Gone

@@Rick_in_CA that's a HUGE simplification. The states prior to the Civil War were concerned with the concept of nullification, not just about slavery but about ANY issue over which the federal government believed they had jurisdiction. This covered everything from natural resource rights, inter-state trade and commerce, international relations and other things which we, today, take for granted as being within the federal jurisdiction. Back then it was all within the states' power. Let's not re-write history or try to over simplify things.

I think personal reminders will get sent, but nothing a training manager can see. The BSA guy did tell me that most things in the system will only work if your BSA ID is in your profile, otherwise you are out of luck....and even then it is somewhat hit and miss.

There are Fortune 500 companies that do the same thing...and make billions!

I don't blame the support folks. They're are all scripted so they can only help with what the industry calls "Tier 1" support. Everything they "help" with is in a script. They have some level of technical know-how with the system, but they are not equipped to dig deeper. The process should allow for escalation and flagging important things like this. We will see what BSA comes back with. Update: My record *did* get re-aligned with my unit so I can get in to myscouting and my.scouting. HOWEVER, my dashboard does not show ANY of my training. My training *is* in the system, but now I have to go in to each training record to see when I need to re-cert on anything; the dashboard is just blank saying I need to retake everything. Fun!

Sadly I did not see anything in the system that will allow you to do that. Might have to do that elsewhere. One would think something as important as YPT validation would allow the training lead to get email warnings about expiring training.

On my.scouting.org you can get a YPT Aging Report at any time. As training lead for our unit I run this report every month and send emails to anyone who is within 90 days of expiring. The report gives you the status of every registered adult in your unit and notes who is 30, 60 or 90s days from expiration. It also gives you the date of everyone's expiration. The only glitch I have found so far is around recharter. When you add people to the system in January they may not show up in the my.scouting system until as late as April. We always keep a hard copy of their YPT cert on file until we have them confirmed in the system. I have not had any problems with YPT tracking beyond that. I *do* need to manually add most other training for people though. We had someone take IOLS back in February and it still has not shown up, so I added it manually. The only draw back is that you cannot add your own training, so one of the Key 3 with access to the system will need to add your training.

Update After two emails back and forth with BSA "tech support" I was left with, "Sorry there's nothing we can do. We don't know what happened? Create a new account and move along." Very frustrating, so I called the number they provided (toll call folks). After 35 minutes on hold I got someone. They verified everything I had already done and confirmed somehow my account got wiped. Gone. Poof! They said they'd been getting calls all day yesterday and today. Guess what? "System upgrade" but they're sure that had NOTHING to do with the accounts getting wiped...strictly coincidence. Really? Created a new account, used BSA ID but now have an account not liked to my unit or my training. The BSA rep validated that my account was linked on his end and that the system will "take a while" to update. Jury is out on whether he was right or not...I'll let you know. I asked for my trouble ticket to be escalated to Tier 3 and to perform a root cause analysis to find out what happened. We will see if they honor that request. If I was managing that system I surely would want to know how a ten year old that is accessed once a week is just deleted.

...and "President" or "Speaker" or [insert leader position here].

You'd have to be insane to put your entire unit in to an online system managed by BSA. If they cannot manage something as easy as myscouting, imagine how they'll screw up more complicated systems like advancement!!!

@@Mom2a that behavior is unacceptable. The camp has quiet hours I suspect. If the SM won't get off his butt to manage the problem have the camp director step in and do it for him. We had a similar experience at camp last year first night. Spoke to the troop behind us and asked them to respect lights out and quiet hours. Second night they did the same thing. Spoke to the camp director and he paid them a visit 30 mins after lights out. It was Lord of the Flies. The CD told the troop, and specifically the SM, to get quiet. Took them an hour. At coffee the next morning the CD told me that troop would not be invited back. Come to find out it's the second camp they've been asked not to attend.

@@CubDaycampDirector don't think it's a purge. I'm in my account at least once a week (training management). My bet is incompetence.

After a discussion in another thread about myscouting tools -- which I've used a million times since creating my account in 2003 -- I decided to log back in to check on this new option someone mentioned. I had literally been in the tool 5 days ago (as of this posting). I tried logging in but could not. Tried to recover my password, no dice. Tried using my email and BSA ID, still no joy. Tried every option offered by the system and nothing worked. Tried from work computers, laptops, iPads, iPhones, other networks and nothing worked. Sent an email to BSA using their customer support. Their reply? Can't help me, open a new account. Tried contacting myscouting technical support and got the same reply. Called their help desk and they cannot find any record of me being in their system...ever!!!! They recommend a new account BUT they are not sure they can recover my old data!!!! So how does BSA lose an account AND data over ten years old? I asked around fellow scouters and I am not alone. Of the 30 or so folks I correspond with nearly 1/3 have the same problem. Advice: Check your myscouting account and back up your data. Don't trust BSA because they don't seem capable of managing ANY data.

