Scoutbook 101 Zach Otto zottoLive com Section 1

Scoutbook 101 Zach Otto: zotto@Live. com Section 1 -Unit Management Section 2 -Advancement Section 3 -Reports Section 4 -Events, Messaging and Logs

What is Scoutbook? • A unit and scout advancement tracking system owned by the BSA and directly linked to Akela, the national advancement and training databases. • Types of use include • Family. For one adult and one scout, it is free. There are subscriptions families can purchase to include more scouts and adult connections. These are not connected to Akela • Den/Patrol and Pack/Troop subscriptions are available. The scope for these is in evidence by their name. At the Pack/Troop level, the subscription can be associated with Akela to facilitate advancement and training reporting.

How Scoutbook Works • Each Object (Pack/Troop, Den/Patrol, Adult and Scout is independent of all others until a connection is made. • • A scout may have connections to multiple adults • As an adult, I may be connected to Multiple Scouts, Dens/Patrols and Units. My properties include name, positions held, training completed, and permissions for each scout I have connections to. Pack/Troo p A boy scout may be a member of multiple units. Properties include, name, birthdate, unit and den/patrol association, as well as all potential ranks and awards. • A Pack/Troop has properties that include Leaders, Scouts, Dens/Patrols. when a new Patrol is made in a troop, a new instance of that object is created, and the default connections made. • A Den/Patrol has properties that include leaders, scouts, and the Unit that created it. Den/Patro l Family Leade r Scout

Connections and Permissions • Connections define how two objects are related. • Permissions define what one object can view/change about another. • View and Edit permissions can be set as desired for each individual connection. • When Adult Leader is selected, it also adds additional properties to the connection, including the ability to approve requirements marked as completed. • Parent/Guardian also has a few special permissions allowed them.

What you see when you first sign in.

Unit Management First Time Import Roles and Responsibilities Managing Permissions and Connections from the Unit Page Adding a Leader Connection Permissions

The First Import • Sign into Scoutbook, and navigate to your Dashboard, and the Administration pane. • Select your Unit. • Below the list of patrols and scouts is a series of menu options, Select Edit Unit. • Under the Scout. NET Import enter your Scout. NET credentials and select Scoutnet Roster Import. DO NOT HIT ENTER! This will run the Update button above, and not actually begin the import.

Roles and Responsibilities • • Scout Adult Leader Parent/Guardian Other Family Member • Record activities done as family • Record activities done as a unit • Ensure recording is accurate, verify and purchase awards. Present awards to youth.

Connect Four! Places to Manage Existing Connections and Permissions • From Unit Page • • Table to manage permissions for all unit leaders and scouts Connections Manager Table to manage permissions for den/patrol leaders and scouts. From Scout Page • • • Unit Roster >> Connections Manager From Den/Patrol Page • • <Insert Scout's Name Here>'s Connections Manage individual connections to this scout. From Leader Page • • • Administration >> My Account >> My Connections Manage individual connections to this leader. Unit and Den/Patrol Pages look similar, and are there to support individual or group changes. • We will see this page on the next slide. • Scout and Leader connection management is on an individual level. • As a leader with full control you can add, remove, or adjust permissions.

Unit and Den/Patrol Page • Note the Key at the top. • Each cell represents the connection between the intersecting Scout and Leader • Can select an individual cell, or an entire row or column to modify the permissions for the selection. • This can be useful when scout or leader roles change –or- when a scout or leader leaves the unit, you can clear their permissions quickly • This list also includes the parents of boys in the Unit/Patrol, if they are connected to their scouts.

To add a Leader Connection Unit Roster, click on button for Add Leader If they already have an account, Search for Existing Adults If they don't, you can create the account for them!

