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If you do not see the answer to your question on this page, click here to view other FAQ categories.
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1. I can't remember the Data Access or Encryption Password I used for the database. What should I do?
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The default settings for your program would have used the word 'admin' (all lower case) for the administrator password and would not have specified an encryption password. If these defaults have been changed and you do not know/remember the new settings, please see our Password Recovery Form.
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2. I've lost the license/registration settings for my program and am unable to re-install the package. What should I do?
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The license key settings for your program are generated by our server when your order is placed. They would have been printed on a label inside of the original CD case and were also sent via email to the original purchaser. If you are using TroopMaster or PackMaster, you can also view these settings in another copy of the program (e.g., on another leader's machine) through the Help>License Details option on the main menu. If you are unable to locate these settings, we can help you get a new copy of the settings for your package. Please click here to order a replacement CD or copy of your license settings.
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3. I have misplaced the original CD that was originally shipped with my package. What should I do?
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4. I'm just getting started and there's a lot of data to enter. Are there any shortcuts?
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You don't have to start with an empty database. Your council office can create a ScoutNET export file from which you can import the basic personal data on your scouts and adult leaders. There is an option on the File>Import menu that enables you to do that. If needed, council procedures for creating the export file are located in the Help>View User's Manual for the File>Import section of the program. Unfortunately, the export file does NOT contain advancement data.
Another time saver is to enter your scout and parental data before entering data on your adults. You can then use the family links feature to create records in the adult leader, merit badge counselor, and POCs areas for parents who also serve in one or more of those functions.
In the advancement area, if you don't have or don't wish to enter all of the details for each of the early ranks, you can just enter the Board of Review/Rank Completion date. TroopMaster will then credit the rank and blanket-fill all of the open requirement dates with the word Complete. The same approach will work for senior ranks except that must also enter all of the merit badges for the rank. There are also shortcuts for entering dates--please see section 2 of the PDF users manual, which can be accessed through the Help pull-down menu.
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5. Are there guidelines for entering data that will make it easier for council personnel to process ScoutNET reports?
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Yes, here are some data entry tips we got from BSA:
- Don't enter data with 'Caps Lock' on, particularly when entering names. ScoutNET expects the first letter to be capitalized and the remainder to be lower case. Of course, names like McCoy, Van Dam, and O'Connor are exceptions.
- Don't punctuate any information unnecessarily, especially addresses and abbreviations. For example, instead of 'St.' enter 'St'; instead of 'Apt #22-B' enter 'Apt 22B'; etc. However, sometimes hyphens and slashes are needed for postal delivery (e.g., 10-234 Main St, and 103 1/2 Oak Blvd)
- Don't use data fields to store data other than what is requested by the field label because it can cause processing of your recharter to fail. For example, don't enter driver's license number and license expiration date in the driver's license number field. If you need to record data for which there are no system-defined data items, use the 'remarks' or, better, create your own data items. That can be done on the Remarks/Other tab of the scout and adult personal data dialogs.
- Similarly, if a person has a name prefix (e.g., 'Dr'), don't enter that in the first name field--just enter first name. The program only tracks prefixes for Points of Contact. We also provide separate fields for 'First Name' versus 'Nickname'. Enter the formal first name in the 'First Name' field.
- If a person has a suffix (e.g., 'Jr'), enter that in the suffix field, not the last name field.
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6. Does TroopMaster/PackMaster work with BSA's new Internet Rechartering System?
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Yes, both TroopMaster and PackMaster are fully compatible with the new Internet Rechartering System.
For instructions on this process, click here.
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7. Does TroopMaster/PackMaster work with BSA's new Internet Advancement System?
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Yes, both TroopMaster and PackMaster are fully compatible with the new Internet Advancement System.
For instructions on this process, click here.
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8. I have just uploaded my advancement CSV file through the Internet Advancement System but many of the awards
for my scouts did not transfer. Why?
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The awards from your transfer file will only be transferred into their system if it can find an exact match on an existing member in their database. To find this existing record in their system will require an exact match on the following fields: First Name, Last Name and Date of Birth. If all three of these fields do not match the information in their system, it will not find the existing record and will not transfer the advancement records for this member.
You can use their system to generate a roster of your members which will allow you to check the exact spelling of the names in their system. If these do not match, one of the two system will need to be adjusted so that they are both the same. If the names are spelled exactly the same and the records still are not being transferred, the DOB must not match between the two systems. For security reasons, DOB is not available on any of the reports that you can manually generate from their system so, in this case, you would need to manually confirm this data with your local council to make sure the DOB matches the data in your system.
Note for PackMaster Users: At this time, the Internet Advancement Interface can only import rank data from your transfer file. They are currently working on this system to add support for your Activity Badges and other awards but they are not currently being imported through this interface. At this time, we are unable to get an estimated date from them as to when the import interface will be expanded to include these additional awards.
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9. Can I backup my data from my program to a CD?
