District JTE Data

[Protoclete]

Does anybody have experience with and insight into the District-level JTE information that forms the basis for the JTE Scorecard / meters on My.Scouting? 

A lot of this information seems to be automatically brought in from somewhere - number of new units, number of District committee members, etc. - but it has little to do with the reality. And it does not even seem to match the information in the system itself. 

For example, there is no correlation between the number it shows are on my district committee and the number who are actually on the committee, nor the number who have positions that show up in the system who should be on the committee - and no where to update or edit it. 

Or the fact that the "new unit growth" shows that we have 30 units, over last year's 21, yet numbers this as a 9% increase. Basic math problem. 

Some things, like camping nights and service hours, I know simply depend on units getting their information in on time, but there is a lot else that seems to be auto-filled and is not at all accurate. 

Have tried talking to professionals and they are pursuing it, but I was hoping to cast a wider net. How do i update this or where does the info come from? Who even knows this kind of thing that I could ask? JIRA is 50/50 in terms of agents even reading the requests for help accurately. When they do, they are great, but it is a hassle even to ask. 

Edited February 4, 2020 by Protoclete

[Protoclete]

I should add, perhaps, i'm not interested much in the result - gold/silver, whatever - as much as in getting the information correct so I have an accurate baseline to work with for the coming year, and seeing that tracked accurately in the system. 

[Jameson76]

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!!  I am the great and powerful OZ

DO NOT QUESTION THE DATA!!!

[qwazse]

3 hours ago, Protoclete said:

... Or the fact that the "new unit growth" shows that we have 30 units, over last year's 21, yet numbers this as a 9% increase. Basic math problem.  ...

Or someone is lying through their eye-teeth to look good. Either you have 30 units or 22.89. Ask for the list of unit leaders. Check the ones who showed up at last month's roundtable or klondike. The rest? Call each leader. No answer? No unit. Scratch that one off of the list.

Make a copy of your edits, give the copy to the DE and tell him/her to fix it before you announce at the next RT that your district's JTE is a lie.

[ParkMan]

@Protoclete - as a fellow district volunteer, I too have struggled with the quality of data we get as volunteers.  I know on membership, I wanted some simple reports to track size/adds/drops.  That was very difficult to get and often involved converting some of the data available to professionals.

However, in our case the data generally seemed to track ok.

My only suggestion is to see if you can work your network to find the right contact at National.  I'm sure there's a solid staff person there that would be glad to explain the process to you if you ask.  The "system" sort of discourages it, but in my experience I don't think that people mind some good old fashioned brainstorming when asked.  Perhaps buy your council registrar a cup of coffee, explain what your trying to learn, and then start from there.  Alternatively, find that super well connected volunteer in the council who really knows the system.

Good luck!

Edited February 4, 2020 by ParkMan
accidental hit enter too soon. add message content

[an_old_DC]

@Protoclete are you the District Chair? If so, first things first, you need to have a chat with your council's second in command. Not the SE because they will point you to the number 2. You are looking for somebody with a title like "Director of Field Services." Apologies to @carebear3895, but do not even bother with a District Exec because this is way above their paygrade and if they have not been in their position for long they will not even understand what you are talking about.

To answer your overarching question, No, you as a volunteer cannot enter information.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly to your questions, the data you have questions about comes from ScoutNET, the system used by BSA. That is what populates the JTE dials.

To your question about who, exactly, is on your district committee: do you have a copy of the district roster? Not one you or another volunteer created, but one actually generated by your council's registrar. That will show you who is physically registered as a district committee member. When you write:

7 hours ago, Protoclete said:

And it does not even seem to match the information in the system itself. 

it sounds as If what you see in my.scouting.org does not mirror what is in ScoutNET. If so, that is even more reason to speak with your Director of Field Services.

Hope this all helps.

edited to add: By the way, it is common for ScoutNET and my.scouting.org to be out of sync...and the Council Registrar will need to work on that to reconcile the two.

Edited February 4, 2020 by an_old_DC

[TAHAWK]

We have had no districts for two years.  SE eliminate them, and hundreds of volunteers in the process.

[Jameson76]

1 hour ago, TAHAWK said:

We have had no districts for two years.  SE eliminate them, and hundreds of volunteers in the process.

See...that eliminated the WHOLE data problem for the JTE scorecard and associated angst.  Brilliant problem solving there.  Next issue please?

