Director of Scoutbook - 3/8/2016

Thanks for the updates Bob. It's good to hear all the work that has been done on Scoutbook recently. I'm anxiously awaiting the fix for Webelos/AOL.

Excellent work Bob and I as well look forward to the AOL/Webelos elective fix. The team is on a roll with fixes so lets keep it going.

Thank you for the detailed update, Bob. I look forward to the Webelos Adventures update. That is probably the biggest issue facing us as users right now, at least on the Cub Scout side.

Thanks for the update and fix. Hopefully there will be a way in the updated system to account for whether the adventure was already counted towards a NOVA award, meaning it can't be used towards the rank as well.

Again, thanks for your whole team for working on this and other improvements. I love Scoutbook, and appreciate the hard work to make it a better experience.

Thank you for the update! It has been one of the major questions coming my way from leaders looking for answers at our University of Scouting. This is exactly the answer they were looking for.

Bob, can you fix the link to the change log?

Thanks, Bob! This is the kind of information and progress we need to be able to continue to sell Scoutbook as the go-to platform for our units. I am personally very excited to see the planned Webelos/AoL adventure fixes.

I know a lot of leaders are also eager to see any updates regarding revisions to Report Builder that will give more detailed information on what requirements have been completed for the Adventures (i.e. identifying 1, 2, 3a, 5c as completed rather than 37% with no details as to which 37%).

Same comment as Steve Faber. I get a "Whoops" message when I click on the change log's link.

It appears that the link provided is a dead end but the actual change log within the forums is fine. Most likely a typo.

The link has a ) at the end of the link. Once you get the Woops message, just delete the ) from the URL in your address bar.

What about reviewing indexing issues that go uncorrected. There is no customer support for problems that cannot be corrected by the user.

So where is the fixed unit advancement report?

Where, in the list of priorities for Scoutbook, does updating the Nova awards fall?

Michael, the fixed advancement report is under the purchase orders. This is the Scoutbook generated report that can be turned in when purchasing rank badges.

We have discovered an issue where the report will not generate if there are more than 40 items in the purchase order.

Thank you

Still nothing with reporting. Awesome.

2016-03-08: Recent Change Log thread updates:

TODAY
Misc Bug Fixes

Scoutbook Note: The fix to remove the ability for non admin roles to remove the End Date for an admin role has not be resolved and has opened additional issues for users trying to update/remove the END DATE on a USER/ROLE. We have found the issue and will be releasing the resolution soon. Until this time PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO MAKE ANY UPDATES TO THIS FIELD. We are sorry for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience and support in this area.

LAST WEEK
Calendar and Events
Performance Improvements
Unit, Den and Patrol Pages
ScoutNET Roster and Advancement Sync/Import

2016-03-08: Recent Change Log thread updates:

TODAY
Misc Bug Fixes

LAST WEEK
Calendar and Events
Performance Improvements
Unit, Den and Patrol Pages
ScoutNET Roster and Advancement Sync/Import

I just checked and the advancement reports still only show the old Cub Scout program and not the new "adventures-based" program. This is true if I look at the unit or individual scout.

The Advancement Report is the Unit Advancement Report 34403, the report you turn into council if not using the report Internet Advancement generates. Not the Individual Advancement Record form.

Link fixed.

Questions about priorities - more detail later but headlines and order for program are:

Apply elective adventures appropriately between Webelos and Arrow of Light
Cub Scout World Conservation Award - update to 2015 requirements
Boy Scout Merit Badges - update multiple requirement changes across roughly 12 merit badges
Cub Scout NOVA Awards - update to the 2015 requirements

Bob, thanks for the update on priorities.

Is there any plan in the near future to separate Venturing and Sea Scouts in Scoutbook, now that it is it's own entity?

I feel like the program fixes and updates have been more heavily on the Cub Scout side than the Boy Scout side. Is any thought being given to increased report capability for Boy Scouting?

Reporting has been discussed for both Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, as both are deficient. The updates on the Cub Scout side have been for items that are broken Webelos Adventures as described above, for example) or wrong (Nova and other award requirements) have had first priority.

