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Keeping Track of Achievements
Accurately and easily being able to track requirements and being able to quickly share this information is important for boys, parents, leaders, and the troop as a whole. Knowing what upcoming tasks are still needed and organizing past results may be a stumbling block for some boy's advancements. Organization may help some boys advance quicker and keep them motivated.
The troop Advancement Chair (a position filled by an adult member of the troop committee) should keep an official record of each scout's advancement. This would include at minimum the ranks each scout has achieved and the merit badges he has earned. Additional items that the troop might track include service hours completed, nights of camping (to be applied toward the Camping merit badge), and rank requirements that have been signed off.
A software package can help a troop manage and automate advancement record keeping and other aspects of their unit. A few of the programs can monitor their data to notify about missing requirements or completed achievements. Some individuals or units may use generic database or spreadsheet software, such as Excel, to track troop or individual work. ScoutNET is BSA's official software-based record keeping system which allows the council to import and verify advancement records, rechartering, and enrollments electronically. The following lists a few troop management softwares:
BSAdv
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- This is a component for the free Joomla content management system for managing unit data and advancement data for the troop. (It doesn't track an individual scout's advancement.) http://sourceforge.net/projects/bsadv/
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- This commercial website service is used for meeting planning,
advancement tracking, and communications between leaders, parents,
and scouts.
http://scoutingplanner.com
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- This commercial software is ScoutNET certified and may be used to upload charters and advancement reports. It can generate Excel, JPEG, and PDF reports. It runs on Java-supported platforms. http://www.scoutsoft.net/
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- This website-based commercial software for parents, scouts, and leaders may be used to track advancements, merit badges, and service hours. It also provides a troop calendar and automated emails. http://www.scouttrack.com/
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- This commercial software is designed for troops to track information for all troop members and the troop as a whole. It's not really geared towards individual record keeping. It is Windows-only and is not web-enabled. http://www.srtware.com/trooper/
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- This commercial software is useful for individual scouts or parents. It is able to generate over 100 reports, such as campouts attended, merit badges earned, leadership rosters, tour permits, etc. It is Windows-only and not website-based (but it can synchronize data to an online database). TroopMaster is ScoutNET certified. (The company also provides financial ledger software for troops.) http://www.troopmaster.com/products/boyscouts/boy_scouts.php
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- This commercial website service allows parents and scouts to review the scout's progress, check the troop calendar, and use email lists for the troop. http://www.trooptrack.com/
Even if the troop keeps good records, the most up-to-date copy of a scout's progress is usually in the back pages of his copy of the Boy Scout Handbook. This is where troop leaders have signed off his completed rank requirements. It's a good idea for parents or guardians to photocopy the signed-off rank requirement pages every few months to verify the scout's progress in the event that his handbook is lost or damaged. They can keep these in the boy's scouting notebook or you may choose to use separate file folders to track the scout progress. The boy's personal records should be compared with the unit's records periodically.
Maintaining a notebook of a scout's awards and achievements will help him remember how far he has come in scouting. This notebook can include completed blue cards, logs of service hours and campouts, certificates of achievement, ribbons, and special patches. The notebook can be started for a new scout by a parent or guardian and maintained by the scout himself as he gets older. It may be valuable at the boy's Eagle Board of Review and items from the notebook can also be put on display during his Eagle Court of Honor. At the end of his scouting career, he'll have a priceless memento of the years he spent as a Boy Scout.
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Next page: Summary (Setting Goals and Keeping Track)
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