To add a Leader Connection – Part 2 Selecting their Unit Position(s) will give them rights to certain tools, leaders and scouts within their scope of responsibility. For example, Committee Chair has responsibilities that span the leaders and all the scouts, while a den leader would only have responsibilities relating to their den. Admin Roles give additional rights to things management within scoutbook. DenPatrol Admins will have permissions to add and remove scouts and leaders to and from their denpatrol, and add events to the den/patrol calendar. Unit Admins have access to do this at both the unit and the patrolden level Last, we set their default permissions. If setting as a unit or denpatrol admin, the leader must have full control. If not then permissions could be customized. Same for All Scouts applies permissions to all scouts in the unit. Custom will allow you to set for specific scouts.

Permit me! • Unit/Den/Patrol leader • Send message • Quick entry • Add advancement and other logs for scouts. • Some Reporting on scout/unit. • Den/Patrol Admin tools • • • Edit den Additional Den/Patrol reports Print roster Connection manager Add scouts and leaders Approve and disapprove scouts. (See disapproved scouts. • Unit Admin tools reflect similar tools to the Den/Patrol admins, at a higher level.

Adding/Connecting with a Scout • Add a scout yourself by using a • A scout, or other adult with family, den, patrol, pack or troop plan. permissions sends you a connection request. Connection request sent by email with link to accept the request. • Scout >> Connections >> Add • Scouts managing their own account. . .

Managing Memberships • Adults • • • Can be invited to be a leader/connection with a large number of scouts and units and roles. ( I haven't hit the limit on my account) Scouts, Units and Dens/Patrols that the adult is invited to connect with show up on the administration section of the dashboard. Can manage their own memberships by removing connections to scouts, or by modifying their position information. (if adding new positions, they must be approved by a unit admin before they take effect) When connected to a scout, a loose connection (view the unit and dens only) happens with the scout's unit. Scouts • Cub scouts can be a member of one Unit and one Den at a time. • • Boy scouts can have multiple memberships at the same time. • Adult leaders can add a scout to a den/patrol Membership is managed by adult leaders who have full control permissions. • • • Manually with scoutbook Wait until registration process and sync the scout in. Scouts can be given access to their own account when the following conditions are met. • • • They are part of a paid subscription They have their own email account Someone is in the parent/guardian role for the scout That someone edits the scout's profile to invite them. ONLY THE PARENT CAN DO THIS!

Things of Note • When you remove a person's positions, it does not immediately remove all their connections. they still have connections to the unit that they were a part of, and can see the dens/patrols, as well as scout first names. they do not have permissions to view, or edit anything. over time (my time period was overnight) even that connection is removed. • Permissions are not removed if roles are changed within a unit(cubmaster to training coordinator), they will need to be modified with the connections manager. • You can add yourself to a position within a unit. you agree to join the unit roster. • However, someone from the unit admins needs to Approve you before you can have any permissions or connections to the scouts. a unit admin will also need to apply the permissions after approving the position.

Advancement Roles Where and When Automatic Sync The Scout’s Profile How – Den Leaders/Assistant Scoutmasters/Parents How-Cub Master/Scout Master How-Committee Chair/Advancement Coordinator Delivering the Awards

The Roles in Scoutbook Advancement • Parent/Family Member: Welcome and ENCOURAGED to record activities that complete requirements for ranks, merit badges and adventures. This marks them as Completed, with a GREEN checkbox. • Den Leader/Patrol Advisor/Merit Badge Counselor: Part 1, record and approve activities the scouts participate in during unit/den/patrol activities. Part 2, monitor requirements reported by parents/family members, review with the scout, and approve those. This marks them as Approved, with a BLUE checkbox. • Cubmaster/Scoutmaster: Works with den leaders/patrol advisors to ensure activities are recorded and approved in advance of scheduling a Board of Review, Scoutmaster's Conference, or committee meeting where advancement will be prepped for purchase. This marks them as Approved, with a BLUE checkbox. • Advancement Chair: Works with the Cubmaster or Scoutmaster to verify everything is up to date, and then finishes the steps within Scoutbook and Scout. NET to record and order awards. Once awards have been presented to the boys, the awards are marked as Awarded, with a GOLD checkbox.

Where and When? • Any time that does not distract the leader from their primary goal of teaching/guiding the scouts. • Any place that has internet access. • Reviewed regularly to ensure that records are up to date. • In preparation for Scoutmaster's Conferences, Boards of Review.