I know cyber chip need to recharge every year. Is there place in the scout book to put the date it was recharge? Outdoor activity award can be earned also every year. How can we update it? The only choice right now is to change the previous date it was done and replace to the current date it was accomplished. It would be great if the parent/scout can see the dates they accomplished this stuff.

Dolly, I wondered how my new tigers were showing 11% complete with both wolf and bear badges. Then I realized it was cyber chip not expiring. Yep, that would be a good thing to fix!
Personally, I'm still wondering about the adventure requirements and why they aren't available in Report Builder.

2016-03-10: End Date bug (3/8/2016) was apparently fixed this morning (3/10/2016).

Change log - Misc Bug Fixes

"Scoutbook: We have a released the following fixes:
- Resolved the issues surrounding the end date for roles. You may now continue using this functionality. Thank you for your patience."

Thanks for the ongoing updates - very helpful. In the spirit of friendly feedback, we'd like very much to see a timeline for addressing the lack of robust reporting. Our unit made the commitment to Scoutbook in 2014, and like many other units, we are enduring the pains of maintaining manual synchronization between Scoutbook and our legacy system to retain basic reporting capabilities until they are delivered in Scoutbook. The natives are growing restless, however, and retaining and attracting competent Unit Advancement Chairs is becoming problematic when the double record-keeping demands are indefinite. There is a real possibility of our unit suspending or abandoning our transition until this basic feature gap is closed. If that happens, the threshold for resuming our transition will undoubtedly be higher. I expect other units have (or will soon have) similar inflection points.

Chris, could you provide a list of which reports you are looking for in SB?

I would like there to be a way to print out a report that is more detailed. Possibly showing all the requirements needed to complete the advancement. And a notice that e-mails sent out were read or not. And if possible attach a weather app to the event so people checking on a event on the calendar could also see the expected weather at the location of the event.

The individual advancement report for cub scouts with adventures would be a HUGE win. There is no other place in ScoutBook with a detailed, single view of a Scout's "to-do" list. I've cobbled together a custom den report, but it still just shows percentages.

Nate, are you looking for the official BSA Tiger, Wolf, Bear, and Webelos/Arrow of Light Individual Advancement Records (IAR) reports? The 2015 IAR reports only list the adventure names and date completed, and the same basic information is currently available through the Report Builder.

Tiger Individual Advancement Record:
http://www.scouting.org/filestore/CubScoutMeetingGuide/PDF/Appendix/511-812.pdf

Wolf Individual Advancement Record:
http://www.scouting.org/filestore/CubScoutMeetingGuide/PDF/Appendix/220-115.pdf

Bear Individual Advancement Record:
http://www.scouting.org/filestore/CubScoutMeetingGuide/PDF/Appendix/220-116.pdf

Webelos/Arrow of Light Individual Advancement Record
http://www.scouting.org/filestore/CubScoutMeetingGuide/PDF/Appendix/220-117.pdf

Or are you looking for more of a den-level progress report that shows rank and adventure requirements that have been completed/still need to be completed?

How is the Venturing Program, Unit awards, JTE, and Leader recognition coming?

I'd also like to know how Sea Scouts is coming along.

Mr. Scott,
I have reviewed all of your blogs and unless I've missed something, I haven't seen anything mentioned in regards to Finances or some type of accounting system module. The payment log addition, was something, but not very user friendly, and found it to be disappointing. As a Committee Chair, I am looking for something that is web based like Scoutbook and something that is either included within Scoutbook or if needed, even a separate accounting module all together, that my Treasurer can just pass on without a problem. I made a post over a year ago and other then the payment log, I haven't seen or really heard anything. Recently, I came across Scout Manager (scoutmanager.com), with the same concept as Scoutbook and they have an Accounting system build in and wondering why Scoutbook doesn't have one yet? My unit is looking at using there accounting system, but also, since they have created one, what about bringing Scout Manager in under Scoutbook and the creators help implement their accounting system into Scoutbook.

