New Ideas : BSA Innovation Engine

Be A Scout & Facebook

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 09:20:52 PDT

During the webinar today, there was a point where the parent is re-directed to the national site to acknowledge their interest in joining. This would be an incredible opportunity to have a "Share this on Facebook" or other social networking icons. Imagine the impact if a mom were able, with a click of a button, to post on her facebook page that she is signing her son up for Cub Scouting and it would include a link to the unit's contact information. Hopefully other friends in her network with similar age kids would join because of her. Seems like a simple coding that already exists.

Comments (0)Recruiting

Membership/ Error tag for adults not completed YPT

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 09:17:56 PDT

Vote On Idea

With the new policy on registering adult volunteers only with Youth Protection Training. Can an error flag be added to the registration batch before posting? (EX: when SSN is needed)

Comments (0)Applications & Registration

Gold Star Memorials

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 08:37:13 PDT

Vote On Idea

Recently a great friend and former Scouting professional's son was killed in action while serving in the Marine Corps in Afghanistan. He was a former Scout in my service area.

One item of recognition that exists but is relatively unknown is the Gold Star Memorial that can be put on a unit's flag. The star indicates that a current or former member of the unit died in service to their country. The information is on page 55 of the insignia control guide. The listed order number is #11117 and retail for $4. For some reason they are a custom design item and take 4-6 weeks for delivery.

We plan to have them available at our council service center and present them to units as needed. I've ordered a dozen of them and sincerely hope that they gather dust for many years.

It might be appropriate to feature this award in Scouting magazine or some other publications.

This would be a fitting and proper way to recognize our members who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

Comments (0)Other

Total adults served report

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:57:31 PDT

Vote On Idea

Just like the report on Scoutnet that tells us the total youth served there should be one for adults. This could be used for United Way applications, calculating volunteer hours given to Scouting,and show how we have a
strong(er) volunteer involvement by counting every adult served.

Comments (2)Volunteers, technology

Give Merit Badge Counselors a Membership Card

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:32:41 PDT

Vote On Idea

With the recent requirement that all registered leaders have Youth Protection Training, it's become even more critical for youth, parents and adult leaders to be able to confirm that a Merit Badge Counselor is currently registered. The easiest way I can see to accomplish this would be to give all registered Merit Badge Counselors a Membership Card as proof of their registration status.

As to how we would get these Membership Cards to them, may I propose that we update the myscouting webpage to let individuals print their own Membership Cards? Since they will need to create an account to take Youth Protection Training using this webpage (which is National's preferred method for taking the training), it's a natural fit.

Comments (1)Applications & Registration

MyBSA Training Area

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:11:08 PDT

Vote On Idea

The Training report section of MyBSA is ENTIRELY too complicated. It has entirely too many steps to drill down through. Putting together simple reports for a district becomes too time consuming. Also, please make training codes that make sense. Please make this more user friendly!

Comments (0)Technology, training, mybsa

email addresses

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 19:11:47 PDT

Vote On Idea

During the recharter process have a section where the unit can enter the Scout's email address. This will allow for annual updating of email addresses. Entering an email when the Scout first registers is fine but it never gets updated in Scoutnet. This would eliminate that problem.

We really need an effective way to capture emails on a regular basis.

Areas of use- e-newsletters, surveys, mass emails, event registrations, etc...

Comments (2)Technology

new scout socks- khaki

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:25:00 PDT

-9

Vote On Idea

The current dark green socks are nice but a new alternative might prove to be better suitable for the outdoors. Ticks and Lyme disease have always been a problem in most parts of the northeast and some southern states. I've had my first hand experience with this. The current dark green socks just like the old design make it hard to spot ticks that may be attached to you after hiking. Most outdoor guides suggest white socks tucked into the pants legs. The lighter color makes it easier to spot ticks and remove them before harm. The current white socks that are availiable are not the best design. A nice alternative would be a khaki colored sock that matches the shirt. The BSA logo can be printed in dark green. Have them availaible as a great option in crew size socks and bring back the knee high socks! Let me know your thoughts.

Comments (0)Supply

Simplifying Advancements

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 08:22:23 PDT

Vote On Idea

It would be very helpful if we (Council)were able to enter advancements similarly to the way volunteers can with Internet Advancements:

If you have 15 youths earning the Fingerprinting Merit Badge (think Summer Camp) you could simply click on Fingerprinting Merit Badge and then click on the 15 youths out of 67 that earned that particular badge. It would be much more time efficient instead of clicking on each youth and inputing one badge at a time.

