Scout tracking info

Discussions around miscellaneous technologies and projects for the general membership.
cbuck-p40
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Scout tracking info

#1

Post by cbuck-p40 »

Is there a project int he works to add tracking information for cub scouts and boy scouts? There are a couple unofficial programs floating around out there, but nothing sponsored by the Church that includes both scout tracking and faith in god activities.

I'd love to see a simple, excel-like form added to the ward website to track all of this information, giving leaders and parents a single point of reference for this information. this is especially critical for cubs, where families complete the majority of activities - and synchronizing with leaders is more of an art than science.
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WelchTC
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#2

Post by WelchTC »

cbuck wrote:Is there a project int he works to add tracking information for cub scouts and boy scouts? There are a couple unofficial programs floating around out there, but nothing sponsored by the Church that includes both scout tracking and faith in god activities.

I'd love to see a simple, excel-like form added to the ward website to track all of this information, giving leaders and parents a single point of reference for this information. this is especially critical for cubs, where families complete the majority of activities - and synchronizing with leaders is more of an art than science.
I do not believe that there are any official plans right now to support this. Not that we won't...just that we currently don't.

Tom
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k0nod
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Commercial Scout Record Programs

#3

Post by k0nod »

You really can't do much better than programs like Troopmaster that already include the youth awards. Spreadsheets aren't good at prompting you to enter the detail a good Scout program needs. Most often it's only the bare necessities that get posted.

Additionally, only the commercial programs can interface with the new online records systems at the council offices. With Troopmaster, by the way, you can post your records on a server to share with all the Scouters in your unit, as well as stake leadership. Our stake buys the program for each ward for this very purpose.
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WelchTC
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#4

Post by WelchTC »

k0nod541 wrote:You really can't do much better than programs like Troopmaster that already include the youth awards. Spreadsheets aren't good at prompting you to enter the detail a good Scout program needs. Most often it's only the bare necessities that get posted.

Additionally, only the commercial programs can interface with the new online records systems at the council offices. With Troopmaster, by the way, you can post your records on a server to share with all the Scouters in your unit, as well as stake leadership. Our stake buys the program for each ward for this very purpose.
Note: The Church does not endorse any specific program. It is left up to the individual units and people to decide which solution (if any) they should use to track their scouting progress.
oscarschultz
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Scout tracking software

#5

Post by oscarschultz »

How about listing how you consider to be the base requirements for the package.
Do you want to limit the package to just scouts or do you want to include YW, Duty ot God, Adult Scout awards, Primary awards and other programs?

I'd like the program to cover things like trip permits, permission slips, scheduling, equipment checks, contact info, etc

I'm trying to build one but I keep running into roadblocks

oscar
james_francisco
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re: Advancement Tracking Software

#6

Post by james_francisco »

Why does this functionality need to be sponsored by the Church? There are a few commercially available applications that support the DTG and FIG programs. I've listed the ones that I could find quickly here. Troopmaster/Packmaster and Scoutmate both offer FTP sites for data in addition to the PC based applications. All of these applications are also ScoutNet certified and that mean the ability to upload membership, recharter, and advancement data to the local council and the BSA. This is something that you really want to be able to do. It is also not something that would be cost-effective for the Church IT organization because of the US centric focus of the application.

Be leary of web-based applications because of the youth protection issues involved. Also, web policies differ slightly from council to council. Some councils may prohibit any web storage of youth data for safety reasons. I can't say that I disagree with that stance.

James Francisco
Committee Member, Troop 182 Grand Canyon Council

Applications that track 'Duty to God'
Troopmaster(http://www.troopmaster.com)
ScoutMate (http://www.kscgroup.com/scoutmate.htm)
ScoutSoft (http://www.scoutsoft.net/)

Applications that Track 'Faith in God'
PackMaster (http://www.troopmaster.com)
ScoutMate
ScoutSoft (Also tracks Achievement days and YW)

Web-based Access:
Troopmaster/PackMaster (FTP site: parents can be given read-only access)
Scoutmate (FTP site)
cbuck wrote:Is there a project in the works to add tracking information for cub scouts and boy scouts? There are a couple unofficial programs floating around out there, but nothing sponsored by the Church that includes both scout tracking and faith in god activities.

I'd love to see a simple, excel-like form added to the ward website to track all of this information, giving leaders and parents a single point of reference for this information. this is especially critical for cubs, where families complete the majority of activities - and synchronizing with leaders is more of an art than science.
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tomj
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Does a product like this exist

#7

Post by tomj »

Tracking software sounds great! Is there any Mac Scout Tracking Software?

When I was a varsity coach tracking software would have been great! But it would have been even better if our whole scout committee could have access to the records through some sort or web-based interface that they could log-in to or something similar to that.

Is there anything out there that has this sort of functionality? It looks as if the above listed solutions are client only with the possibility of FTP upload.
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WelchTC
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#8

Post by WelchTC »

I think that Oscar is interested in developing an open source project for scouting. Yes, there are commercial products out there. This does not mean that there is not room for an open source "free" product. The Church has not endorsed any project at this time. Whether the Church does endorse a specific project or creates one on it's own is not something I have any information about.

Tom
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thedqs
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#9

Post by thedqs »

As I've told others and as I have done myself, if you come up with a great idea, find an open source code manager (like SourceForge) create a prject and then invoote people from this form to join. The nice thing about Source Managers is that they keep track of who made what change and if there were conflicting changes made.
- David
oscarschultz
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scout tracking

#10

Post by oscarschultz »

I am slowly working on a tracking program. It is setup to track a lot more than just scout advancement. Right now it is to early to setup a source repository or a formal project. If I can get to the 0.9 stage I'll be happy to share. The license I plan to use is GPL v3.

The base concern I have is to design for a kde on linux package, an apache based web package or one supporting both interfaces.

The base questions revolve around security.
With ssh + linux + kde I can build an app that is very difficult to crack.

Building a solid web app is a lot more than just building some dynamic html with some hooks into a database.

What web methods are need to defeat man in the middle, scripting attacks, etc.
Just using SSL is not enough for what I'm trying to setup.

Hopefully some of the web designers can suggest some solid security methods.
thanks
oscar
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