Important Information on the Scoutbook Youth Advancement Sync

My Advancement Chair loves the sync - True one hour a week for him

In the Last Paragraph it says you can "unapprove" scouts in scoutbook and then sync the rest of the unit. How do you 'unapprove' scouts?

Melinda - go to the scouts page / click Memberships / click the current membership you want to unapprove / click to toggle on the bottom left side that says approve - now that scout is not counted against sync. Setup your sync then go in and reapprove that scout

It worked great for me the first time I used it....With the exception I couldnt print the report from ScoutNet. Our Scout shop will only accept that one. The second time it didnt work at all and ended up having to key everything into Scoutnet....luckily it was a small list!! Looking forward to trying again cause I love me some Scoutbook!!!

Julie,
Your scout shop must be accepting the unit advancement report directly from Scoutbook from sync'd units. If they have questions about that, they can contact the national advancement team at: advancement.team@scouting.org

Once you are sync'd your not going to be getting reports form Internet Advancement anymore

I don't know what 'didn't work at all means' would you send me your contact information and a good time to call to: scoutbooksync@scouting.org

thanks!

Julie, do all of the scouts on your roster have an A with an arrow circling it by their name? That’s how you know they are in sync.

A couple other things to watch for:
1. There is a little delay between when you approve something in Scoutbook and when it makes to to The other BSA systems.
2. If you had previously done the load roster step in Internet Advancement, new things synched won’t show up until to click start over.
3. You shouldn’t need to go to IA at all. If the advancement report from Scoutbook has the sync logo on it, that means it is golden, and scoutshops are supposed to accept that.

I have activated the sync for my unit earlier, what report do I need to take with me to the scoutshop? I was under the impression this was to get away from paper reports? Am I missing something?

Mike, from the purchase order in Scoutbook, scroll down to the bottom and click advancement report. The report should have the sync logo on it.

Note that the button for the advancement report presently does not show up on mobile devices.

How do you remove a scout who is no longer in the pack I cant remember how to get them off

Ashley - got to the Scout, click on “[Scout’s] Membership”, put in an end date and save. That will remove him from your unit without deleting any of his data.

Thanks Jacob, That's why I'm not seeing it. I'll check that out on my laptop later. Does that need to be turned in every month?

Mike,

An advancement report needs to be turned in to the Scout Shop whenever you are purchasing restricted awards.

Mike, for Cub Scouts you should only need to print it for ranks and certain special awards. I usually print it if I have anything other than adventures just to be safe... rather than going through the trouble of figuring out what is restricted and what’s not.

I have sync'd up all our Youth with no issues but we are having issues with the Adult Training ScoutNet sync - some Adults work, some don't - any suggestions for things we can check on our side to fix this?

Jonathon,

Adult Training Sync is different that Advancement Sync. Please post your questions in the Using Scoutbook forum with more details about what you are seeing. We are better able to help in the forums than in the blog.

What is a realistic timeframe for submitting ranks and awards to having them actually update in Internet Advancement?

I can't verify my account to activate this. I have the correct bsa id number. Not sure where to go from here

Edit: My browser was putting the wrong password into the Scoutbook window. Fixed

Cory I have seen 1 hour from me pressing Approved in SB (when unit is in sync) to a few days. Bottom line is now having been in sync over a month, I do not even look at IA anymore.

Cory, they usually update within about 24-72 hours. At Internet Advancement, you will need to click on the "Start Over" button and reload your roster before you will see the update.

Cory,

We recommend not using Internet Advancement (IA) after activating sync. There are some awards that do not appear in IA even though they are in ScoutNET (the Database behind IA).

My issue is that as the Advancements Coordinator I can't activate the sync, because it has to be done by one of the Key 3. However, I'm the only one who handles any of the online accounts - ScoutBook troop admin, internet advancement, service hours reporting, annual re-charter, etc.
I've asked them to activate sync and told them exactly how to do it but they have not and just seem content to have me keep doing everything that takes place online.

You can do everything but the Key 3, Verify Yourself and final activation step. Then after that you can administer the unit without their involvement. But one of them as to activate. What I did was, I got everything setup and ready. Sat the committee chair down, and walked him trough the final steps. Took 2 minutes.

If you have questions, please ask them in the Scoutbook forums:

https://www.scoutbook.com/mobile/forums/using-scoutbook/

"Invited" isn't the correct word. "Ordered" is a bit more accurate.

