Commissioner Unit Visit Tracking

[SeattlePioneer]

I signed on to the Commissioner computerized Unit Visit Tracking system on MyScouting.Org that national set up for the first time yesterday. When I tried the first time I discovered my UC registration had lapsed at sometime in the past, so I had to complete another adult application to get reinstated.

 

I discovered that I am the second Commissioner to have filed a report in our district, the last one filed in January.

 

I filed two contact reports. Thursday was our district recognition dinner, and I talked with the SM for my unit about how the Bobcat Den idea I've been promoting has been working out for him this spring. He reported that he likes it and it has worked great for him---- he's had all ten new Scouts recruited at the end of March complete their Bobcat requirements and they have moved into their regular dens.

 

So I reported on that.

 

 

Friday I met the CM, ACM and the pack Membership Chair at an elementary school to hand out stickers to boys at lunch promoting the pack's recruiting night Monday, June 6th. They are doing stomp bottle rockets as an activity, and that is an exciting event that attracts boys like a magnet.

 

So we had several adults inviting boys to attend the recruiting night, and these pack leaders saw how this kind of school visit is done.

 

Having worked my way through the nuisances and learning curve on this, doing the reporting is kind of fun.

 

Anyone else using this feature?

[nolesrule]

UTVS is okay, when it works. Why the heck they decided to limit the comment fields to 255 characters, I can only assign the blame to some clueless DBA.

 

Our Council Commissioner and the District Commissioners push the system hard. Essentially, anything that requires Unit Commissioner visit data (JTE, commissioner awards, our council's commissioner service CSP, etc) they will only count the visits that have been reported in UTVS. I assume national wants the visits recorded for statistical purposes.

 

Personally, I wish they had a mobile version or a smartphone app. I'd prefer to enter in my visits on my phone in the parking lot before I head home. I have too much on my plate when I get home from a visit to sit down and enter it in immediately, so it could be days (or weeks) before I get around to entering them in.

[UCEagle72]

Our district uses it extensively (we've logged 1052 unit contacts so far in 2011) -- and I use it on my mobile phone all the time - I have bookmarked the actual "visit entry" -- http://goo.gl/sSx9P -- so I log into MyScouting, and then I click on my "visit entry" link -- which puts me on the screen to add a unit contact. (But yes, I wish they had a mobile app to make it easier.)

 

It works great on just about any browser (I have been testing it extensively) -- but -- if you have problems, default back to using Internet Explorer - and let the UVTS Help Desk know you are having problems -- 972-672-4389.

 

Cyndi McNear who handles UVTS questions does a great job, and she is very understanding.

 

If you are having problems, check these things first:

(1) Make sure you have all "pop-up blockers" turned "off" for *.scouting.org

(2) Make sure your BSA ID is the proper one for your commissioner registration on your profile.

(3) If you are using Internet Explorer, add https://*.scouting.org/ to your trusted sites.

(4) Remember passwords are case sensitive on MyScouting.

 

[nolesrule]

72, I've used it on my phone.... that's why I know I'd prefer a mobile-optimized data entry or an app.

[AwHeck]

You can get around the limit of 255 characters for the comment by saving and then adding another comment (as many times as needed)

[nolesrule]

Of course you can. But as a web-based software developer, I find that to be a poor implementation.

[ctbailey]

Seattle -

 

Thank you for utilizing the UVTS 2.0. I have found in my short 18 years as a member of the BSA, the only thing about the BSA that stays the same, is that it is always changing! I think UVTS 2.0 is a change for the good. This is a tool that provides the commissioner service a better understanding of the "true pulse" of the units. Another thing that I honestly believe, this tool will help "re-invigorate" and re-engage those Commissioners who may have become a little distant.

 

When a commissioner logs a visit - and fills in the comments - other commissioners can see what's going on. Also - over time, the unit commissioner can actually see some progress by reading his or her own comments, as they progress through out the year. Everyone likes to see feedback, and confirmation that their ideas or counsel actually helps. To have these visit comments recorded for posterity does just that.