Scoutbook is great and really has helped scouting greatly, but the units NEED some type of accounting system (Scout Manager/Quicken) added within Scoutbook.

Thank you, Dana

My unit is just starting to research whether SB will work for us. I notice there is no way to actually log outings other than the traditional (bowling, lock-ins etc) other than the cumbersome calendar method. Can this feature be added to the main menu?

We need a better way to track individual attendance.

Mat, can you elaborate, preferably in the New Feature Requests forum? What is it you would like to see to improve individual attendance?

I would like to be able to add Arrow of Light to the boys awards. If they earned it and can wear it, it should be able to be seen in their profile as well. Thanks for all you you doing.

On the development for scoutbook - I would like to suggest that you look at this app called BAND...it has the ability to have almost a Facebook like communication, but the powerful thing is that it has a calendar that allows one click for a person with a smartphone to add the event to their personal smartphone calendar. That is pretty powerful. Our son's track team started using this - I wish the photo albums and calendar functions were like this in scoutbook

Kelly, on the scout's Edit Profile page there is a field to enter his AoL date. That will put the insignia image in his profile.

My Webelos den has completed the first year of the NEW program requirements, but Scoutbook seems only to list the old program in the Quick Entry section (and I can't get that to work). Is this a known bug/feature?

Bradley, you need to go to your Webelos Den then select Quick Entry -> Enter Adventures, not Quick Entry -> Enter Advancement. For Cyber Chip Quick Entry -> Enter Awards.

What is the best way to offer training at our Roundtable?

Ed,

Take a look at the plethora of reports provided by the most popular alternative to Scoutbook (names omitted to protect the innocent), from which many units are attempting to migrate. This would be the benchmark to strive for, but I'd start with Activities, Advancement and Order of the Arrow report groups.

Having users export flat files and swizzle them with pivots and macros isn't really viable when the skill sets of users are likely to vary widely, and increases training burdens with annual turnover.

Chris, there are several folks looking at reports from different tools. The problem is the order they are implemented needs to be prioritized. What one person thinks is a useful report, another thinks is totally useless. This is why I asked what specifically what people are looking for. Which report, which tool? How could Scoutbook improve on some of the existing reports to make them even better? If no one provides feedback, those that design the SB reports will not produce a report the users want.

@Ed - As you are well aware, a great deal of new feature requests and other miscellaneous feedback has been given by Scoutbook users over this past year (much of which has apparently fallen on deaf ears!). I, for one, have all but given up authoring my own posts and have relegated myself to "+1ing" those of others.

@Bob Scott - It would be extremely helpful to those of us that have, are, or would like to give suggestions for new or refined features to get a bit more feedback from Scoutbook itself! I'd like to see a separate forum created titled "Proposed Feature Requests." In this new forum, the thread subject would be a unique and concise one-line summary of the request with the first post containing all of the specific details. What would make this new forum different (and superior) to the existing "New Feature Request" forum, is that the creation of new threads would be limited to the Scoutbook developers (or, a few handpicked users). "Regular" Scoutbook users would be limited to just posting under and existing thread and giving their "+1" to support or providing additional details to the request.

@Bob Cain and @Ed D'Avignon - I could not agree more. I have countless posts, support tickets, etc about cub scout reports and have never had accurate information or updates provided by the scoutbook team that I have all but given up as well. Ongoing support tickets with 20+ requests for updates just fall on deaf ears.

A detailed list of priorities (in order of importance) bug tracking (with updates by the devs) and as you mentioned feature requests would go a huge way toward helping those of us who are and have been actively using scoutbook get some much needed information about functionality that is currently not working the way it should be.

I know everyone wants something different but I think everyone should agree that the basics of the existing functionality which users are currently paying for needs to be worked out and resolved BEFORE adding new functionality such as accounting, sea scouts, etc.

Greg, I certainly agree that Scoutbook should not be further expanded until existing functionality is working correctly. In fact, I think Bob Scott's priorities listed in his reply above are more or less the correct top priorities for the short term.