Another way of thinking. Think round up and all of the new Bobcats that we will all be entering again. It would be much easier to pull up the Pack and click all of the new Bobcats and mark them all at one time. And so on and so on ..................

Just a thought.

Comments (0)Applications & Registration

Youth Protection

Fri, 28 May 2010 14:08:04 PDT

Vote On Idea

I sure hope that with Youth Protection being mandatory that they fix the reports to show dates. It would be nice if we could print out a report for each unit at rechartering time so they could look and see who is ready to expire so they can do the training before they recharter. Get rid of the codes and put the name of the training, date taken and expiration date. This is becoming a critical problem; we need better reports now and not later. Anymore most of my time is spent on trying to get reports for volunteers that they can understand. Why don’t we have something easy to understand for new leaders that say’s what training they need? It should be something easy to find, easy to understand. It would be great for that new leader to look and see what training is actually required for their position. If most of the training is done online why don’t you put a document on MyScouting that tells them if you are this you need to do this and were to get it or take it? This is not rocket science. I thought that was what the MyScouting web site was for.
I understand and agree with the mandatory training. But if they cannot recharter without current Youth Protection for their leaders and no easy way to find out that information it will become a nightmare at rechartering time. I hope this issue has been address and the cart has not been placed in front of the horse.

Comments (3)Other

Financial Reporting

Fri, 28 May 2010 13:25:06 PDT

Vote On Idea

Since audited financial statements are required to be in 3 fund format, please change the Statement of Functional Expense to a 3 fund format. Also, I believe I've posted this before, but the 990b report also needs to be in 3 fund format.

Comments (0)District and Council Operations

BSA # 19 Indy Car for sell as pinewood derby car

Wed, 26 May 2010 12:10:01 PDT

Vote On Idea

Are we going to sell BSA Indy cars in our stores? I think there could be a real market for it.

Comments (2)100th Anniversary

Comments in RSS Feed

Tue, 25 May 2010 07:51:23 PDT

Vote On Idea

Is there any way to set the RSS feed to include the subject line? It's difficult sometimes to connect comments with their original subject, especially when you're required to log in to view them which brings you to the main screen rather than the article you were looking for.

Comments (0)Technology

Grandparents items

Mon, 24 May 2010 12:44:51 PDT

Vote On Idea

I have had several customers ask me for a lapel pin or sticker for grandparents that are proud of thier eagle scout(s).

Comments (0)Awards Criteria

Create Scouting Silly Bandz for School Rallies and boy talks

Mon, 24 May 2010 06:13:59 PDT

Vote On Idea

Silly Bandz are a huge hit with all ages and would be great if we could create scouting related silly bandz. We could have a bow, arrow, fishing pole, tent, and marshmellow. We could use this as a recruiting incentive with membership recruitment

Comments (5)Recruiting

Longest Tenured Scout/Oldest Eagle

Sat, 22 May 2010 08:31:38 PDT

Vote On Idea

It seems that with local Council cooperation, it should be easy to determine who the longest tenured Scout in the nation is. I'm sure it's some 102 year old gentleman in Iowa or something, but it would be great to get some PR on this fellow into the national news to help celebrate the 100th. In addition, the oldest Eagle Scout in America would be a nice find and another national news opportunity. Even if you can't get it down to a month that they joined or earned Eagle rank and we have a couple of men who tie for the distinction, its still good news. And the National Office would always have a master list from that point in the event that the oldest Eagle or longest tenured Scout passes away, we automatically know who lays claim to the title. Each Council could submit the names (with proof) of its three oldest or three longest tenured Scouts.

Comments (1)100th Anniversary

ScoutNet ID

Fri, 14 May 2010 14:45:56 PDT

Vote On Idea

In PAS FIND, when you look up a person’s name, their ScoutNet ID shows. However, after you click on their name for further details, their ScoutNet ID is not shown on the next screen. Can we change this so when we click on their name for additional details their ScoutNet ID also is shown?

Comments (0)Technology

Notify CR/CC of new adult application status

Fri, 14 May 2010 08:58:10 PDT

Vote On Idea

Several chartered organizations have requested that the council notify them once a new adult's application has been accepted - so that they can restrict new adults from being active leaders until the background process is complete.

Could the registrars' system somehow facilitate this? If the CC/CR's emails are in the system, send a short notice of completion and/or application status? This may pose privacy issues that need to be considered, but it seems to be good abuse prevention and good unit service.