I was wonder how the squirrels power the processor in your computer, they must get tired. I agree with your points on old school skills. Our unit teaches them ad nauseum. We want the boys to know these skills second nature. Heading out Saturday for a week in the Rockies with all the old school tools. However it's the boys that have driven the adaptation of the new tools (gps) so we have to respect that. Our Instructors (boys) have incorporated those tools in to the unit training. Next week will be about mapping our route for posterity. Their are also on a pilot program at Philmont next year to do the same. Our other unit came back from Kandersteg with similar data. Gotta respect the boys and their approach. Keeping it fresh for their peers.

Curious...your troop camps once in six months. Your son is 12 and has 20 camping days. He's Life or almost Life, right? Who did he camp with to get those 20 camping days? Another troop or patrol?

@@Stosh, no gas or electric grill? You and the Mrs. Still cooking over open flame in the cave. [intended with love and respect]

Lovely, for some reason I wanted give a "good" rep to this post and the system (or my fingers) hit the wrong button...and won't let me take it back. Ironically this happened in a technology thread.

18 years in Cubs should come with a Sainthood.

So now you know what's in the minds and hearts of the SC House? Please! If you cannot recognize that the flag is BOTH a symbol of heritage AND racism, AND accept that people of good conscious and spirit can see that flag as a symbol of their heritage and NOT racism, then you will continue to be as closed minded as those who see it as a symbol of white power.

@@zgeist a few points I can offer: - Pics we use Shutterfly. It allows us the ability to share pics and videos better. We link from mytroop. - TM is good and has a web version too. Can't speak to make usage on Mac. The web version is not as user friendly as the desktop version. The app they just deployed is decent and a great way to give lite access to Scout leaders. - Online based advancement tracking could be dangerous. Make sure the provider you choose provides constant back ups. In other words, find out how often they back up data AND where it gets backed up. Ideally any online system backs data up AT LEAST daily and does it to a secondary site far away from where the primary site is. This way the worst case scenario is you will lose one day's worth of data. - The problem with building your own website is that you need someone technical to take over when you leave. That person may be hard to find. - Mytroop by itself is just average so you may be better off with another program that offers the features you need. Since use ability is the key, what I've always found is to present the options to a group,,have them play with it and give their opinion. That way you get all the stake holders to buy in.

How often does the unit camp now? Most units I know go 10-12 times a year. Some even more.

Where we camp, we let the "wild things" keep the kids in the tents. Travel too far for that night time tinkle and you might not make it back. Nature is a wonderful thing.

That's one guy doing his own thing. The article in question seems to infer that BSA is going this route....and I don't think anyone here has heard of that path.

Isn't "addressing the needs of the troop" part of keeping the troop viable, which may include recruiting?

As I said, "The author read the bit about the BSA move to digital MB books, made a few inquiries to people who don't really know anything in detail, found a few references to the use of technology within BSA and drew a series of unsupported conclusions. " BSA does not have online advancement or MB classes. According to my contact in their info services group they are working on something like that but does not sound like entirely an online MB course. In fact his direct comment was "If you look at the changes in rank advancement for 2016, BSA is heading more in the direction of direct interaction with those signing off on advancement, not less." That said, he does say that BSA is "working towards" several online services regarding MBs and ranks that he's did not elaborate on. His take was that they are "not even in Beta...just ideas."

We are active in the packs and work with them well. We do events with them and for them. We provide program support and Den Chiefs. We have liaisons at the adult level that build and maintain those relationships. We have Scouts that do the same (Guides and Instructors). As for those who leave, we do exit interviews. Mostly the reasons we hear are: Scouts takes up too much time. These kids usually have way too much going on and are over-subscribed. Lost interest. Most of the time these are kids that were pushed in to crossing over. Most are in the 11-13 range. Few are ever older than that. Unit is too active. We do a lot of outdoor stuff and some kids (very small percentage) are in to less high adventure and more "swat-n-camp" type stuff. Age out, turn 18 and head off to college.