In our council, rank badges are free if we use Internet Advancement. I printed out the advancement report that Scoutbook prints out (one page form 34403), which is different from the report that Internet Advancement prints out (multi-page Advancement Report Package), and they wouldn't accept it. Luckily it was only 2 badges ($5). If this is how it's going to be going forward, hopefully there is some training going out to the scout shops. This is a national run scout shop.

Rob,

Councils direct Scout Shops on what paperwork to accept, even the national run shops. Every council has received multiple notices that the Scoutbook logo advancement report is to be treated the same as the report from Internet Advancement. I suggest contacting your council advancement chair or council staff to discuss the situation at your Scout Shop.

Yep, I spoke with the office staff at our council branch office today. Another gentleman from another pack was having the same issue. They had no idea about the change.

Thank you Rob for bringing that to our attention. We had sent notifications out before, and we are doing so again. The direction will be a reminder that Scout Shops staff should know that the Advancement Report (with the sync mark) from Scoutbook and the Advancement Report from Internet Advancement are both certified and should be accepted

I feel like I missed a major notification/email - when did the scout shop require certified reports to purchase advancement for cub scouts? And the emails made it sound optional but being that you will be locked out of approving advancement if you don't do this --doesn't sound optional. Do we need to contact Scout Shops or will National being putting out information at Round Tables?

Courtney,

Scout shops have always supposed to have required advancement forms to purchase Cub Scout ranks. All councils have been notified several times that the Scoutbook logo advancement report is acceptable for purchasing awards.

I can't use sync currently as our pack still uses pack master for all official tracking activity. There have been a few of use trying to convince them to switch but no luck so far. Does this mean that I will no longer be able to approve advancements and awards in ScoutBook after the 1st of the year? I use that as a sanity check to make sure I have everything recorded over in PackMaster.

William,
Yes, effective 1/1/18 you will not be able to approve awards in Scoutbook unless you are sync'd.

Thanks Bill, but all other functions will continue to work correct?

William,
Send a note to scoutbooksync@gmail.com with your contact information and a good time to call, we can discuss a couple of alternative approaches.

William, Yes, all other functions will work. Note that by virtue of not being able to approve anything, you will not be able to generate a Purchase Order.

If you have added a couple of new scout into scoutbook getting them set up and ready, but their apps have not gone through and hit the roster yet, can you "unapprove" them, and get synced, and then add them back in when the sync is complete? When their apps go through, can you sync individual boys?

BJ, yes. After their applications have been put in, you can add their BSA ID #s and then add them to the sync individually.

BJ Bruce,

Yes, after enabling sync, any Scouts not in sync will have a yellow bar on their main screen with a link to enable sync. Any admin can enable sync for individual Scouts once sync is enabled for the unit.

I am trying to sync a scout that transferred from another unit. His member id is on the profile that is "owned" by the other unit. They have been difficult to get in touch with to transfer the scout. I do not have access. I tried entering a new scout profile for him, but I get an error message that his BSA membership number is already used by another scout. Is there a way to reach someone who can transfer a scout for me if I can't reach the unit?

Brandee,

If his parents are connected with full control (or possibly Edit Profile) and can see his Membership page they should be able to transfer him to your unit and add you as a connection. You should not be creating a new account for him. If his parents cannot move him because they do not have the proper access, send an e-mail to Scoutbook.support@scouting.org with his personal information, the old unit and new unit and council(s). They should be able to move the Scout for you.

I've tried to activate and it keeps saying my info is not right from my.scouting.org during the verifying
all the information is correct

Kenneth
Take a look at the instructions linked here: http://bit.ly/syncadv there are troubleshooting tips in the guide.
If you are still having issues, send an email to: scoutbooksync@gmail.com with your contact information and a good time to call

Problem. Did the sync and it went perfect with one exception. For some reason the program awarded a bunch of Webelos Shooting Sports awards to Scouts who are Bears. The awards only show up on the "Needs Purchasing Report" (They are not showing on individual records, group records or Pack records). The rest of the awards on the Needs Purchasing Report are correct and we can avoid buying the un-needed by selection. The problem is that they show on the report which means they were approved and I can't find record of them being approved and it is impossible to award a Webelo award to a Bear Scout in the program anyways. What do I do? How do I get this corrected?

Mark - I would ask that you check those scouts in Internet Advancement to see what the record is there. Additionally, it may be best to report this in the forum section so that the issue can be carefully examined.

Mark,
Sometimes there are errors in the ScoutNet data that are moved into Scoutbook with the sync.

Move the scouts with the problem to a Webelos patrol. You can then click on the advancements and clear the date field and unapprove them. Then move them back to the appropriate den.