 

Of course, from the council and higher commissioner perspective, the UVTS 2.0 does another thing - and that is to validate that the commissioner service in their service-area is functioning, and the metrics help towards our Journey to Excellence.

 

This tool is only going to help us be better commissioners, and ultimately the youth will have a better (and more effective) time in Scouting.

[SeattlePioneer]

Hello ctBailey,

 

 

In the case of my district, what is being revealed is that not much is being done by Commissioners, at least as reported on the tracking system ---not yet anyway.

 

However, quite possibly that's deceptive. I've been doing quite a lot and for various reasons it wasn't reported. That could be true for others. However, when even the District Commissioner hasn't logged on, it makes you wonder!

 

As District Membership Chair, I've done recruiting nights for units that were failing and desperately needed some help if they were to stay afloat. My method was to send rather anguished e-mails to the District Executive, District Chair and District Commissioner to inform them of these problems. I never actually got a reply from any of those.

 

Unfortunately, there was no SWAT team to send out to help. There were occasions where I pitched in to lend some aid.

 

But that raises the question --- suppose you have a tracking system. What do you DO with the information? If you aqren't using it to correct problems, what's the point?

 

 

Perhaps time will tell.

[UCEagle72]

@SP --

 

As a DC, I check our information on a weekly basis. I export the data, and pull it into an Excel spreadsheet so I can do pivot table analysis to see how many visits each unit is getting.

 

I further refine the data, and only look at entries recorded as "unit activity" and "unit meetings" -- so I can get a feeling for how many times the Commissioners are actually face-to-face with their units, and not just contacting them by email and phone.

 

I can also take that data and quickly determine which units have not been contacted during the month. Then I follow up with those specific commissioners to see if they have some specific issues servicing the unit, or it is just "one of those months" ... it happens - but since we keep the number of units per commissioner limited to only two, it does not happen to often.

 

Plus, it helps me, to ensure that the units we don't have commissioners for, are being taken care of by the ADCs or myself.

 

I really encourage our commissioners to include comments -- those comments can really mean a lot to an admin commissioner who is taking the time to look that those to see how a unit is progressing.

(This message has been edited by UCEagle72)

[SeattlePioneer]

Hello UC Eagle,

 

 

Personally, I don't do many gratuitous visits to the Cub Pack for which I'm UC. I tend towards attending Pack Committee Meetings, where I get a good idea of how planning is going and where problems are likely to be identified.

 

Just as an example, last fall the CM hadn't identified a hike for a pack outing that was coming up. As it happened, I had a hike all planned out for my Pack, so they used that plan only hiking in the opposite direction.

 

This pack has been running along very well for years now since I helped revive it from collapse in 2004. It's more a matter of looking for ways to improve things than doctoring up problems.

 

Lucky me!

 

There's a committee meeting next Monday I'll be attending.

 

 

That's not to be critical of your system. It will be a big advantage when reports are made regularly on the new Unit Visitation Tracking System and leaders will have more of an idea of what's actually going on.

 

But suppose you find units that ARE having critical problems? What do you do and can you do? When I've made such reports to the District Key3, I've never even got a reply to my concerns, perhaps because there was no SWAT team to send out for a rescue.

 

What good is information if you can't DO something with it?

 

 

 

 

 

[UCEagle72]

SP --

 

I concur ... if you don't know what to do with the data, then it is of no use. Fortunately we have a swat team / life-saving commissioners / whatever -- and we have used them to save some issues.

 

Then there are others that are not (or maybe should not) be saved. But that is already being discussed in another thread!

 

And while I think attending Committee Meetings are great - seeing the plans "in action" sometimes says a lot more than listening to them being discussed.

 

Congrats, by the way, on having a ready resource for your Pack!

 

When I took over as DC (6 months early) I decided one the things I wanted to do, was to visit each unit in the district at one of their meetings (yeah, you can see a bunch at a Camporee or a Scout Show) -- the funniest thing to come out of it, is Unit Commissioners wondering why I was there -- was I spying on them? Making sure they were doing their jobs? When all I wanted to do was see our Scouts and make the "Key 3" a little less a part of the "great unknown" to the 99-44/100ths of our Scouts and Scouters.

 

Oy!