they aren’t a leader, especially when trying to validate course completion, print replacement certificates, and more. this goes along with ensuring a parent that is completing training is tracked and able to be checked for trips and events, too.
Ability to select more than YPT for a status report. How about a selection tool to select certifications you want a report of, such as YPT and Hazardous Weather; YPT, SM/ASM Specific, and IOLS; or just one specific course by itself such as Committe member or other course. Only having YPT no longer works as more training is required of leadership.
Training Validation tool works poorly. By adding adults into the Training Manager, I see the Training Validation tool CAN be retired. It’s search function works poorly, you can only display a few lines at a time (which you then have to copy and paste into a spreadsheet to be useful), the sort function doesn’t always list items properly by date (due to how the numbers are written), and you can’t produce certificate copies of from it.
I strongly agree with your points 1 and 2. The ability to more easily check the training status of all adults in the unit, registered leader or not, is very important to how many units function. I’m not as sure about your point 3.
The only issue I can see with retiring this tool entirely would be that you can’t search for training for an adult not yet associated with your unit (at least under your proposal) without it. For example, consider a new unit committee member who is not a scout parent (e.g. IH/COR wants the chartering org’s treasurer to serve as unit treasurer). To search for that person’s YPT to verify prior to association with the unit (i.e. prior to submitting new leader application), it would need to be based on my.scouting username or the BSA ID auto-generated when they registered at my.scouting. Not everyone remembers to print a certificate, and sometimes (as well all noticed earlier) the system has issues and won’t generate one.
I think that there is a world where Training Validation and a more-functional Training Manager co-exist, with the former having a very limited role for verifying training of people not yet associated with the unit.
One facet of the training manager reporting, that I do not like, is the 4 modules required for YPT completion are not reported. Only when YPT is completed is the certificate completion reported. This fails to reflect an adult’s progress in doing the modules over several days. Training validation shows all modules completed.
To complete online YPT, a person must complete four modules, SCO_3008, 3009, 3010, and 3011. (Older training had different modules.) Then a certificate posts to their account, Y01.
Training Manager has three ways to report training.
From Dashboard, click Report under Trained Leaders graphic. This reports only training required for each adult’s registered position. For YPT, only Y01 is included.
From Dashboard, click Report under YPT graphic. This reports only Y01, unless the person is within 3 months of expiration. Then is lists the courses needed by title.
From Dashboard, click Add/Search, click Search, choose filter options, choose adults desired, click view training. This reports all the training an adult has done, but reports YPT as only Y01.
As our pack requires safety training to not expire during the adult’s registration period, each adult must complete YPT in the calendar year before recharter. Direct contact leaders must also complete SCO_800 Hazardous Weather.
Because of our safety standard, #2 above never shows any modules needing to be done. None of these options help us know who is working on YPT.
However, BSA’s Training Validation tool does what we need. It shows all modules completed, almost immediately after completion. Access via My.Scouting > Menu > BSA Web Links > Training Validation.
As an example, I have a leader who worked on training last week. He completed SCO_800 and 3011. I called him to thank him for doing two modules, and encouraged him to complete his other three. He thought he had done all his training. Now he will work at finishing up.
Issues with Training Validation under BSA Web Links:
Poor search capability.
Example 1: If I use the Advanced Search option for someone that I don’t know the BSA ID# for (such as a new person), and there are more than one person with that name, or one person has multiple BSA ID #'s (For which reason I have no idea why BSA did that), you only get a prompt saying: “The search criteria used returned more than one person record. Please enter more specific search criteria.” Why doesn’t it give you a list of people under that criteria so you can find the one you are looking for?
Along with that, when a person is given a new BSA ID and the old ones are “merged” why aren’t the old ones removed from the system once the data has been migrated to the new number?
Example 2: I can put in the known name of a person and the state they are affiliated with, such as a parent in our Troop in Virginia, put in that state, and get: “The search criteria used did not return any person record. Please modify the search criteria.”
Why does it only display 10 lines of courses? Why can’t I select how many lines are displayed?
If there are multiple lines because you’ve completed the same training several times (such as YPT) why can’t you have the older lines hidden and only display most recent?
Why can’t a training manager generate a course completion certificate from this tool?
I’m sure there are more issues others see with this. Sure, it is basic and does a function, but I’ve been frustrated a number of times trying to locate a parent to validate training using “Training Validation.”
If I pull up a leader in Training Manager, yes it shows completed courses now, but what if they are part way through a module, or the module doesn’t register as completed if they did complete it? Why not show partials so I can see that they are progressing, or if there are errors while conducting the course? For example, I have a leader working toward also completing Committee Chair training, and is having issues completing SCO_472. I went into that module at home, and was able to complete is satisfactorily and verified through the “Completions” selection under My Training. Having an ability to view that as the Training Manager for a leader would also be a nice feature, especially if they are having issues and it may need to be reported. (Yes, I know it may be their computer/browser causing the issues).