There are rumors of an upcoming online registration tool; perhaps email notification could be built into that system just as it is in the online tour permit system.

Comments (1)Technology, adult registrationm, youth protection

Online Tour Permit Backend

Fri, 14 May 2010 08:44:40 PDT

Vote On Idea

The online tour permit system is gaining popularity among units as a few kinks have been worked out. Now the back-end is posing issues when handling large numbers of submissions.

When a large number of submissions exits, the approver's back-end list covers many pages. The approver must sort the list and then search for a given unit's submission. Then, when clicking on an icon and then back out to the list, the list resorts back to page 1 rather than staying on the selected page. It becomes very time consuming to make multiple clicks to re-sort, and re-find the submission being worked on when several actions need to be taken on a submission, or when working on a string of recent submissions.

Also, it would be helpful if a council approver's email could be sent a note by the system to notify/remind that pending submissions exist. If a large number of submissions exist, this could quickly overflow an inbox, so perhaps a daily email summary of the number of pending, approved, new, etc. tour permits could be considered.

Comments (1)Technology, tour permit, online tour permit

Eagle Scout Project Woorkbook

Thu, 13 May 2010 11:34:54 PDT

Vote On Idea

Many of my Scouts and leaders are having trouble with the .PDF format of the Eagle project workbook. Can we also have a .DOC (Word) or other formats available on-line. My District Eagle Project coordinator (approver) loves the getting the electronic documents but all are having trouble printing when certain sections are over one page.

Comments (0)Boy Scouting, eagle, eagle project, eagle application

Online Youth Protection Training & Online Youth Protection Quiz

Tue, 11 May 2010 09:09:33 PDT

Vote On Idea

Recently, a volunteer went online to update his youth protection training since it had been two years. Instead of taking the entire course again, he simply took the quiz thinking "if i can pass the quiz and show that I still have the knowledge that should be good enough." At the end it printed a certificate saying "This certificate certifies that ...has completed the Youth Protection Training Course" and gives a date. Said volunteer thought he was covered. A little while later, I pulled a training not completed report for our training committee and noticed that the volunteer showed up as not having completed Youth Protection, which made me wonder since I had seen the printed certificate with date. When compared to his training record online, he only was given credit for Y00, "WEB Take Youth Protection Quiz" and not Y01. I asked our registrar, who recently returned from training, about this and she said, "oh yea, at training they really emphasized that just taking the quiz does not count as being youth protection trained." Well, why have the separate quiz at all if you really want people to go back and take the full course over every two years, or if we have to have a separate quiz, why finish it with a training certificate that says "This certificate certifies that ...has completed the Youth Protection Training Course." If there has to be a separate quiz, and taking it does not count as updating youth protection training, shouldn't it say that somewhere maybe at the beginning of the quiz and maybe again at the end?

Comments (13)Volunteers

New Adult Registrations

Thu, 06 May 2010 11:02:10 PDT

Vote On Idea

Why not send all newly registered adult leaders a link to the On-line Learning Center to be able to complete training as soon as possible?

It could possibly contain a welcome message from the Chief as well.

Comments (0)Applications & Registration

Youth Protection Training Square Knots

Sun, 02 May 2010 16:02:14 PDT

-73

Vote On Idea

A way to show scouts and scouters you have completed youth protection training. This knot could only be puchased through your local scout shop and only with your training cirtificate in hand.

Comments (1)Other

NYLT Square Knot

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:43:08 PDT

-54

Vote On Idea

For those who have completed the national youth leadership training. You have to take the patch off upon turning 18, and youth should be recognized for the training.

Comments (3)Other

Toll-free number no longer available for volunteers

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:21:45 PDT

Vote On Idea

I was surprised to read the e-mail about changing the volunteer help desk number to a regular, long-distance number. Because local councils do not have access to MyBSA accounts, we cannot look up accounts or passwords in order to help them. There have been so many problems that referring volunteers to National to get their account issues resolved happens many times daily. I guess that's why your "old number was so wildly popular." This seems a thinly-disguised attempt to discourage volunteers from calling at all.

Since thousands of volunteers are already working long hours to lead youth through the scouting program, it seems a shame to add insult to injury by telling them, we cannot help you ... you must call this number. And by the way, you will have to pay long-distance charges to call.

I can't imagine a worse policy if you want to retain the goodwill of scouting volunteers.

Comments (11)Other, tol-free number