Help With Internet Advancement

[swilliams]

 Does anyone have experience with the new Internet Advancement 2.0?   Our troop uses Troopmaster for record keeping.   So far I've been able to upload our court of honor report into Internet advancement with no trouble,  but now I want to manually enter to merit badges for a scout who's working toward eagle.  

 In searching for help, I've found plenty of sources that state you can enter information manually but nothing that shows you how to do it.  The user interface is so horrible.  Nothing is remotely intuitive. 

[Eagle94-A1]

My understanding is that Internet Advancement 2.0 is only compatible with Scoutbook since BSA took it over. 

[swilliams]

14 minutes ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

My understanding is that Internet Advancement 2.0 is only compatible with Scoutbook since BSA took it over. 

It only takes reports directly from Scoutbook, but all records have to be sent to council through the site. It's a PITA. The old site was fine. Bare bones, but really, do we need the ability to make sub-groups of leaders online, or have an activity calendar?

[swilliams]

Well, someone from the Scoutbook forum answered my question, but I can't try to follow heir instructions. I'm at work now, and Scoutbook has decided the version of Safari on my 2 year old iPhone is too old to work with their software. Ugh. Whatever happened to backward compatibility?  Two years isn't that ancient. 

 

(Sorry for all the complaining.  I'm on my 19th consecutive day of work, averaging 10.5 hours a day, with over 12 hours yesterday. I'm tired and grumpy, and don't have time for software that is over-engineered without being helpful.)

[Chisos]

This is my "Cheat Sheet" for IA2.0.  It seems to work.  This is for only reporting completions, not tracking partials or individual rank requirements or anything like that.  You have to be a "Key 3" to have access; if you are not, one of your Key 3 can give you Key 3 Delegate access then it should work.

1.  Go to scoutbook.scouting.org .

2.  Log on using my.scouting.org login/password (same one used for Youth Protection Training).

3.  Check the box next to a scout’s name.

4.  Click on “Record Advancement”.

5.  Put in the date, type and item.

6.  If you need to put in another item for that scout, click on “Save and Approve Another”.  If that’s the last one for that scout, click on “Approve and Finish.”

7.  Select the next scout, and repeat the process.

8.  When you are done, make sure no scouts are checked, and click on “Run Report” then “Advancement Report”

9.  Print the advancement report, and take it to the Scout Shop to buy awards.

[swilliams]

Thank you!!  Part of the problem was the browser I was using. It didn't show the box next to the scout's name, so I had no idea what to do from there.  It's done now! 

[ham_solo]

Since, the BSA went back on their promise to provide an import/export method for 3rd party programs like the one we use for our records which we HAD and worked great with the old internet advancement system, I am just going back to paper and will just turn paper forms into the council from now on and not deal with scoutbook at all.

Edited August 29, 2019 by ham_solo

[fred8033]

55 minutes ago, ham_solo said:

Since, the BSA went back on their promise to provide an import/export method for 3rd party programs like the one we use for our records which we HAD and worked great with the old internet advancement system, I am just going back to paper and will just turn paper forms into the council from now on and not deal with scoutbook at all.

You MUST get their data online into BSA's systems.  Most councils now do NOT enter paper advancement records.  They don't have the staff.   You don't need to load any partial or in progress items.  It is critical though to enter earned badges/ranks/awards at the time they are earned (or at least before being awarded).

The key point is you risk your scout's future if you don't keep their BSA records current.  

Edited August 29, 2019 by fred8033

[Eagledad]

35 minutes ago, fred8033 said:

You MUST get their data online into BSA's systems.  Most councils now do NOT enter paper advancement records.  They don't have the staff.  

The key point is you risk your scout's future if you don't keep their BSA records current.  

When all council records were updated, handled and stored on paper, we averaged 5 errors verifying our Eagle candidates records before Council went digital around 1998. After, we averaged zero errors. And that was with a terrible software program. 

Barry

 

Edited August 29, 2019 by Eagledad

[Eagle94-A1]

Before I had IA access, I would HAND DELIVER (not shouting, emphasizing) paperwork to the council office and pick up awards.  When I finally got IA access, it was a month before my oldest crossed over into a troop. NO ONE IN THE PACK HAD ANY ADVANCEMENT RECORDED! 

I was in on a council meeting about advancement and I brought up this issue. Told it never happened. And I was never invited back to that meeting.

While IA2.0 is a royal P.I.T.A. for the sake of our youth I deal with it.

[desertrat77]

46 minutes ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

Before I had IA access, I would HAND DELIVER (not shouting, emphasizing) paperwork to the council office and pick up awards.  When I finally got IA access, it was a month before my oldest crossed over into a troop. NO ONE IN THE PACK HAD ANY ADVANCEMENT RECORDED! 

I was in on a council meeting about advancement and I brought up this issue. Told it never happened. And I was never invited back to that meeting.

While IA2.0 is a royal P.I.T.A. for the sake of our youth I deal with it.

Your council meeting matches my experiences as well:  the BSA refuses to acknowledge its abysmal administrative practices and IT systems.  

[TAHAWK]

1 hour ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

Before I had IA access, I would HAND DELIVER (not shouting, emphasizing) paperwork to the council office and pick up awards.  When I finally got IA access, it was a month before my oldest crossed over into a troop. NO ONE IN THE PACK HAD ANY ADVANCEMENT RECORDED! 

I was in on a council meeting about advancement and I brought up this issue. Told it never happened. And I was never invited back to that meeting.

While IA2.0 is a royal P.I.T.A. for the sake of our youth I deal with it.

 

1984.  Ministry of Truth.

[Thunderbird]

On 8/29/2019 at 1:44 PM, ham_solo said:

Since, the BSA went back on their promise to provide an import/export method for 3rd party programs like the one we use for our records which we HAD and worked great with the old internet advancement system, I am just going back to paper and will just turn paper forms into the council from now on and not deal with scoutbook at all.

There is an import option for 3rd party programs.  And some volunteers have created help documents to help users with the process:

Upload File & Print Report for Scout Shop in Internet Advancement (IA)

 

 

Edited September 1, 2019 by Thunderbird

[MattR]

Wow. I read the help file. Too bad the error reporting is still not helpful. When we started with uploading adv reports sometimes it would just drop certain records. We finally figured out that the records were dropped for any scout that did not have an identical name spelling or incorrect birthdate. Now, it just tosses the entire report. Why not just print out a list of errors that say which records can't be handled? 

[sst3rd]

Off topic a bit, but the scoutmaster I've been mentoring this last year, puts so much emphasis on updating advancement online, she completely forgets to update the scout's handbooks.

I guess my "old" is showing, but I thought the idea was for the scouts to read and study their handbooks as they are teaching and/or learning scouting skills pertaining to advancement. EDGE works, but all scouts should be taught to refer to their scout handbooks for ideas and info. I think they should always be able to refer to the back of their handbooks to review their "sign-offs" , and be able to know what their advancement status is, and where they want to go. It's a young troop, so adult leaders and the one older scout (SPL) do the advancement sign-offs.

So, I've had to get her to print out each scout's records monthly, so I can update their handbooks. Now scouts, and certainly their parent(s) can visually see how their scouting adventures impact their advancement. I guess the scout and parents could view all of this online...…………………………………………………….but then why have a section for advancement sign-offs in the scout handbook at all.

Am I wrong? Go ahead. I can take it.

sst3rd