Website for the Pack?

[SM bob]

We use Facebook and Cubscouttracker.com Facebook is for the committee and parents to post. cubscouttracker.com is for rank advancement tracking, emails, and the den/pack Calender.

[fred johnson]

Old thread, but I agree with earlier posts.

Most parents won't read email, & I'm not convinced that any of them ever look at the web site.

 

I used to maintain the web site and blast out email announcements and such when acting as ACM.... now I have a new parent that is taking the web site. I'm not encouraging it much any more, but I do ask her to post links for upcoming stuff, just so that when I make an announcement at the pack meeting I can just say check the pack's site, instead of printing 50 copies of which 40 or so I'll be cleaning up after the meeting.

 

And the biggest problem I see for these commercial scouting package sites (SOAR and the like) is the big focus on tracking awards. After much analysis, I've concluded that this is a lot of work for nothing..... for Cub Scouts anyway. Likely more useful at the troop level.

 

blw2 is right.

 

....

 

Ummm.... edited the rest. I think I was grumpy when I wrote it. It hit a button.

[fred johnson]

Okay. Calmer day now ...

 

I find SOAR extremely useful for calendar, roster and managing events and communication.

 

I agree though with blw2. I don't see much use for web based advancement tools. Only exception is to help the advancement person coordinate purchases. But then, web based solutions only move the problem from getting emails to entering data. Not a big difference.

 

I see no value for troops. Official records are the merit badge cards, the Boy Scout Handbook and BSA ScoutNet. Troopmaster ... packmaster ... and other electronic systems are just redundant and at best match the official records. At worst, they are inaccurate and out of date. Especially now that troops can sign into BSA ScoutNet and get nice reports out of it.

[MattR]

fred, official records as far as the council is concerned is what gets loaded into their computer and troopmaster will generate an advancement report that will do just that. It also tracks things like adult training, service hours, things for JTE, and who is going on what events. When a scout has an Eagle COH I like to print out a report of everything the scout has done to help me remember good stories stories. Once scouts don't need any more campouts they won't keep track of them.

 

As for scouts and parents not reading email or listening to announcements, yep. Then they complain to you that you didn't tell them something. No IT solution in the world will solve that problem.

[fred johnson]

MattR ... If your group finds it useful, go for it.

 

I get the scout's advancement record for ScoutNet (aka the council resource). I get the training report from either our council custom site or now the new http://my.scouting.org. Service hours are easy to compute as we know who attended through the SOAR attendee list for each event. I just want to minimize the data entry.

 

Years ago, we used to keep TroopMaster records up to date religiously. We'd print out a stack of paper before each meeting. Now, we can quickly get into the official systems and it is less work in the long run.

 

....

 

I tried to attach images of what BSA and SOAR gives you but I can't. This web site won't allow it.

[fred johnson]

MattR ... Also note, you only update advancement reports from TroopMaster. You don't upload a complete scout advancement history for the scout. As such, the official record is in ScoutNet. My fear is after seven years of updating TroopMaster will the data be correct.

[Loomans]

I do advancements for our pack and our troop. We use Scout Track and find it very helpful. My favorite feature is the interface with Internet Advancements. Each time I upload new advancements, the two sets of data are synced and reconciled so our unofficial record mirrors the official record. Scout Track also gives everyone an overview on individual requirements. This is helpful for the cubmaster to track how dens are doing, parents for how their scouts are doing, and the scoutmaster/ASMs for planning outings and activities. Scout Net doesn't offer that kind of detail. We've tried it both ways and like using a web-based program better than ScoutNet alone. Of course it is only as good as the data entered, so there needs to be a commitment from the unit to make it work.

[oddball]

Yes, getting parents or scouts to read emails, texts, or review a website is challenging.

 

My question is whether you consider, in having a website, that many of us parents do not want their children's pictures and personal data plastered all over the internet? How do you plan to accommodate those wishes?