Import Your Merit Badges Instantly

User Guide Getting Started
1

Upload files for this importer like this.

We recently made a Merit Badge Importer! You can now send us a .csv spreadsheet of your merit badge records and we can import them for you.

This importer only applies to BSA Scout merit badges. For other achievements, see “Import Your Achievements Instantly”

The spreadsheet should follow this pattern:

Required Columns:

  • Last Name
  • First Name
  • MB Advancement
  • Completed On (DD/MM/YYYY)

Optional Columns:

  • BSA ID Number
  • Awarded on (DD/MM/YYYY) [If this column is not included, it defaults to the Completed On date]
  • Reported on (DD/MM/YYYY)
  • Note
  • Recognized (True/False) [Defaults to True]
  • Purchased (True/False) [Defaults to True]
  • Counselor Last Name
  • Counselor First Name
  • Applies to Rank

Importer Info

The order of the headers doesn’t matter. Also, headers are case-insensitive (so you can use First Name or first name or FIRST NAME). Dates should be in DD/MM/YYYY format. Only scouts (youth) are considered, so no youth or adult column is necessary like for other importers.

We try to find users by BSA ID first, then by first and last name. However, the BSA ID is optional, so be consistent in your naming. For example, if TroopTrack thinks John Smith Jr.'s first name is Johnny, use Johnny in the spreadsheet.

If the spreadsheet doesn’t contain all the required columns, we won’t be able to import your merit badges. Also, if any rows in your spreadsheet are missing any required fields (for example, no Completed On is listed for a merit badge), we won’t be able to perform the import.

Important Columns

MB Advancement

Three types of data can be imported with this importer:

  • Merit Badges
  • Merit Badge Requirements
  • Imformation about Merit Badge Sub-requirements

The MB Advancement column is used to identify the merit badge or merit badge requirement you want to import. You can import completion data about merit badges as a whole or about the merit badge requirements.

To import merit badge information, enter the name of the merit badge here, eg. Camping. To import requirement data, enter the name of the merit badge and the number of the requirement separated by #, as in Camping#1 or Environmental Science#3. Sub-requirements aren’t recorded individually in TroopTrack, but if you enter the sub-requirement letter directly after the requirement number, like Camping#5b, the importer will append that information to the requirement’s note.

Counselor Last Name and Counselor First Name

If you provide these columns, the importer will use them to find a merit badge counselor and apply that counselor to the merit badge. This is only applicable when entering root merit badge completion; it will be ignored when entering requirement or sub-requirement completion.

Applies to Rank

Enter the name of the rank that the merit badge applies to, such as First Class or Eagle. This is only applicable when entering root merit badge completion; it will be ignored when entering requirement or sub-requirement completion.

Awarded On

If you leave out the Awarded On column, then each achievemnt defaults to be being awarded on the same date it was completed. If the Awarded On column is present, we import it exactly, blanks and all (which is how you would import an achievement which has been completed but not awarded).

Example:

+------------+-----------+--------------+----------------+-----------------+
| First Name | last name | Completed On | MB Advancement | Applies to Rank |
+------------+-----------+--------------+----------------+-----------------+
| Johnny     | Smith     | 29/08/2016   | Camping        | Star            |
+------------+-----------+--------------+----------------+-----------------+
| Bobby      | Granger   | 13/02/2017   | Camping#1      |                 |
+------------+-----------+--------------+----------------+-----------------+
| Dean       | Thomas    | 02/02/2017   | Hiking         |                 |
+------------+-----------+--------------+----------------+-----------------+
| Sam        | Gamgee    | 31/12/2016   | Art            | First Class     |
+------------+-----------+--------------+----------------+-----------------+
| Sam        | Gamgee    | 19/11/2016   | Art#1          |                 |
+------------+-----------+--------------+----------------+-----------------+
1 Like
2

You mention this will support sub requirements such as 9b, but I also have seen the following format for items pretty commonly in the csv files I get from summer camps, which record which items were completed that have choices such as (Complete at least 4 of the following 6) inside those items:

Such as:
Citizenship in the World #4c[1]
Citizenship in the World #4c[2]
Citizenship in the World #4c[5]
Citizenship in the World #4c[9]

Any chance the importer will not choke on those?

3

It won’t choke on those. If there’s any text after the number the text will get imported as a note on the requirement, like this:

Completed {the string here} (2017-07-07 {the Note field here})
4

How long it takes to get update in trooptrack, its been 24 hours and I don’t see data yet.

5

How long does the import take? I didn’t receive a success or error indication and it’s been about 30 minutes but I don’t see any updates. Also, do all the MB have to be open before importing the file?

6

@AaronStorey is the importer working? I tried it last year for training but it seemed like it was not working.

7

I believe this importer is not automatic but a TT staff member takes the file and does the import. I am not sure where they are at with those. You can however get an automatic import of BSA Advancements exported from ScoutBook. You could send an e-mail to support@trooptrack.com to ask about the import you requested or do the ScoutBook import.