December Scoutbook Update

Oh Boy! Exciting news.

What happens if someone (parent) does not have a my.scouting login?

How will this work for families with multiple parents who don't have a my.scouting account.

Families who fill out a paper application don't get one if their scouts are Wolves or above

BSA is pushing the "Scouting" mobile app for that.
https://scoutingwire.org/check-new-scouting-mobile-app/

I just wish scouting.org would quit giving folks a BSA ID number for YPT completion while paper applications processed give those same folks a new BSA ID. Can we please get some consistency?

Lea Ann, I always write the BSA# from my.scouting.org on the adult applications I received. I have never had an issue with someone getting 2 numbers.

Please hold off your questions until after they post the FAQ it should answer your questions.

What is the proposed date for this implementation. It's been advertised for months SSO is coming. What's the expected date for the start?. While asking for a date... Is Jan 1 the actual day people can go back to re-registering their units for those that didn't get in on this system on time?

Waiting to provide an FAQ until after implementation, especially since the transition is happening "soon", does not allow Units time to provide our families with expectations and "how things will work going forward." We have been actively using Scoutbook for years. Most of our parents have Scoutbook logins and will be extremely confused when the transition occurs, requiring Unit leaders to aid in the transition. What is the plan for linking my.scouting.org accounts (which most families won't have) and their existing Scoutbook accounts?

This is not the way to run a very large transition for a large, entrenched userbase. This is myopic thinking which solely considers how new users will use the system.

Here here Sean Smith. I have a large pack, and we've been using Scoutbook for a few year. I have most of my parents using it actively, and most are not registered leaders, so most of them will not have my.scouting logins. I'm talking over 100 families. I don't have the time to support getting them all a new login and walking them through that.

This is the opposite of good customer service. FAQs should be provided before a roll out and updated as the rollout continues.

My question though is how are Scouts going to login now? You’re going to make them create a my.scouting account and how are they being linked if they don’t have an account yet.

this is so cool. we already make parents get ypt training and this is another reason for them to get a my.scouting account.

will we be able to see parents YPT status too?
what about their training? we'd like our parents to (voluntarily) enroll in the introductory courses on cub scouts and boy scouts. we'd like to see their status too

This would be good if this happened when Scoutbook was first rolled out. Now I have to make sure 50+ parents are sync'd up with BSA.

Sean
Don't jump to assumptions until you read the FAQ when it comes out.

How about coming out with the FAQ now? Waiting until you have changed everyone's access to the program and posting the FAQ in a blog within the program seems poorly thought out.

Um . . . how can you have a "frequently asked questions" if no one is allowed to ask questions before the "frequently asked questions" has been released? If no questions are asked, then there ARE no frequently asked questions.

Having worked on these sorts of projects before, the best thing to do now is to prepare your accounts for merging by making sure that you have the same information (email address, BSA ID number, etc.) recorded in both the current ScoutBook and My.Scouting account. This helps the automated synchronization process and makes it more likely that you will be able to login to ScoutBook with all of your current access rights on day 1 of the combined authentication system.

Other things to note: BSA membership is not currently required to create a My.Scouting account (nor do I think it has ever been). Anyone can make an account free of charge. (You are somewhat limited in what you can do with a My.Scouting account if you don't have an active BSA membership, but you can still create an account in My.Scouting without one.) If your council and unit allow it, you can actually use your My.Scouting account to apply for BSA membership online.

People who don't currently have a My.Scouting account probably shouldn't create one until after the transition, unless they need it for reasons unrelated to ScoutBook (e.g. taking online training). The steps to create a new My.Scouting account and link it to ScoutBook records should be easier and better documented after the transition.

Okay - so the SSO has been activated - where is the FAQ posted? And does "waiting on council to complete registration process" mean?

Can you also get the password routines updated? One site says no longer than 20 characters and the other is no longer than 12. If you are using a proper password hashing algorithm it should not matter how long of a password is used. And if you are not hashing then give me a call to discuss.

Well my Leader account is locked out (for 30 minutes) because I could not remember my My.Scouting username and password. Why can't my email and password still work??

Jim,

The FAQ is in a new Blog post.

Ed and Bill: The FAQ needs to be revised so that it addresses how parents who are not registered with the BSA and do not have a my.Scouting.org user name and password are going to be able to access their Scout's Scoutbook records. If you don't have a solution for this problem yet, please say so and tell us when that glitch will be fixed.

Mark, click the Scoutbook User Advisory Council Badge below my trained patch to the left. You’ll find a variety of user guides and videos.