Recharter & BSA IT

[T2Eagle]

I’ve been doing recharter now for 15 years, so I’m used to the inefficient, illogical, and kludgy systems that constitute BSA IT.  But the new and different ways that the systems manage to be inefficient, illogical, and kludgy will never cease to amaze me.

As part of recharter this year I needed to register two adults who are currently MCs with the pack as MCs in the troop, I needed to register one new scout, and I needed to clean up the registration of one scout who crossed over earlier this year but for a variety of reasons never got registered in the troop.  Our unit opts in to online registration so I sent them all the instructions for how to do so.  But, it turns out that during recharter time when presumably lots of units are straightening out their membership, BSA in its infinite wisdom turns off online registration --- don’t ask me why. 

OK, collect paper applications from everybody.  But, lo and behold, when I actually go into recharter there is a feature there that I’m pretty sure was not present in past years, where you can simply promote youths and adults from one unit to another without any paperwork at all.  This is a good thing, even if unadvertised, but I could have avoided getting the paper apps that I did if I had known about it.  And, it is worth noting that my need to promote these three individuals at this time is a bit unusual; back in the spring at the height of crossover when I had eight scouts and two other adults I needed to move from the pack to the troop this feature wasn’t available, and the online registration system also could not be used for transfers --- once again, don’t ask me why.

Finally, my favorite trick of this year’s recharter.  I have a scout who turns 18 at the end of this month, he just had his EBOR and the last thing I want to do is mess with his registration status while his paperwork wends its way up to national and back.  So I renew his registration just like all the other scouts.  But the system says he’s too old he’ll need to be registered as an adult.  Anyone want to guess what happened when I tried to register him as an adult?  Of course he’s too young for that.  My registrar assures me she can work some magic if I give her a paper application for him.

Year in and year out these aren’t the hardest challenges I encounter as a scouter, but they may be the silliest.

[Hawkwin]

I had a similar issue. I could not figure out how to register someone for our troop and not pay for them if they are being registered and paid for via another troop. Our COR for example.

I also had issues with the paper apps submitted not showing up and had to enter the individuals manually. In doing so,  I also found a fault in the tool that allowed me to manually enter a fictitious date for YPT (you have to enter the date for anyone not already in the system and I put in placeholder dates simply so I could advance the tool and come back later with valid dates) and once you enter a date, the training website will now reflect that as the official date, even if the official date is also listed there.

[walk in the woods]

First time in 15 years I haven't had to deal with recharter so my info might be a bit dated.

The promotion bit has been there for a couple years.  As I recall though there's a coordination issue between units.  Not so big a deal if you're rechartering a pack and troop for a single CO.

The multiple thing is very irritating.  The only place I ever found to mark it is right at the very end of the process.  Right before you submit, there's one last option to edit adults where the multiple option becomes available.  It's almost like they don't want you to find it.

[T2Eagle]

Update to my own year old post.

Here is what my.scouting says on the home page:  

"You can now transfer and multiple between units using your My.Scouting account

National 11/16/2020

Now users are able to transfer from one Scout unit to another without having to take a new application into the Scout office. Unit leaders will be able to transfer youth by going to the new “Roster” feature in “Member Manager” and “Organization Manager” and select the youth who need to be transferred, then click the “Transfer” icon. This will create a transfer application which will be sent to the new unit with the ability to be approved in “Application Manager”.Transfers will take 48 hours to sync with the new unit."

Because of all the other efforts we've had to put forth, we never got around to formally registering our 2020 crossovers from the Pack to the Troop.  So when I saw the above note on my.scouting I thought great, that's easier than tracking down new apps from everyone.  So I transferred all the scouts that had crossed over and become active in the troop, plus a couple that had expressed interest but not really participated and committed.  I figured I would then go in to recharter, keep the ones staying and drop the couple not.

So, all the scouts I transferred now show up on the troop's active roster.  But when I went into the recharter program they’re not part of the troop roster (I deliberately waited until they showed up on our roster before I started recharter and  “Load Roster” within it. ) 

In recharter, there is a process for promoting from the Pack.  I used this last year, but it turned out it didn’t really function as a transfer mechanism (see my original post) and I had to get paper applications from everyone any way.  Since the newest scouts weren’t in recharter I figured I would at least do that promotion so that the numbers and check were right, and I would then just chase down the paperwork.  But, and here’s the best part, because those scouts are on the troop and not the pack roster anymore, they’re not there to promote. 

Again, not my biggest challenge as a scouter, but I really don't think you could set out to design IT systems as unhelpful as BSA's.

[InquisitiveScouter]

17 hours ago, T2Eagle said:

but I really don't think you could set out to design IT systems as unhelpful as BSA's.

Reminds me of a military joke about government issued equipment..."Remember, your weapons are made by the lowest bidder..."