So our troop is thinking on switching to Scoutbook solely. We currently use both, but importing advancements, awards and merit badges is tedious for our AC. He would like to switch especially since the calendar is fixed and you can now enter repeat dates such as troop meetings, plc, etc… A few of us are holdouts, and it may be an obsolete reason, but if there is information entered wrong in SB, you need to call council or national to fix this, correct? Also some are not a fan of entering troop financials into Scoutbook, no need for council or national to know our financial standing especially with the national lawsuits that happened. I love how we can place important documents, camp lists, waivers, photos, websites, etc into the “share tab” so parents and scout have one place to look. Looking for thoughts from other troops on where they stand, do you use two systems? TIA
When you say importing advancements, awards and merit badges is tedious for your AC can you elaborate on what he is finding tedious? Is it the advancement report from TT upload into IA2.0 now renamed to Scoutbook Plus, or is it items downloaded from Scoutbook uploading into TT?
I have not really checked out SB Plus since the calendar improvements however I have always liked the Calendar and Communication options in TT much more. There are many more features of TT than SB Plus, however not all units use them. The MoneyBook options have been superior in my opinion. The chat feature of TT is working really well, especially as more and more people download the Mobile App it gives instant communication. The checklists and sign up sheets are not feature in SB+ that I am aware of. I still think TT has much more to offer. As Scouts are Thrifty I get the push to move and they have made SB+ better however I still think it is a long way off from having the rich features of TT.
it’s the advancement report from TT upload to IA2.0 (SB+). I was scoutmaster and now assistant sm soon stepping down to committee member and I agree with you that TT has much more to offer. If we switch to SB, I believe will be confusing to parents, just reading the comments in the SB forum. We haven’t used the chat app but have used Remind, and now switched to Whatsapp. I believe we are in for a long discussion on this… thank you for your input much appreciated!
We use both, but only use SB for advancement–because we have to.
I find SB to be very clunky. Not user-friendly.
If the issue for your AC is having to enter info in both places, you could choose to enter advancement only in SB, and tell parents that’s where they have to look for up-to-date info.
I have had HORRIFIC tech support experiences from National, so I wouldn’t believe that there’s much help if–nay, WHEN there are any issues. Even their tutorials are out-of-date, and FAQ’s are often vague and/or unclear.
I agree that I wouldn’t want to enter financials in SB.
Interesting I have never really had any issues with TT to IA2.0 uploads, the occasional issue with a name not consistent but those were found early and corrected. I was AC when IA2.0 was implemented so worked with TT quite a bit testing the import. I have since trained 2 ACs, that were non techie, to do the uploads and they have not had any issues. I am curious what his issues are.
I will ask that question tonight since we have a committee meeting. I think one of the issues is having to record in two places and with SB there are other awards available. Quick question, can the entire troop be updated in one report or does it need to be by an individual basis?
BSA limits each upload to 100 records but it can all be reported as a batch of many people, definitely not individually. What awards are available in SB that are not in TT and don’t get uploaded? We do all of our advancement tracking in TT and then just upload to BSA. I have had a few Scouts do MBs with counselors that have entered them directly into SB then have to move those into TT, so far I have done that manually. I want to look at the SB exports and see if I can create an easy workflow to get those imported into TT. Just haven’t spent the time yet.
Speaking from Cub Scouts… The primary issue with Scoutbook, is that it can take “forever” to get scouts moved into scoutbook officially. There is no real working temporary. Trooptrack allows us to enter the info the day after roundup and get started in as little as 24 hours with communications, scheduling, etc… Plus Scoutbook is still slow slow to use.
Our ACs have always entered advancement into the national database (ScoutBook/Internet Advancement/ScoutBook Plus/whatever it was called before ScoutBook). I periodically export advancement data and load it into TroopTrack. We tell our parents that ScoutBook is the official record, and TroopTrack is simply a reflection of it.
TroopTrack still has numerous features that are superior to SB+ or simply don’t exist there so I expect we’ll be using it for many years to come.
@MarkNoll, I am curious how many issues you have with parents using two systems and being confused? Often times it is bad enough having one system and parents being confused I couldn’t imagine using two.
@AaronStorey you seems to be an expert here. I have recently started helping with advancements and I have noticed inconsistencies with what is entered into TT that does not reflect in SB or something is in SB and not in TT. How can that be cleaned up easily ? Also do you have a worklfow or process leading up up COH ? TIA
@BettyMoclair,
If you are using TT exclusively for advancement tracking I would expect items to be in TT and not in SB initially. I have had items entered manually into SB, especially MB from counselors outside our Unit, that must be entered into TT. It would really depend on the cause of the inconsistencies. I did have one AC that was mistakenly entering dates into the Reported to Council field in TT so those advancements were never pulling over to an IA2.0 Advancement report to upload to BSA, thankfully I found that, corrected the process and fixed the few advancements that were marked manually.
The easiest way to get things from TT into SB is to make sure there is no Reported to Council date for the advancement and then export an IA2.0 report and upload to SB+. I still have not tested the advancement import from SB into TT, so far there have been very few items entered directly into SB so I have just manually entered them into TT and recorded a date in Reported to Council so they never show up on an IA2.0 Advancement report. Since we do all of our advancement tracking in TT I have not been brave enough to import an export from SB, I know the system is setup to not create duplicates but I just haven’t wanted to take a chance yet. I would really like to test the exports available from SB and see if it can be narrowed down more so it is targeted to specific scouts or advancements.
The workflow I have used for a BSA Troop and Pack is as follows:
- Enter completed advancements into TT - Ranks, MBs, Cub Adventures, Other Awards (Partials can also be tracked if you choose, allowing individuals to enter provisional advancements that need to be approved by a leader can be an easier way to track partials)(Can be entered individually or via Bulk, Troops tend to be more individual, Dens tend to be more bulk)
- A week or so Before COH or Pack Meeting export IA2.0 advancement report, upload to BSA
- Close out TT IA2.0 Advancement report after BSA has processed the import
- Use Advancement report from BSA to go shopping for advancement items
- TT Print from Achieve - Print - COH, or Agenda (Cubs) report for handing out awards
- Have COH or Pack Awards pass out all awards
- TT Achieve - Present Awards - Record Purchased, Awarded, Recognized date (you could use this to record Purchased after step 4) (some items might be Awarded earlier than COH, we present rank patches the night they are earned and then Recognize the rank at COH) (Some Packs present loops as earned in the Den then Recognize at Pack Meeting)