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If you are using the very latest version of TroopMaster or PackMaster, these two program now support directly writing files to most CD drives. However, if your drive is not directly supported (or if you are using any of our other programs), you do have the ability to save the data to CD but the process is a little more involved.
To backup files to a CD when the program cannot directly save the files, you first format the CD for data. CD's do not come pre-formatted because the format needed varies with the intended use (i.e., music, data, video, etc.) . You should have a program that came with your writable CD drive that you can use to format a CD. On most computers, if you insert an unformatted CD, that program will automatically start and it will ask you what you want to do with the CD. You should choose the data format option. The "Open a writable CD folder" option is not sufficient.
Once the CD has been formatted for data, you can backup to it the same way you would to a diskette or a hard drive folder.
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10. I can't figure out how to get my perforated Award Cards or Merit Badge Blue Cards to print properly. What should I do?
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The default settings for the Award Cards and Merit Badge Blue Cards should work fine for most printers. However, if you are having trouble, you may need to adjust these settings.
For more information on generating your cards and for help aligning the report for your specific printer, please see our Card Alignment Guide.
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11. I'm printing the Perforated Award Cards for my unit. Where can I get different images to include on my cards?
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When we originally introduced this feature into our system, we did draw our own images to use on the award cards. The problem is that the images we included too closely resembled the official BSA trademarked insignia and they contacted us to request that we remove these images from our program. With the new system, you must now choose your own images for the cards as we can no longer provide specific images within the software. If you were using images with the previous version, you may still be able to browse to the old location and choose these images for the new cards as well.
If you do not already have any of these images on your computer, you can run a search for 'scouting clipart' on the web to find many high quality images that you can use for the cards. We have also been given links by a few of our customers with places where you can get images to use for your cards. You can visit these sites on the web at:
http://clipart.usscouts.org
http://picasaweb.google.com/joe.scouter/Cards
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12. What are the R/P flags and how are they used?
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The purpose of the "R" (reported) flag is to provide a way of tracking awards that were earned during the time period for your previous Court of Honor, but were not reported to you until after the close out date of the Court. These awards can optionally be included on the next Court of Honor and on the associated Unit Advancement Report (4403) for your council.
The purpose of the "P" (presented) flag is to provide a way of handling the case where a scout misses a Court of Honor. If that happens, you can go to his Individual Advancement records and turn off the "P" flags for the awards he was to receive. These awards can then optionally be included on the next Court of Honor report. These awards will not be included on the next Unit Advancement Report (4403) because they have already been reported to your council.
Depending on the option selected, the program includes awards earned earlier than the From-To period if the Reported/Presented (R/P) flags are not set. Please see your PDF users manual for more details. You may need to regenerate the Court of Honor/4403 for the time period of your previous Court to get these flags initially set; if so, you don't need to print the report--just answer Yes when asked if you wish to update the R/P flags.
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13. I need to credit an adult training course that's not on the menu and I don't have a course code for it.
How can I add the course to the system?
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The program stores adult training by course code, not by course name, so a code is required in order for you to add a new course to the system. If the course is taught by BSA, you should be able to get the official course code from your council office. If not or if the course is taught by another agency (such as the Red Cross), you'll need to create a course code. We recommensd that you use a code that is not likely to be used by BSA in the future (e.g., ZZ1, ZZ2, etc.).
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14. How can I credit attendance for scouts who missed part of a campout or who worked a different number
of service hours than did other scouts?
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The program is flexible in marking attendance for activities. Typically, if some scouts camp a different number of nights than others, you simply use the number of nights camped as the Attendance Marker for those scouts. For example, if a scout leaves after the first night of a two-night campout, you mark attendance for him by putting a "1" next to his name--that will override the nights camped for just that scout.
Similarly, if scouts work varying numbers of hours on a service project, you enter the number of hours/tenths next to each of their names in the attendance area.
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15. Can I transfer data to TroopLedger/PackLedger?
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Yes. TroopLedger/PackLedger cannot import data directly from the TroopMaster/PackMaster database, but there is a File>Create TroopLedger/PackLedger Import Files menu option for that purpose. Use that option to create a set of files for your treasurer.
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16. I live in another country. How do I enter overseas phone numbers?
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The program will accept a different phone number format for overseas units, so make sure you've set your country code on the File>Preferences dialog. You must also uncheck the U.S. Phone/Zip Format checkbox on that same dialog.
When entering phone numbers, enter the country code (e.g., Germany is 49) in the Country field. The phone number itself should contain the city code and phone number (e.g., 66-4567890). The entry must contain at least one hyphen or period (to separate the city code). There can be no more than 5 digits prior to the first hyphen or period. The rest of the phone number can contain no more than 7 digits.
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17. I love the main menu camping scene. Can my troop use it for other purposes?
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We're glad you like it. This artwork was commissioned from a local artist specifically for Troopmaster and, as you can see, she's very talented. Sorry, but we don't allow it to be used for other purposes.
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18. How can I configure the email feature in your program to work with AOL?
