I love being able to print a BSA Youth or Adult application. It’s very handy!
I know this feature has been out for a while, but it hit home when I saw it because of a conversation I had with a prospective parent just the other night. They asked me if there was an online form they could use. I know that BSA has some PDFs you can fill out, but I still have to retype all of that information into Troop Track. (or wait for 2 weeks for council to get them in their system) and do an import.
It started me thinking about the application process and how much data entry we do to signup a new scout. and as a result of too much thinking I came up with a crazy request.
Would it be possible to create a public facing Youth and Adult “Application” link that we can email to our new parents so they can complete the form online and submit to our pack for review and confirmation?
It could work something like this:
Parent says “I want to join Cub Scouts (or Boy Scouts or Venturing) and your Pack (or Troop or Crew). How do I do that?”
We send them an email with a link to the online BSA application form for our Pack/Troop/Crew.
Parent completes online form providing all the information required on a BSA Youth App (or a Leader App).
They click submit to save and optionally print the youth or leader app.
The appropriate youth and adult records are saved in a “pending approval” group ( maybe use a den/patrol)
Notification is sent to the designated Pack leadership (Membership Coordinator, Cubmaster, Committee Chair, Charter Rep, etc)
Application is reviewed and approved or rejected by pack leadership.(Maybe have a status available on each pending record - Pending, In Progress, Hold, Rejected)
8a. For Approved new youth: Scout / Adult / Household records are completed (ask if a new household is needed or choose existing household)
8b. For Approved new leader: Adult/Household record is completed (ask if a new household is needed or choose existing household)
8c. For Rejected applications: after X days delete the adult/youth record. (or just delete immediately)
Pack Leader prints application, gets signatures and submits to council with payment.
It may be that I’m the only lazy person out there that hates entering all of the information from the Youth and Leader apps. Would love to hear back from the rest of the community.
We haven’t used the BeAScout online management of apps yet. We primarly use the contact management portion. Would you be willing to share with me how that process is working for your group?
What the link you provided describes is basically what I’m looking for. The key though is to be able to manage it from TrropTrack and not an external system. The other piece is to be able to import scout/adult records from the application and not have to re-key it. So integration with BeAScout may be a solution.
BeAScout has been a big improvement for us in addressing a few key items:
1 - Typos/illegible paper apps in recruiting events - no issue
2 - Getting paper apps to council - no longer required
3 - Speed of process from interest to membership
What we did was set up a short URL, which we just write down for any prospects and have them fill out. The process is pretty good. Of course, this then requires us to enter the new Scout in TroopTrack, but it’s really not a big deal. We have all of the info online, and we are just copy and pasting.
Thanks for posting this under Ideas. I thought I would copy my previous comment on the subject-
This is a feature I have seen before and love it. I noticed the last digit of my driver’s license# is not completely visible. I’ve requested this be fixed for quite sometime, but nothing ever came of it. If you could fix this I’d appreciate it! I know you guys are swamped.
Also, what permissions are needed to print your own form? Here, Merit Badge Counselors are required to turn in a new application every year. It would be great if adults could print off their own form and turn it into me, without me having to print off 30 applications for everyone, then collect signatures.
Our council has an account for each unit. I think all councils do this. Each unit keeps a few dollars in the account for purposes like this. They deduct the amount from the account.
One of my suggestions for TroopTrack is to include annual dues payments as a feature. After the prospect pays the dues, they can be approved in BeAScout.
I found where to turn on the online app at BE A Scout to make the link available for our unit. I’ll take some time to mess with it. Thanks again for the information.
I received our first Online application through BeAScout.
When I called our council registrar she told me how much she does NOT like the process. Apparently council can’t see any of the information on the app other than the scout name. It’s only after she registers them can she see it. There’s also the matter of the signature of the parent and the unit leader. We still have to print and take the “Voucher” to council and make a payment.
All this to say, I still think a TroopTrack managed app process would be useful. Being able to create the scout and adult and family records right from the application and then print it (existing functionality) to get signatures just seems like a better process. Maybe council will improve their process but not any time soon.
I agree that managing the process from within TT is the far better way to go. I copied Darren’s workflow since I think it is right on point and made a few further recommendations.
Parent says “I want to join Cub Scouts (or Boy Scouts or Venturing) and your Pack (or Troop or Crew). How do I do that?”
We send them an email with a link to the online BSA application form for our Pack/Troop/Crew.
Parent completes online form providing all the information required on a BSA Youth / Parent and or Leader APP.
They click submit to save and optionally print the youth or leader app.
The appropriate youth and adult records are saved in a “pending approval” group.
Notification is sent to the designated Pack leadership (Membership Coordinator, Cubmaster, Committee Chair, Charter Rep, etc).
Application is reviewed and approved or rejected.(Maybe have a status available on each pending record - Pending, In Progress, Hold, Returned, Rejected)
8a. For Approved new youth: Scout / Adult / Household records are completed (ask if a new household is needed or choose existing household)
8b. For Approved new parent / leader: Adult/Household record is completed (ask if a new household is needed or choose existing household) and the applicant is sent a link to create a TT user name and password account. Once the account is created, the applicant can eSign the application
8c. For Rejected applications: after X days delete the adult/youth record. (or just delete immediately) 8d. If the application is incomplete or has errors, it can be returned with comments so that the applicant can correct and resubmit. Once the application has been corrected, the applicant re-submits and the process continues.
9a. Pack Leader prints application, gets signatures and submits to council with payment.
**9b. If council accepts emailing of applications, like mine does, the completed app can be forwarded to them in the format of their choice (PFD, Word, Text, etc.) ** 10. The payment can be deducted from the Pack/troop/crew’s account, check mailed, credit card payment or however your council accepts payment.
