This guide is for troops, crews and ships. For Cub Scout Packs, see our guide here.
Scoutbook Overview for Unit Leaders
This is a detailed video tutorial on Scoutbook
Logging Into Scoutbook
Units can begin their Scoutbook journey by logging into legacy Scoutbook at: https://scoutbook.scouting.org/
If you have login issues, click on Forgot Password / Username or call your local council.
Dashboard
You will be sent to the Scoutbook Dashboard.
Your Profile
This allows you to edit your profile in the system. Changes you make in your profile will affect all Scouting America systems.
Select Edit Profile from your My Account Page
When you click on Edit Profile in Scoutbook, another tab will open in your browser that will open up your profile page in Scoutbook Plus.
Remember to save your work. There is a SAVE button at the bottom of the page.
Addressing Membership in Scoutbook
Members, both adult and youth, will automatically be added to your unit in Scoutbook 24 hours after they have been registered. There is no reason for you to add members to your unit.
Assigning Parents and Guardians to Scouts
Parents and guardians will automatically be assigned to Scouts by the system. If a parent is not showing as connected to a Scout in Scoutbook, contact your local council registrar and ask that the parent be associated with the Scout. Once that is done at the council level, the next day you will see the association in Scoutbook.
Your local council Registrar can also assign additional parents and guardians to the Scout. Alternately, a parent already connected to the Scout in Scoutbook can go to the Scout’s profile page and click on the + under the Relationships section of the Scout profile.
This starts a process of emails and logins to establish the Relationship (it is already Validated as a Parent started the Process.) DO PAY ATTENTION: the list of relationship types is long – read the relationship and make sure it is correct kind of relationship – currently only Parents will show for unit and unit events. There is a guardian FLAG council can set that makes others show in SB+, this is different from the Guardian relationship you might see as option.
MOST users that are a SB User also have an MID, if they know it or not, it can be seen on their SB User profile page.
A Unit Leader can do the same, but a Parent in Relationship is first notified with email and must take action to Validate the choice. Current Registered Leaders that can make relationships
Chartered Organization Rep.
Committee Chair
Council Unit Representative
Cubmaster
Scoutmaster
Venturing Crew Advisor
Skipper
Exploring Post Advisor
COR/CUR Delegate
Key 3 Delegate
Scoutbook Admin
Councils can also add relationships when needed.
When adding a relationship – you want to confirm that the Parent can log into the account using that MID – just the same name is not enough.
Parent Tutorial
There is a tutorial for parents on how they can utilize Scoutbook here:
https://help.scoutbook.scouting.org/knowledge-base/scoutbook-tutorial-for-parents/
Removing Parents or Guardians
Please contact your local council if you wish to remove a parent or guardian’s connection to a Scout.
Working with Your Unit
To work with your unit in Scoutbook, click on your unit from your Dashboard.
Sub-Units (Patrols) in Scoutbook
You will be brought to the Unit Page in Scoutbook. If you have sub-units, for example patrols, they will be at the top of the page. You can click on a patrol to view, add members, edit the patrol. Or you can create a patrol by clicking on Add Patrol in the lower right .
The Sub-Unit (Patrol) Page is where you can assign members to the patrol. You can move a Scout to this patrol by clicking on Reassign Scouts button. Don’t use the Add New Scout button. You can add an adult leader to the patrol, by clicking on the Add Leader button. Always work from the patrol you want to add people to, not a patrol you wish to remove someone from.
Edit Patrol menu item will allow you to edit the patrol name and dismiss (delete) the patrol.
Advancements in Troops Crews and Ships
If you click on the Scout’s name in legacy Scoutbook, you will be brought to the Scout’s page. From there, if you click on [scoutname]’s Advancement, you will be brought to the Scout’s Advancement Page in Scoutbook Plus.
If you click on View More you can work on a badge. You can also click on merit badges and awards and open one to work on.
Here is an example of what a rank page looks like:
You can approve individual requirements or complete and approve the entire rank (or badge.) Note you can approve multiple requirements for the badge by clicking on Quick Entry in the upper right corner.
You can simply back out any date you enter by mistake by backing over the date (deleting it.)
Connecting a Merit Badge Counselor to a Scout
To invite a merit badge counselor to work with a Scout on a badge. Login to legacy Scoutbook (https://scoutbook.scouting.org) Navigate to the Scout, and select the menu item [Scoutname]’s Merit Badges. From there you can click on a badge or start a new badge. Once you open the badge, click on Invite Counselor.
If the counselor is in your troop, select from the list of adults on the page and invite them.
If they are not in your troop, then
– click on +Add
– check the box Include MBC Only
– Enter Full Name, Member ID and Email and click on Search (you only need two of these items)
– Click search. Then click on the merit badge counselor and click Invite.
The merit badge counselor will be connected to the Scout and they will be able to enter credit for badges. For information on how a merit badge counselor works with a Scout in Scoutbook, please see the help guide here.
Individual Scout Reports
There are a number of reports available in the Scout’s page:
Messaging
You can send messages to your unit from your dashboard:
PO Report to Purchase Badges
If you click on the Needs Approval report from your unit’s page, you will be brought to the Scoutbook Plus purchasing system pages.