Opening up a web/sharepoint site is really easy. Maintaining and updating, and especially fixing the "bugs," is THE REALLY HARD PART. (Speaking from personal experience -- ugh!) Thank you, Bob & crew, many times over, for all the hard work you do here with Scoutbook, and for just trying to keep up with the demand for "more, better, faster, cheaper, ..." etc.

Two questions from me, though. (1) In "Adding Dens," will we be able to add the "new" Lions Dens (for kindergartners) and a separate AOL Den for the WEBOLS II scouts? (2) In the calendar, other than choosing "Other" under types of activities, will we be able to create a separate calendar (other than Packs and Dens, etc.) to note other-outside scouting activities, such as school or other community events?

Terry, Webelos is a multi-year program in non-LDS units. There is no such thing as an AOL den, just boys in a Webelos den working on AOL. Scoutbook has Webelos dens implemented properly.

My log in to Scoutbook with Chrome has stopped working. I can still log in with Internet Explorer still works. What has happened?

That worked- Thank you !

Richard - that would be a browser dependant issue. You can try clearing all chrome cache or at the very worst recreating the chrome user profile.

Ed, do you have pull with the developers? I think we've been asking since June 1st for the individual adventure requirements to be added to report builder like the advancement requirements used to be. I honestly can't believe it's that hard. Id should have been there June 1st, but it wasn't. I REALLY missed that when I was trying to see which stuff my scouts needed to get advanced before blue & gold. Like Bob Cain, I've all but given up on Scoutbook. If it wasn't for my Tiger leaders, who love it but don't know how much better it used to be,.we wouldn't even use SB anymore. Same people, same reports, same dragging of the feet with same lack of regular communication. Same sadness on the part of the original users.

@Doug Moore -- Amen, brother!

@Doug Moore - Seconded.

Our two year subscription is up for renewal on April 3rd. Unfortunately, I've told our scout committee that I don't think we should renew our troop subscription due to lack of feature development.

It'd be great to have Cub shooting sports awards in within the next couple months so they're ready for day camps. The ability to save drafts of messages would also be very appreciated

I have been very pleased with Scoutbook.com. Thanks for creating a great program. I do have one note for editing the Arrow of Light Program under the Scouting Adventure; "1(f) Repeat from memory the Pledge of Allegiance. In your own words, explain its meaning." needs to be removed from scoutbook since it is not a requirement in the Webelos handbook.

Michelle, Scoutbook.com follows the official BSA program guidelines. The 2015-16 Cub Scout Requirements dated 8/27/2015 has Scouting Adventure 1f. When the handbooks were printed, this adventure component was left out, probably by mistake. Since 1f. is part of the Scout rank in Boy Scouts, the boys should complete it before crossing over to make the transition to Boy Scouts easier. If you choose not to have the boys complete it because it is not in the handbook, just check off overall Scouting Adventure complete when the rest of the requirements are finished. Scoutbook does not require all of the individual requirements to be marked off in order to mark the adventure complete.

You can find the 2015-16 Cub Scout Requirements at http://www.scouting.org/filestore/program_update/pdf/Appended%20Requirements.pdf

All I have to say is.... Lone Scouts anybody

I really like this program so far, but we really need to have a customer pack/den award section that will allow us to add to our purchase orders for items in the scout stores and to keep accurate records of the scouts progression.

@Ed D'Avignon, your question on reporting priorities I find humorous. As a subscriber to the Reporting Builder forum, my inbox is cluttered with requested reports. I suggest combing through that forum and count the number of requests for various categories of reports and duplicate requests and voila you have your prioritization. After you've done that manual task, you will also have a good idea of the frustration of Scoutbook users trying to run their Packs and Troops using a tool with no good outputs of information. Beyond that, and by principle, ITS ABOUT THE BOYS! Focus on reports that help leaders help their boys to advance, and that help the boys/parents help themselves to advance.