Automatic Sync • Currently only syncing Youth Advancements • Only COMPLETED and APPROVED will sync. If it doesn't have the blue check mark, it doesn't count. • Whichever source is most recent shows the reflected completion date between Scout. NET (Akela) and Scoutbook. • District, Council or National Awards cannot be synced from Scoutbook to Scout. NET • Scouts must be in Scout. NET roster for auto sync to be enabled. if they are not, do some research, and contact your membership staff at the council. • No duplicate scouts in scoutbook. • Once the sync is enabled, you will no longer need to use Internet Advancement for ranks. They will automatically sync. the Advancement Report in Scoutbook will be sufficient for the scoutshops. • It is recommended to STOP using internet advancement once the sync is enabled, as changes happen quicker between scoutbook and scout. NET, and the web portal may not show accurate data.

Automatic Sync • On the edit unit page, scroll to the BSA Advancement Sync section • Unit setup will be checked by scoutbook when they activate you. • Key three verifies that you are in scoutbook as one of the key 3 • Verify Scout Registration may show some discrepancies. Contact your Council Membership team to help resolve these problems before continuing. It may take up to 24 hours after they've made the change for it to be reflected in you’re my. scouting membership roster. • Once registration discrepancies are resolved, the check box will automatically turn green. • Click the agreement and activate sync.

The Scout's Profile • On an individual scout's profile, it gives the following information: • Council, Unit, Den/Patrol, Rank and Progress • Currently Earned Advancement and Adventures/MB. • Currently earned Awards • Most of these items are interactive and when selected will show you the requirements and that scout's dates of completion/notes. • Profile, Advancement, Traning, Leadership, and Logs are all below Awards.

The Scout’s Profile • • Leaders • Select your Unit • Select your Den/Patrol • Select the scout Parents • Select your Scout • Select the Scout's Advancement Tab below the Awards Section • Select the Rank the scout is currently working on • For Boy Scout Leaders • If the scout is working on a merit badge, select that merit badge, or Start a Merit Badge from below the list of ranks

The Scout’s Profile • For Cubs, Below the Rank requirements is a list of all elective Adventures for that rank • Select from either the rank requirements, or the adventures.

The Scout’s Profile • When viewing the requirements for that Rank, Adventure or MB you will see check boxes and blank boxes. • Select the box for the requirement is completed. Mark the date completed. Add a note if desired. • If you are a leader, check the Approved/Recorded box. • If you see green check boxes, that requirement has been marked as completed, but not approved by a leader. Leaders can click on that requirement and mark it as approved.

Show and Tell Take some time to explore the slides above, while signed into scoutbook, and see how they relate to your position and responsibilities.

How – Den Leaders, Cub Masters, Assistant Scoutmaster, Scoutmaster and Parents • Leaders • Select your Unit • Select your Den/Patrol • Parents • Select your Scout • Select Quick Entry • Select what you'd like to enter Cubs Scouts

How – Den Leaders, Assistant Scoutmasters and Parents • When Adventures is selected, you then select what adventure. • Enter the Date Completed, check the Approved/Recorded button • Choose which scouts attended the activity/passed the requirements • Check the requirements passed off • Add a note if desired, to remind yourself/others what was done.

How – Den Leaders, Assistant Scoutmasters and Parents • • • When Merit Badge Requirements is selected • You then select what MB, enter the Date Completed, check the Approved/Recorded button • Choose which scouts attended the activity/passed the requirements, check the requirements passed off. When Merit Badge is selected • Select the Scouts, enter the date completed and mark as approved. • Select the MB (multiple) earned by the scout(s) When Rank Requirements is selected • Select the Rank, enter the Date Completed, and check the Leader Approved box. • Select the scouts that participated. • Select the requirements completed. • Add a note if desired, to remind yourself/others what was done. • Select Save

Show and Tell Take some time to explore the slides above, while signed into scoutbook, and see how they relate to your position and responsibilities.