Approve Any Unapproved Badges
Click on To Approve tab. Then click on the item category you wish to approve advancements in.
Then check off the individual advancements you wish to approve. Then click on Approve Items in the upper right.
Get the Advancement Report for the Scout Shop
Click on the To Purchase tab. All items what are marked approved but not marked awarded and are not already in a closed PO will be displayed. Check off the items you wish to move into a purchase order cand click on Add items to order at the upper right.
Then click on View Order at the bottom of the page:
You can click on Advancement Report for the report the Scout Shops need. You can also click on Download Purchase Order (in-Store) for a shopping list with totals for each item and an estimated cost.
Marking an Advancement Awarded
Once you have handed the badge to the Scout, you may mark the advancement as awarded by clicking on the To Award tab and checking the item and clicking on Award Items in the upper right. You can get to this page from legacy Scoutbook by selecting the Needs Awarding report in the unit Reports menu.
The acts to close the advancement so it won’t show up on future POs.
Setting Permissions
Scoutbook Plus is moving away from connections-based permissions and moving toward position-based permissions, which will provide greater performance and permission customization.
In Scoutbook Plus, a unit can actively change functional positions for adults in their unit. For example, a Key 3 member may now change the unit’s Unit Advancement Chair in Scoutbook Plus. Previously, this action could only be performed in My.Scouting. Note: members will still be redirected to my.scouting.org to change registered positions.
When assigning leaders to registered or functional positions, these positions will have a base set of permissions in Scoutbook, which allows the leader to perform their duties across the full unit or sub-unit.
In addition, leaders may customize and add additional permissions associated. (So, if a leader is Troop Secretary but also helps out recording advancement, the unit can assign the “Advancement Editor including Youth leadership” permission to perform the additional duty.)
Default permissions assigned to positions have been determined by the Guide to Advancement and generally accepted position functionality. Some permissions may only be granted based on position (i.e. approving adults to serve as leaders is restricted to Chartered Organization Rep, COR/CUR Delegate, and/or Council Unit Representative) while many can be assigned to the individual.
Permissions Manager is a tool within Scoutbook+ that will allow you to move leaders from one registered/functional position to another. Changes will be reflected within 24 hours. The following can move registered leaders in ALL positions:
• Chartered Organization Representative
• COR/CUR Delegate
• Council Unit Representative
The following can move registered leaders into MOST positions (EXCEPT Chartered Organization Representative, Council Unit Representative, COR/Committee Chair, Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, Venturing Crew Advisor, Skipper, COR Delegate, Key 3 Delegate, Exploring Post Advisor):
• Committee Chair
• Cubmaster
• Scoutmaster
• Venturing Crew Advisor
• Skipper
• Exploring Post Advisor
• Key 3 Delegate
You can find the Permissions Manager by logging in to Scoutbook+ and clicking Permissions Manager at the bottom of the menu list on the left.
The Permissions Manager will default to the Assignees tab. From here, you can move leaders from one position to another.
To move a leader, you must first unassign them from their current position by clicking the gray circle icon to the right of their name.
This will remove their name from displaying in the current position box. And make them available for selection in the new position.
After removing the leader from their old position, you can then go to the new position section, click the drop-down arrow in the Select a Member field, and select the leader to assign them the new position. Remember, only leaders who have been unassigned from their current position will be available for selection and will not be grayed out.
Once all changes are made, click Save in the bottom right corner of the page.
If you try to add more than one leader to the same position where only one leader can be assigned, a warning message will display in red letting you know it has reached the max number of members.
If you then try to save it, you will get an error at the top of the screen as shown below, and will not allow to save.
Within the Permissions Manager tool, you will also see the Positions/Role Permissions tab. You can use this to grant leaders additional permissions to other tools they may not have access to.
When selected, the Positions/Roles Permissions tab will display as shown below.
You can expand each section to see a list of leaders and the permissions they have by clicking the arrow to the far right. Each tool has different permissions. To grant a leader permission to the tool, click the checkbox to the right of the leader’s name. If the box is grayed out, it means the leader already has permission to the tool via their registered or functional position.
Other Permission Features of Note: Each unit is different. Therefore, default positional permissions may be more restrictive than your unit may desire. You can customize or select the “Recommended Permissions” which will assign permissions based on most unit configurations.
In addition, you can use the Filter button to filter based on a position or when users joined the unit to assign the same permissions to a specific position or member group.
See the video above and the PDF below for more information.
Scout Leadership (aka Jr. Leadership)
Using the Scoutbook Calendar
Information on how to use the Scoutbook Calendar can be found here.
Parent Guide to Scoutbook
A guide for parents can be found here.
Feature Assistant Extension
Additional Features in Scoutbook are available when using this tool. It works seamlessly with Scoutbook and provides extra options right in Scoutbook pages when you are logged in.
More information is here: https://help.scoutbook.scouting.org/knowledge-base/feature-assistant-extension-adds-features-to-scoutbook/
Transitioning (Migrating)
From Another 3rd party application, please see this link.