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If you have AOL 7.0 or newer, you can configure it to work with our software. However, you must first make AOL the Windows default e-mail program.
If you have AOL 7.0 or 8.0:
- Sign on to AOL.
- Click the Keyword button.
- In the 'Keyword' dialog, type the word 'Preferences' (without the quotes) and click Go.
- In the 'Preferences' dialog, click on the 'Association' link to select 'America Online' as your preferred application for web browsing, e-mail and newsgroups.
- In the resulting 'Associations Preferences' dialog, click OK.
If you have AOL 9.0:
- Sign on to AOL.
- Click the 'Settings' icon on the toolbar.
- Click the A-Z tab.
- Click the 'AOL as Default' link.
- Click OK.
This should make AOL your default program for e-mail, Internet browsing, and accessing newsgroups. Once you've done that, you should be able to transmit messages directly from our software.
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19. What happened to the scout/adult "flags" that I used in the earlier versions?
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In the latest versions of our programs, we have replaced the old "flags" with much more flexible and intuitive Member Groups. Groups are created through the Unit>Group Members option. You can create as many groups as you like and you can assign anyone in your database to any group. For ease of use, you can name each group; e.g., Troop Committee, Summer Camp, etc. When you generate reports, you can optionally control who appears on the reports by selecting one or more of your defined groups. On the reports dialogs, groups are selected through the Filtered Selection option on the drop-down list boxes.
Please read the Group Members section in the Unit chapter of the PDF users manual, which can be accessed through the Help pull-down menu.
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20. I'm having difficulty getting envelopes to align properly. Any advice?
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When printing envelopes, in addition to setting the envelope size within the program, you must also use your printer Properties dialog to set the envelope size and print orientation for your printer itself. There's a button for this on the Print dialog.
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21. When I send email, the attachment name is changed to "Winmail.dat" and it becomes unusable. Why?
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There's a bug in MS Outlook that causes a message attachment to be changed into a "Winmail" file if your Outlook message format is set to Rich Text. Microsoft recommends changing the format to Plain Text. Please visit the following site for more info: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/138053
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22. Why can't I restore a data backup from an older version of the program?
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The data formats between the old and new versions are totally different so the existing (old) data must be converted to the new formats during the installation. Please see Section 1 of the Getting Started Guide.
If the old version is not installed on your computer, you don't need to install it to upgrade but you would need to point the data conversion program to the location of the existing data files or to a backup of the database. The same applies to conversion of the archived data.
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23. When I backup my data, the backup creates a file (or set of files) with a specific file name. Can I change that?
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No, the File>Restore Data function requires that specific file name.
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24. Can TroopMaster/PackMaster receive scouts from a transfer file created by and earlier version of the program?
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Sorry, but due to changes in the internal data structures, transfer files created in older versions of the software cannot be imported into the current version.
However, any unit with a current license for TroopMaster or PackMaster can download the upgrade to our lastest version absolutely free from the Software Downloads page on our website. Once they have installed the new version and converted their files, they can re-create this transfer file for you in the proper format to import into your system.
If the other unit does not wish to install the free upgrade at this time, we do also have a process here where we can convert the old transfer file to the new file formats for you. There is a $10 charge for the manual data conversion but, if you would like for us to convert these files into the new formats for you, please give us a call and we can help you with this.
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25. When parents are divorced or separated, how do I enter the parent who does not live with the scout?
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Enter the parent on the Alternate Relative tab of the scout personal data dialog, which provides separate fields for relationship, address, phone numbers, etc. Family links are also available.
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26. Can I run two copies of the program on the same computer?
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Yes, you just need to install the program twice. You'll need to install the second copy into a different hard drive folder and use a different program group name to keep them apart. If you use desktop icons, you'll also need to set up a separate icon for each installation, again using a different name for each icon.
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27. Can I save the Unit Calendar to disk and retain the date separator lines?
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The new Save to PDF option does now support saving the grid lines as well as the text from the report. However, the Text, Rich Text, and HTML options do not support these grid lines. If you must save to one of these formats, one of our users came up with a way to restore lines to a Calendar that's been saved in Rich Text format. For specific procedures, please visit the following website:
http://www.rickmktg.com/troopmaster.htm
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28. What happens if I let my software license expire?
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The program will begin reminding you that it's time to renew your license when you get within 30 days of your license expiration date. If you let your license expire, after a short grace period, the program will go into a read-only mode until you do renew your license.
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29. I'm using Windows Vista and am unable to backup my database. What should I do?
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Windows Vista introduced quite a bit of security protections on specific folders in your system. If you attempt to backup your files to any of these protected folders, you will be prevented from saving the backup. The default settings should allow you to save your backups to either directly to our program folder or to your My Documents folder on the machine. If you need to create your backup in one of the protected locations, you may need to disable the User Account Control in your Vista installation.
For more information on User Account Control, please visit the Microsoft website at:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Turn-User-Account-Control-on-or-off
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