How – Cubmaster and Scout Master • As a Pack/Troop/Den/Patrol Admin, a Leader can view the respective Pack/Den built in reports. • We will focus on: • Needs Approval Report

Needs Approval Report • If you are a Admin for multiple units, you will have the option to select which unit you are working in. • The numbers to the right of each unit show the total number of requirements in that unit that need approval. • Below the Unit selection, Scoutbook pulls ALL completed, but not approved requirements into one place. A leader can then Approve all, or select each scout and Approve all or a portion of that scout's completed work. • This tool would be most beneficial to look at before a den/patrol meeting. Den leaders and patrol advisors can see which of their scouts has additional work recorded, and can review it with the scout during the meeting at some time before approving.

How – Committee Chair/Advancement Coordinator • As a Pack/Troop/Den/Patrol Admin, a Leader can view the respective Pack/Den built in reports. • The two we will focus on are: • Needs Purchasing Report • Needs Awarding Report

Needs Purchasing Report • This report shows all new awards, ranks, patches, merit badges and adventures that have been earned by each scout. • Here, a Leader will select the awards that should be purchased, then select the Create Purchase Order button. • Some units may want to recognize the scout earned an award, but not necessarily buy the patch/pin for it. (reuse the cyber chip for example. ) Do not add those awards to the PO. • If you already have an open PO, it will add to the existing PO.

Needs Purchasing Report (Purchase Order) • When the PO opens, the top will present you with the quantity, SKU, name of the award, and the scouts earning it. this can be sorted in many different ways using the Settings section. • Below settings, is a button labeled Advancement Report. Click on this button. The file that opens will be what you print and take for verification to the scout office. • You can print from the top of this page a page that is formatted to aid you while selecting the awards at the office • All Advancement includes EVERY Rank, Award, Badge, Aventure earned by scouts in your Unit. Use this if you want to verify that everything recorded in Scoutbook is in Scout. NET (Akela). • Click the red button to generate the file. DO NOT OPEN THIS FILE ON YOUR COMPUTER.

Show and Tell Take some time to explore the slides above, while signed into scoutbook, and see how they relate to your position and responsibilities.

Closing a PO • Once the awards have been purchased: • Re-Open the PO • Select Close Purchase Order • Once the PO is Closed, the awards move to the next and FINAL report. . .

Needs Awarding Report • Each Unit is separated by Patrol/Den, then by Scout. • I use this to confirm my purchased awards are accurate, and to make presentation cards for the scouts. • During Pack Meeting or the Court of Honor, have a leader mark of each scout who receives their awards. At the bottom of the page is the Mark as Awarded Button. • For those not at the PM, I present their awards to them the next den meeting and then mark it as awarded.

Phew! • It was a lot of information, but breaks down like this: • Parents mark things completed when they do stuff as a family • Den/Patrol leaders (adults) and Scout/Cubmasters mark things as Approved/Recorded as they complete them, and by using the Needs Approval Report • When a scout completes an award and it is recorded, it goes into the Needs Purchasing Report. • The Advancement Chair/Committee Chair use the Needs Purchasing Report to generate the Purchase Order for the awards, as well as to update Scout. NET, the national BSA database. • The Advancement Chair/assignee with permissions records when scouts receive their awards using the Needs Awarding Report.

Show and Tell Take some time to explore the slides above, while signed into scoutbook, and see how they relate to your position and responsibilities.

Reports Built In Report Builder

Built in Reports • Individual Advancement Record • • OA Eligability • • Lists boys in the unit, and those who have met the camping requirements for OA elections. Trained Leaders • • Exactly what it sounds like. Leader training status (discussed earlier) Needs Approving • Lists requirements that have been marked completed, but need to be approved by a leader • Mark as approved from this page. Needs Purchasing • Lists completed awards that are ready for purchase. • Generate a Purchase Order for a trip to the scout shop! Needs Awarding • Verify that awards have been handed out to the scouts that need them.

