Howdy folks!
It looks like there are a number of merit badges that were updated by the BSA this year. All Merit Badges A-Z | Boy Scouts of America. Also, I have noticed that First Aid is dramatically different. It looks like it was updated last year, but has not been updated in TT.
I’m hoping to import our Summer Camp achievements soon, but we need the merit badges updated.
Thanks!
-Lawrence
I’m running into this as well. My summer camp import did not go well. Looks like I 'll have to update each scout who took first aid to make it work.
If you notice a specific merit badge that has been updated and is no longer correct in TT please post specifics, it would be hours and hours of work for a single person to go through and verify each and every merit badge, where if community members post specific ones they notice it can be targeted and get updated much faster. I have sent First Aid specifically to Dave and he is going to update that one.
Thanks Aaron,
That’s why I included the link to the BSA merit badge page that details each requirement that was changed in each merit badge they updated this year.
What if there was a solution that could allow crowd-sourcing such updates, maybe via a git repository that anyone could commit changes? I’d be happy to do such a thing, and then the devs just need to double-check it and merge the changes.
Just a thought.
-Lawrence
Yes, thank you for posting the BSA page but again having a single person go through each badge and double check would be extremely time intensive. A git repository is a great idea and I can bring that up to Dave but for now our crowdsource is the TT Community so if there is a specific MB people see is outdated if they share then it can be specifically targeted. People don’t need to post the new requirements just the badge that is outdated.
Hello, I can point to two badges that have outdated requirements in TT:
We are in the same situation with camp badges as the previous commenter.
EDIT: it looks like Pioneering was updated by BSA in 2022. Does that mean that no Trooptrack users have mentioned it in the last 18 months? That seems surprising, or maybe it’s just not a popular merit badge.
It is very likely that no one reported that Pioneering had been updated, it would only be an issue if someone was attempting to input a partial so perhaps no one even noticed, or they just didn’t bother to report it. I have sent it over to Dave.
Cycling merit badge was updated in 2023. TroopTrack has the old requirements.
Can we get Coin Collecting updated - they made changes in January 2023. Thanks!
I will put in the request. Just know this is a lower priority and will take time to get updated. The good news is that it really doesn’t affect anything as far as official BSA Advancements go since only the Completion is uploaded to IA2.0, it is nice to have the correct requirements when inputing partial merit badge completions but won’t affect anything in the end with completion of MB uploaded to BSA.
Sustainability Merit Badge has significant changes in 2024. Please update. Here is the link to the new requirements.
Hi Aaron,
Anyway we can get Personal Fitness on the list to be updated? The merit badge requirements were changed in early 2023. I’m happy to point out the specific changes that need to occur if that would help.
@ShawnWalker I have let the TT admins know, unfortunately it is a tedious task to update so it is usually a lower priority than fixing bugs and implementing new features. There was a discussion on trying to figure out how to automate but that would also be a big undertaking to implement. TT is also always looking at ways to expand so more money coming in more staff can be hired to help with tasks like this.
TT is asking all update requests to be added to this Community post.
The post limits replys to 2 in a row. With Summer Camp Advancement upon us and 30 - 2024 updates to merit badges (some more common than other for sure), there will be a lot of requests for changes.
If they are completed MBs from Summer Camp then having the updated individual items is not necessary, only the completion gets uploaded to IA2.0. If you have partials those are a bit more important however still should be close enough for most MBs.
You can always add one post and put links to the MB requirements rather than the PDFs or separate posts for each MB. You can also e-mail the updates to support@trooptrack.com. There is a part time dedicated support person who is also doing updates to achievements however I am not sure what priority is being placed on them compared to responding to support requests.
Thanks. You are correct. My struggle is with partials. See example of what I am dealing with. This is Lifesaving (eagle required) which was last updated by BSA in 2021. Because one of the changes by the BSA was to basically swap req 1 & 2 it is very challenging to communicate to the Scout and family what needs to be complete. See attached.
I use links.
My concern with sending to support is repetition. I think the posting is valuable because then I won’t duplicate what someone has already sent. But if you think this is the best practice, I will do that.
I think we as leaders can only do so much. Your communication in notes is superb. For now you can either take the tact of marking the proper number or the description and put a note for what is being done.
What do you think about the idea of removing the descriptions all together and just have the numbers listed?
BSA keeps making small changes much more often than they used to, I had suggested the idea of just removing the wording and leaving the numbers and letters and perhaps a link to the BSA MB page.
The best option is posting to the Advancement page but if you have problems you can also e-mail. The part time support person is monitoring the Advancement update post, is the one that gets the support e-mails and I can also bring things to their attention specifically if I see a need.
