NOTE: If you do not see the answer to your question on this page, please see the other FAQ categories listed above.
|
1. I have a scout who has turned 18. How can I move him to the adult leaders file?
|  |
|
That's part of the delete/archive process. If the scout is 17 or older, TroopMaster offers to create an adult leader record for him when you delete and or archive him as a scout. There's a checkbox for that on the delete/archive dialog.
|
|
2. How does TroopMaster compute service stars for the Court of Honor?
|  |
|
For scouts, service stars are based on the Joined Unit date. For adults, they are based on the Became Leader date. Each of these is then adjusted by any Leadership History or Prior Service dates in his record. For example, a scout with a Joined Unit date of 08/01/02 and no prior service would be listed for a 4-year service star for a Court of Honor with From-To dates of, say, 07/01/06 thru 08/30/06. If the same scout had 6 months of prior service, he would be listed for a 4-year pin for a Court that included the date 02/01/06 (i.e., 6 months earlier than in the first example). In computing service stars, TroopMaster is careful not to double-credit overlapping periods of service.
|
|
3. I'm doing my first ScoutNET recharter. Any tips?
|  |
- The first dialog is for basic information on your unit. If your official unit number is different than your unit number within the program, you should change it here. You can also change the unit type, if necessary.
- The next dialog (Recharter Selection) is used to select the adult leaders and scouts you want to charter. For each adult whom you wish to charter, highlight the name and click the Paid, Multiple, or Transfer button. A Non-Registering button is also available for the very rare case where you have an adult for whom you want to send data, but you don't officially want to register the person.
- You do not have to charter all of the adults/scouts listed on the recharter selection lists, but you do have to charter the key adult leader positions and the scouts who are not leaving your unit. Only adults who have been assigned at least one leadership position are included on the recharter selection list .
- If an adult is assigned to more than one leadership position, he will be listed more than once on this dialog (unless the BSA position codes are the same for both positions) so that you can decide which position(s) in which to charter the adult. In some cases, you can charter an adult in more than one position; for example, the Chartered Organization Representative and the Executive Officer can be the same person. If you select an invalid combination of positions, the program will present an error message when you generate the report.
- One of the key adult leader positions is Executive Officer and you must select this person for rechartering. This position used to be called Institutional Head. The Executive Officer does not have to pay--he is always chartered as a Multiple.
- Regarding fees, some councils require an additional $1.00 for insurance. However, insurance is not part of ScoutNET, so you must handle insurance through your council separately.
- The training codes for your adult leaders on the printed report are based on BSA criteria. There is a separate FAQ on this subject. Training codes only appear on the paper report--they are not transmitted to ScoutNET.
- There are two fields that appear on the paper report that cannot be set from within the program: Unit Status and On Time Unit. Both of these will be completed by your Unit Commissioner.
- If you are an LDS unit using TroopMaster, it will apply LDS rechartering rules when it validates your recharter report. For example, under LDS rules, Boy Scouts must be age 11-13, Varsity Scouts must be 14-15, and Crew members must be 16-20. This usually means that you must create a separate recharter report for each group, making sure that you select the right set of adults/scouts for each report. For example, when you charter the crew you must include a Venture Crew Advisor. If you charter the same adult on more than one report, he should be marked as Paid on one and Multiple on the others.
|
|
4. How does TroopMaster compute training codes for the recharter report?
|  |
|
Here are the current BSA criteria for Trained status for Troops (courses for Crews, Ships, and Teams are slightly different):
Boy Scout Leader Basic Training
or
Scoutmaster Fundamentals
or
1) For Scoutmasters/Assistants: New Leader Essentials, Intro to Outdoor Ldr Skills, and Scoutmaster Specific Training
2) For other troop leaders: New Leader Essentials and Troop Committee Challenge
|
5. I have a scout working toward Life and TroopMaster accepted both Swimming and Hiking as Eagle-required MBs even though both are from the same category. Why?
|  |
|
The advancement rules in the Boy Scout Handbook and the Boy Scout Requirements book are different for Star/Life than they are for Eagle. The categories do not apply until the Eagle rank. For example, on page 445 of the Boy Scout Handbook it states that the scout must earn 6 merit badges of which 4 must be from the required list for Eagle. The footnote states that, "A scout may choose ANY (my emphasis) of the 15 required merit badges in the 12 categories to fulfill requirement 3."
The Individual Progress Report lists Eagle badges that the scout can apply toward his next rank. If the scout is working on Star/Life, it lists any open Eagle badges. After he earns Life, the report just lists badges from the open categories.
|
|
6. How does TroopMaster compute O/A eligibility?
|  |
|
Here is what the program is looking for when determining OA eligibility:
- For scouts (and adults less than 21 years old), 1st Class or higher
- 15 nights total camping since the date you specify
- The 15 nights must include one (and only one) long-term camp of 5 or 6 nights.
- The remaining 9 or 10 nights of the 15 total must be short-term camping.
- BSA has stated the cabin camping may be counted. TroopMaster will count those nights if you select that option on the report generation dialog.
|
|
7. Can you allow multiple leaders to update the unit database from separate home computers?
|  |
|
Yes, we do provide an option to allow multiple leaders to make updates from separate computers. Our DotNet add-on for the program allows you to host your database in a central location on an FTP site so that multiple leaders can access/update these files from separate computers.
DotNet allows you to divide up the database responsibilities and, since the database is centralized on an FTP site, all of these updates will be made in the SAME database. The file transfer process is also fully automated by the system so you can simply start the program and it handles all file transfer operations. No special skills are need to upload or download your files. Please visit the DotNet page on our website for more details.
|
|
8. I'm trying to assign family links but the links are disabled. Why?
|  |
|
If you are using the distributed database option, the links require that all four of the "people" areas (i.e., scouts, adults, MBCs, and POCs) be assigned to the same person (either the master system or a single satellite). The reason is that those are the areas that are being linked together, so anyone updating one of the areas is potentially updating all four. Please check your settings on the File>Database Management dialog.
|
|
9. Do you have or are you planning a separate "CrewMaster" for Venture Crews?
|  |
|
TroopMaster fully supports Venturing crews. It tracks the Venturing awards and there's a corresponding set of Venturing reports. Also, since male Crew members who earned at least the 1st Class rank with a troop can continue working on advancement, we're not sure how different a separate Crew version would actually be.
The Venturing awards are listed on the Individual Advancement dialog, and the reports are under Reports>Venturing. You can change the unit type to Crew through a field on the Unit General Information dialog.
|
|
10. What about Sea Scouts? Varsity Teams?
|  |
|
TroopMaster now supports Venturing Crews including specific support for Sea Scouts. It also supports Varsity Teams. For each of the three unit types, TroopMaster has award entry dialogs and an associated set of reports. You can change the unit type to Crew, Ship, or Team through a field on the Unit General Information dialog.
|
11. When BSA adds a new merit badge or modifies requirements on existing merit badges, how do I make those changes in TroopMaster?
|  |
|
In TroopMaster 2005, we implement these changes for you and include them in a program update. Please bring up the Help>About dialog and compare the version you're running to the one listed on our web site. If the version on our web site is newer, please run the free update.
|
|
12. How can I create a read-only system?
|  |
|
Just bring up the File>Database Management dialog, define a password for the read-only system, and don't check any of the "Allow updates" checkboxes. For more information, please read the Database Management section in the File chapter of the PDF users manual, which can be accessed through the Help pull-down menu.
|
|
Click here for printable view
|
|
İTroopMaster Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Statement.
|