Training • Committee Chair, Unit Admins, Training • Each leader needs their BSA member ID • Each individual can see their own training • Those with access go to the unit page >> • Training can be synced to scoutbook from • Lists Each person, and the required training Coordinator can see unit trainings progress my. scouting. org added to their profile. reports >> Trained Leader Report for their positions. Green, Blue and Gold check marks reflect the status of each training component. • Click on a user's name to go to their training page and update the sync. • Pulls from my. scouting database. Completions recorded by the CC manually in my. scouting will come through as well.

Trained Leader Report • Sign into Scoutbook, and navigate to your unit • Select Unit Reports • Select Trained Leaders Report

Report Builder • Cubs or Boys • All or Custom selection • Select Ranks and Requirements, Merit Badges, and some awards from affiliated religious groups as data to display. For Merit Badges, you can select specific merit badges to show information for. • Settings modifies how you see that data: • % complete instead of the colored check boxes, Dates of completions, descriptions, Age, DOB, Member ID, etc. • Choose to save your report to use later (or not), then Generate the report. • Reports with lots of scouts/lots of data or both will take a REALLY long time to generate, if they do at all

Report Builder

Show and Tell Take some time to explore the slides above, while signed into scoutbook, and see how they relate to your position and responsibilities.

Events, Messaging and Logs Events Messaging • • Calendar items • If on your admin page, you select your unit, and each leader/parent/scout individually. When selecting the calendars, a default selection of meeting type, linked to the default attendees for that meeting are selected. • If done from Unit or Den/Patrol page, it defaults to select the leaders, parents, scouts of that group. • Subject and Body JTE options • Email vs. Text • • • Planned Advancement can be included with the invite. Your invitees default based on the meeting type, but you can add/remove as necessary. RSVP option Permission Slips Reminders • • • Activating text from user profile. Sends a verification text to your mobile number • Every account has an email, unless you control, does every parent/leader have a mobile number set and activated? • BCC doesn't work on either text or email. Text are one way Area Code 410

Events • Either from your Dashboard, or from your unit page, select Upcoming Events. • From there, select the Add Event button in the lower right corner of the calendar, or select an already created event from the calendar or list below.

Events • When you select a calendar and event an event to, it will automatically add the default invitees. you can customize this if you'd like. • Fill in the remaining details. • JTE items are available below the event details. These will be able to track progress in the future.

Events • Below your invitees will be two toggles. One is for the RSVP. This allows you to request attendees intent. when they respond via the link in the event reminder, they can select Yes, No, or Maybe. • Also available is Permisssion Slips. If toggled, this will send as an attachment a pre-filled out permission slip for each scout. All parents need to do is print and sign. • If desired, you can also record what advancement is being planned for the event, and include it in the reminders as well, so everyone knows what you are working on.

Events • Finally, you can select reminders from hours to up to 60 days in advance of an event. you can have multiple reminders set at once, so it can be set and forget. • If you need to update information and resend the event info, you can reselect the Send Now option to immediately send out the update.

Messaging • Once signed in and on your dashboard, select the unit you wish to send a message to. • You can also do this from the den of your choosing. • Select Send Message • Select the Leaders, Parents, and Scouts of your choice. • As you can see to the right, you can send an email or text. • Text only works if the recipient has verified their phone number. • Email works with anyone in the list, as they have to have an email address to have an account. • Inserting Upcoming Events adds a selected number of month's events to the message.

Logs • Camping • Record scout, individual and family camping. • Service • Record service projects and hours involved. • Payment • Record goals/debts along with the payments/credits made to the account via dues or other payments. • Hiking • Record the miles/events that you've been hiking.

Show and Tell Take some time to explore the slides above, while signed into scoutbook, and see how they relate to your position and responsibilities.

Thank you Scoutbook is a fantastic tool, with a lot of functionality. While available, it is up to each unit to determine how best to use it. Some units may never use the payment logs. Some may already have established means of communication and aren't ready to switch. At its heart, Scoutbook is an advancement tracking tool that incorporates additional features. Please take the information about Scoutbook, and apply it as best suited to your unit.