9/20/19 Product Update

Product Updates
1

BSA IA 2.0

We have made progress with TroopTrack’s integration with the BSA’s new Internet Advancement updates (IA 2.0/Scoutbook). As most know with the recent updates the BSA made to their Internet Advancement systems TroopTrack’s TurboNet is no longer. TroopTrack has created a way for us to upload rank advancements TO council. You can see a video on how to do this here: Internet Advancement 2.0 6. TroopTrack is just releasing today a feature to synchronize FROM council. With that done, we will be able to import scouts and adults into TT. Users will need to open a support ticket and attach the files and TroopTrack support will assist. You can do this by selecting SUPPORT in the top menu, and then selecting SPREADSHEET IMPORT/EXPORT and then select SCOUTBOOK from the “Type of Import” dropdown.

There are three types of exports you can do from scoutbook.com, from your Unit page toward the bottom there is Export/Backup:

  1. Scouts Roster - would get your scouts member information
  2. Scout Advancement - self explanatory
  3. Leaders & Parents Roster - for their member information

Right now we only have support for importing people and rosters from Scoutbook. We are adding other importers soon for achievements, but for now you would attach the Scouts and/or Leaders & Parents files.

Since the Internet Advancement exporter file only works if names and BSA ID’s match exactly, what TroopTrack will do is when the files are imported from BSA we will first match BSA IDs and then update existing records with exact names from Scoutbook. That way the names in both TroopTrack and Scoutbook are exactly the same.

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If you are trying to upload your TT data into IA 2.0, know that IA 2.0 has some pretty strict data validation. Please double check that your TT data matches the records with scouting.org and confirm that all data matches what is in Member Manager. Even if your scouts have the correct BSA ID numbers, even the names and other information have to match. Our new ability to synchronize FROM council should help with this task. Make sure you follow completely what is listed in IA 2.0.

Previously there was an error when closing out completed IA 2.0 reports that would result in a 504, this has now been fixed.

Trail Life Troops

We have removed old rules that affected Trail Life troops and prevented them to take action on “unregistered” members. So now we no longer check to see if they are registered or not before allowing them to add achievements, etc.

Trail Life users now have access to the standard TroopTrack support options (previously they had to go to National first).

Signup Bug

For the last two weeks there was a bug that was causing trial signups to crash if there was already a unit with the same number in TroopTrack. This has been fixed and now troops can enter their true troop number at signup again.

TroopTrack Developer Program

For members of the TroopTrack developer program, we’ve fixed a bug in the API that caused the “get my info” endpoint to fail. It is now working. Remember, you can request access to the TroopTrack developer program by submitting an application on the “developer program” menu item in the menu that appears by selecting your name on TroopTrack.

Contact Us

If you have any ideas about features you’d like to see tackled on the next TroopTrack product update, make sure you post your suggestions to https://community.trooptrack.com/c/new-ideas or if you have any other site feedback, please post to https://community.trooptrack.com/c/site-feedback

Thanks,

The TroopTrack Team

1 Like
2

Thanks Tyler, so we have people registering online and now appear in Scoutbook, so to get them into TT, we create a support ticket as above, but what files do we attach?

3

There are three types of exports you can do from scoutbook.com, from your Unit page toward the bottom there is Export/Backup, Scouts would get your member information, Scout Advancement self explanatory, and Leaders & Parents for their member information. I know in our workflow we are typically adding parents and scouts into TT manually long before they register and are in SB so this would be most helpful for Advancements, especially for transfers, but every situation is different.
@MartinBuckley, In your case if they register online then you would want to do the Scouts export CSV to get their information imported directly rather than having to type it in manually. This will include everyone, I could not find an individual export for a particular scout. If everyone else exists and has proper information then it may not matter. @Tyler, what is the best procedure just upload the whole file and existing data is skipped or updated as needed, and new data is added?

4

Right now we only have support for importing people from Scoutbook. We are adding other importers soon, but for now you would attach the Scouts and Leaders & Parents files.

5

Since the Internet Advancement exporter file only works if names and BSA ID’s match exactly, when we import people from BSA we will update existing records with a BSA ID match so that the names are exactly the same as the names in Scoutbook.

6

Thanks for the updates Dave, good to know the Advancements are not ready, somewhat of a rare use case but does happen from time to time as Youth transfer Units. That is great about the Scout importer, can head off issues with submitting advancements later.

7

How long does this import take? I submitted a request using the outlined process above and I have yet to receive word about when it will be done or if there is a problem with the files I have uploaded.

8

The last one I submitted on a Friday and I was notified it was completed the following Tuesday afternoon. It will also depend on how busy the TT staff is. When did you submit the request?

9

Last night. I get they might be busy but how is someone supposed to evaluate their product without scouts or adults in the system? Other systems import at the time of upload, without any user or support intervention.

10

Hi @Josephmdavis,

I can definitely help you out. Aaron is right, this is our busiest time of the year with everyone getting their scouting years going. We are working through all the emails, support tickets, and requests as fast as possible. TroopTrack services many troops across the country. :slight_smile:

Send us an email at support@trooptrack.com and we can get this taken care of. What troop are you with? I was trying to look you up in our system to fast track your request but was unable to locate you amongst the many Joseph Ds in our database.

Thanks,
Tyler
TroopTrack

11

I’m wondering the same thing as @Josephmdavis. Since I was trying to upload 4 months of advancements, and for the first time, I did it in two sets of uploads. The first was completed by the staff in 24 hours. The second I uploaded a week ago, and am still waiting. That seems like a pretty big gap in response. The automatic validator works really well, I hope you can completely automate this process soon. Troop 959 San Diego.

12

Hi Tyler, I’m new to TT, trying to get a handle on how to start. This is all pretty confusing to a newbie. We have a lot of data in Troopmaster, and of course in Scoutbook. What steps should I take to get all this data into TT?
Thanks,
Jeff

13

As an FYI if you do @Tyler it does a notification to Tyler that he has been tagged. There is quite a bit to TT I can understand it could be confusing. It is good and bad it has a ton of useful features but then you have to learn a ton of features and how to make them work best for your Unit. Perhaps the best starting point would be to export your SB data and follow the directions on this post to send that in. That will get all of your Users in. Unfortunately you are coming in at a transition period so the BSA Advancement imports are not ready yet. The drop down shows Import Achievements but as far as I know that does not apply to BSA units just to other types of Organizations TT also supports. They are working on Advancement Imports from SB data. Not sure if they can do anything with a Troopmaster export.

14

Hi @jffbaker.

Aaron is correct. The roster syncing has been made and works to sync from Scoutbook into TroopTrack, and TroopTrack into Scoutbook. Currently the advancement sync only works by syncing from TroopTrack into Scoutbook, but not from Scoutbook into TroopTrack. We will hopefully be launching the advancement syncing from Scoutbook into TroopTrack within the next week or two. We are currently building an importer into TroopTrack. It is a slow process as the BSA/Scoutbook has been very hard to communicate with in building this functionality with their systems.

We will gladly import your data from TroopMaster for you. All you have to do is export it as a text file and attach it to a help desk ticket. Here are specific directions for generating the files we need: TroopMaster Imports

Hope this helps,
Tyler
TroopTrack