@Bob Scott
View from the Field:
It seems to me that the needs of the National BSA are consuming most of the development time and that little focus is being paid to the functions that actually help deliver a higher quality program at the Unit and Scout levels. Having seen the transformation taking place on My.Scouting.org, it's clear that National is taking pointers, (and I suspect Developers as well) from Scoutbook to help get the national web presence into the present. That's a great and needed effort but if they really want to help units, stop mucking with all the requirements and rewriting merit badge requirements that were just changed 2 years ago (Cooking anyone?) and give the Scoutbook.com folks a chance to catch up. BSA is creating their own issues here. Even with 700k users that's really only about $200k-$400k/year max in revenue which is why nothing is getting done. The volume of new users, coupled with the feature churn from ever morphing requirements has the developers either A) fixing back end performance issues from the massive new volume, or B) spending any remaining creative development time on keeping up with the program changes & bugs.

Solution Side:
I've posted this in the Report Builder forum as well, but one simple fix that would at least alleviate some pressure would be to simply flip the axis on the report builder so that you can display/print across pages vertically, instead of displaying scouts horizontally. That one simple change would make the current report builder 50-80% more useful. I have 47 scouts in my troop, any report I do I can only get 18-20 on the screen and can't print anything more than that, flip the orientation and I can see all my scouts and have plenty of real estate for the data I'm looking for across my scouts. I can alway adjust the data points more or less but I can't leave boys off the reports as it makes it unusable.

From a business standpoint, start delivering on some reporting functionality, then double or triple the price and have more $'s to develop more features faster and you can get this thing self-sustaining. There is the potential here for much higher value, especially if you get the reporting and internet advancement sync working. But the cost of not fixing the reporting issue could be an epic loss of trust and mass exodus of units from the ecosystem. I'm rooting for Scoutbook but have to deliver the "Troop Program" today. Another 6-12 months of the same slow dev pace and we'll be forced to pull the plug, maybe sooner.

Cory, I read EVERY post in the forums. What I was asking is what is YOUR priority for reports. If I ask 10 different individuals what reports they want, I will get multiple answers. Saying you want better reporting does not help anyone prioritize what reports to do first.

The best solution we have found currently for dealing with report builders is to download the Chrome extension that will turn results from report builder into a file that you can load into Excel. You can then manipulate the results and produce a printable report. Search the Chrome extensions for Scoutbook. No, this isn't ideal, but it is a workable solution for the short term.

@Ed - From the last line of your post above, at what point does "short term" become long-term or even permanent!

Bob, I can't answer that. Bob Scott is the keeper of the priority list, I'm just a volunteer.

I am still waiting for an update on the NOVA and SuperNOVA requirements for the Cub Scouts. It is hard to track/record if the requirements listed are not correct. Any idea on how much longer this will take?

Is there any concrete timeline on the Awards section for adults? Been looking forward to this area for a while now. I work in the software development field so understand difficulties in prioritizing but just seeing the same message as coming soon gets old after a while. I hear that all the time when my company does that.

Holly, in Bob Scott's reply to this blog 19 days ago, he listed the Nova awards as a top priority. To my knowledge, none of the listed items have been implemented, yet.

James, referencing the same reply above, I am guessing adult awards aren't coming any time soon. Most/all of the "coming soon" tags are from before the BSA acquisition and are no longer valid. I think they should be removed or changed to something like "reserved for future use".

Given the desire to improve reporting in general and the number of subscribers, there may be a few developers in the crowd willing to help development. Would that be possible, or is that too complicated to try and co-ordinate?

Looks like NOVA was updated. Thank you

I need to delete a leader from my troop. How do I do that?

Ken, you will get faster answers if you post questions in the forums. But what you need to do is have a Pack Admin go to your pack's Connections Manager and remove all connections to Scouts in your pack except for the leader's child(ren). To do this quickly, click on the leader's name in the Connections Manager and the entire row will be highlighted. Next, go to the leader's positions and roles page, and put an end date on all positions and roles that are connected to your pack.

I would love to see the ability to import calendar events from third party applications, like Google Calendar or Shutterfly as an iCal. This would be a huge, "Game Changer".

eventually would be nice to have the ability to have Events signups similar to Sign-Up Genius. That would be another "game changer"!!!

HOW do I add adventures that my son has completed for his Bear badge?