To easily move Scouts from one den to another Go to the Webelos den, at the bottom of the list of Scouts is a Add New Scout button. Press that button then click on the sentence that says "You can also invite existing Scouts already in the troop to join this patrol." Click on the scouts you want to move and click on Invite (they won't be invited, they will simply be moved.) After adjusting the advancements reverse the process to move them back to their regular den.

Feel free to send an email to scoutbooksync@gmail.com if you have questions.

Two of my Scouts have had their membership numbers "appropriated" by someone else, so we cannot sync. This is completely beyond our control; I cannot even see who "appropriated" their numbers to initiate correction. How is this possible?

There should be some sort of verification national, regional or council level if the unit key 3 cannot access corrections.

Charlie, if the BSA ID #s match what is in the Member Manager at my.scouting.org, then it sounds like there is a duplicate somewhere in the system. Please send an e-mail to scoutbook.support@scouting.org explaining the situation and provide as much identifying information as you can (full names, BSA ID #s, unit number, district, council, your name and position with the unit, etc.).

Thanks Bill. Problem solved!!

Might be nice if it worked. I cannot get it to work nor anyone to respond help me on this.

Kenneth
Send an email to scoutbooksync@gmail.com with your question or post it on the thread here: http://bit.ly/syncadv

Once again, blindsided by National. Right after I pay for another year, we HAVE to sync, or lose functionality. Sync infers changes flow both ways. If somebody messes up in ScoutNet (that never happens) I will no longer have a reliable backup to that information. That's a lot of what I liked about Scoutbook. I could share information, but not give up control of it.

Jim,

Scoutbook sync is the first visible step to the BSA retiring Internet Advancement. If a mistake is made in Scoutbook, removing approval will remove the award from the Scout's record. You no longer need to contact your registrar to have an award that mistakenly added to Internet Advancement removed.

Jim,
As Ed points out the sync will give you visibility into the permanent records for your Scouts. If a mistake is made at council you will see it and you can change it in Scoutbook and that change you make will be on the Scout's permanent record. I think you will agree that it doesn't do the Scout much good if your records are accurate but the permanent BSA records are not. This puts you in control of your Scout's permanent records.

I am trying to do my sync now but it does not recognize me as a key 3 leader and doesn't recognize any of my scouts BSA IDs. Is there an issue with scoutNet talking with scoutbook right now? Yesterday I was on here making sure all my scouts had IDs and my Key 3 was checked off. I have verified my.scouting.org also and it shows me as the Cubmaster. Is there anything I can do to fix it or is it just the systems are talking to each other right now? Thanks.

I'm listed as the Cubmaster on the Charter and on My.Scouting.org yet the Sync Activation claims it can't verify me as a Key 3. What am I missing? My Member ID on My.Scouting.org matches my Scoutbook profile.

There appears to be an issue with the key 3 validation step at the moment.

The issue with the key 3 validation has now been resolved.

I have synced my unit up and it is working perfectly. However, I have a couple scouts who have left the program since we synced up. I can not delete their profile now. How do I remove this scout so I don't need to pay or track someone who is no longer attending meetings?

Tyler, see this user guide: http://bit.ly/2cZfrUl

I entered a scouts member id number and won't allow it. It says someone else already has that number in Scoutbook. I confirmed that I typed in the correct number, please advise.

Successfully synced but still shows red flag. Will the red flag eventually go away?

Jason, go into edit pack and check the charter expiration date. If the date is past, change it by a year.

My pack is all synced and shows an A by all the boys. I ran the purchase order and things looked great on the report but it's been a week and the adventure loops and rank advancements don't show up in internet advancement, should it? If so, what do I need to do now?

Kelli, Internet Advancement (IA) is a static view of what's in the advancement database. In order to refresh the view, you need to click on the "Start Over" button at IA, and then reload your roster.

If you have further questions, please ask in the Scoutbook forums. It is difficult to tell when there are new posts in the Blog.

https://www.scoutbook.com/mobile/forums/

I synced back in December and everything has been working well. I have a new scout I need to add and the option to import roster from ScoutNET is no longer there. I can shoot an email to the DE to get his member # and enter it myself and this will solve the problem for now. However when recruitment takes place in the fall I will have 20+ new members to add. Why can't I import from ScoutNET anymore? If I submitted new membership paperwork at recharter will they eventually show up on my account? It's ridiculous to think I'll have to manually enter all the new scouts when someone is already doing that at the scout office.

How do you go about moving a scout after he makes his Eagle and turns 18 years old to an adult scouter on scout book?