Scouting America has released updates to many merit badge requirements effective 1 Jan 2026. What is the typical timeline for seeing these changes reflected in TroopTrack?
Announcement page: Scouts BSA Advancement Updates Effective January 1, 2026 | Scouting America
Direct Link to specific badge changes doc: https://www.scouting.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Major-Requirement-Changes-as-of-1_1_2026.pdf
It typically takes quite a while to get the updates done. With limited staff and focus being on support the MB updates typically take a back seat. Functionally it does not affect anything as the submittal to BSA is the completion. It is understandable when tracking partials to have the requirements correct.
@AaronKoop
We have started updating everything, and it will be available in the next few days.
So, just a thought, since troop track importing and, ultimately outcome for the scouts/cubs/adventurers is to notice when they earned the badge or achievement, do we need to keep track of the year of the requirements version? This may cut down on complexity and make it much simpler to deal with for imports of newer users going forward, this has probably been the most frustrating part to get the importer to actually do what we were expecting.
I don’t even think SB+ really keeps track of which requirement version was earned, just the date of completion and assumed it was requirements prior to that year? Maybe I’m not reading something properly but, any other takes?
This has basically been my argument and suggestion. The only thing that matters is the final completion so the individual requirements don’t truly matter. I get it some people like seeing the percentage, and it is a function of the system so they don’t want to see it go away. I personally run my units in their book for progress and then TT for finals, then upload to SB+ before CoH or Pack Meeting.
What about taking the version date and placing that as a new and optional column? That way it could still be reflected for those that wish, but wouldn’t need to be required for the import?
The problem has always been keeping the requirements updated. Especially as BSA has increasingly made small changes much more often over the last several years. Unfortunately the way the ranks are setup in TroopTrack it is not an easy task to update them. The Merit Badges are easier to update but there are so many and keeping track of which ones have been updated in any given program year is a large undertaking. I am not familiar enough with how the versions are dealt with on the back end to really make any specific recommendations. That is why I have advocated for only final completions and remove all of the individual requirements, nothing to maintain or update and units then use the Handbook and BSA published updates for Ranks and Merit Badges and the US Scouts Workbooks for Merit Badges.
ah, what do you need from the community in order to make this easier on everyone? 
Or, what would be helpful to move forward?
If enough people agreed that the indiviual requirements were not necessary then it could be put to the developers to remove those and just have the finals. If people still want the individual requirements then hopefully it could be made better or easier on the back end but that requires development. I had floated an idea of some way for a few active trusted community members to update the requirements but that also requires development to build out such an option. Any way it is done it will require development time.
from a data guy to another data guy, fully get that point completely! Let me know how I can help from a user standpoint and/or posing a question back to the community that aligns to “let’s make sure that future BSA adjustments are no longer pain points” and “let’s allow critical data to be imported from scoutbook plus easily while maintaining troop ability to log additional detail when desired”
So much has changed with SB+ that imports may not be working properly. I haven’t done testing in a while. There was a bunch of work done on imports at the beginning of the year but with changes on the BSA side they may not be working currently.
I was looking for a way to import MB completions when Scouts earn them from outside and the counselor or camp inputs them directly into SB+, so far I have not been able to get a report from SB or SB+ that accomplished that.
would it be helpful if, as a user, I start a new post about the requirements vs rank and badge update dates?
Yea, we could then see how many others itneract with it.