[ParkMan]

1 hour ago, TAHAWK said:

We have had no districts for two years.  SE eliminate them, and hundreds of volunteers in the process.

Hopefully no other councils suffer the same fate.  What a numbskull.

[ShootingSports]

15 hours ago, Protoclete said:

Does anybody have experience with and insight into the District-level JTE information that forms the basis for the JTE Scorecard / meters on My.Scouting? 

A lot of this information seems to be automatically brought in from somewhere - number of new units, number of District committee members, etc. - but it has little to do with the reality. And it does not even seem to match the information in the system itself. 

For example, there is no correlation between the number it shows are on my district committee and the number who are actually on the committee, nor the number who have positions that show up in the system who should be on the committee - and no where to update or edit it. 

Or the fact that the "new unit growth" shows that we have 30 units, over last year's 21, yet numbers this as a 9% increase. Basic math problem. 

Some things, like camping nights and service hours, I know simply depend on units getting their information in on time, but there is a lot else that seems to be auto-filled and is not at all accurate. 

Have tried talking to professionals and they are pursuing it, but I was hoping to cast a wider net. How do i update this or where does the info come from? Who even knows this kind of thing that I could ask? JIRA is 50/50 in terms of agents even reading the requests for help accurately. When they do, they are great, but it is a hassle even to ask. 

First stop will be https://www.scouting.org/awards/journey-to-excellence/  You can see all the resources and were to find them.  There are sections that explain where the data is coming from and how to retrieve it.  Next, you will realize that it usually requires one of the professional staff to have access.  Then, you will find they either ignore your request or do not know how to find what you need.  Refer back to step one.  The idea of coffee for the Register is best one......(but I would bring box of chocolates)

Lastly, garbage in garbage out for the data.  Most is from ScoutNet (controlled by professional staff).  You will find things like a person double registered and not showing up as expected, merit badge counselor (without the associated badges covered), training not correct due to any number of errors from both volunteers and professionals.  Camping data was input from a spreadsheet submitted by the Director of Support Services to National (and lord knows she/he would not fudge those figures to look good)............

[The Latin Scot]

Here's my question - my district earned Gold for 2019, but the local Scout Shops don't carry the district Gold JTE patch (nor any district/council-level patches), and I can't order one online without 'requisite paperwork.' So how on Earth am I supposed to get a hold of one? 

[ParkMan]

1 hour ago, The Latin Scot said:

Here's my question - my district earned Gold for 2019, but the local Scout Shops don't carry the district Gold JTE patch (nor any district/council-level patches), and I can't order one online without 'requisite paperwork.' So how on Earth am I supposed to get a hold of one? 

I assume that if you go to the local Scout Shop and ask them to order it, they could.  If you then have an issue, you could walk over to the office and get them to vouch for it.

[The Latin Scot]

Well, I tried ordering it there but they said they couldn't process the order and ... that I had to go online. And our council office is a long drive from here; my local Scout Shop isn't attached to any official offices. I suppose I'll just have to bring it up at our district meeting tomorrow night, or see if they can at least call the office to verify the validity of my request. Oh, the bureaucracy! 😰

[ParkMan]

22 minutes ago, The Latin Scot said:

Well, I tried ordering it there but they said they couldn't process the order and ... that I had to go online. And our council office is a long drive from here; my local Scout Shop isn't attached to any official offices. I suppose I'll just have to bring it up at our district meeting tomorrow night, or see if they can at least call the office to verify the validity of my request. Oh, the bureaucracy! 😰

Yeah - I think this stuff is strange.  What are they trying to prevent a flood of JTE gold district patches on the black market.

[Protoclete]

Thanks to all so far. Some helpful information and good ideas.

I forget who asked, but yes, I'm the district chair, just fairly new to the position. First end of year and JTE review. A bit surprised at the difficulty to get relatively simple information from the volunteer management system. Or correcting it. Or finding out where it is populated from. 

The JTE resources (https://www.scouting.org/awards/journey-to-excellence/) are informative in some areas, but it's here that i found some of these things were supposed to be manually entered, but not clear who has been doing the manual entering (not me or the DE).  It's exactly that 'garbage in' I'd like to clean up so i can see what I'm really dealing with.

The new units are there. Small, mostly girl troops, but real. Its the data that's a problem, or how it works. 

I might try to make nice with the Council registrar, but a box of chocolates might not work... she's about 800 miles away.