Scouts.Digital Article

There seems to be some confusion about who creates events on Scouts.Digital. This article explains this in depth as well as details which Group, Troop or Pack Events you should (or should not) be creating.

Lets start out with a couple of definitions:

• Pack Events are events that only Cubs can attend. This means that only Cubs can be marked as having attended this event.
• Troop Events are events that only Scouts can attend. This means that only Scouts can be marked as having attended this event.
• Group Events are events that the whole Group can attend. This means that Cubs and Scouts can attend this event and their attendance can be captured in "Attendance" => "Events"
• District Events are events that either Cubs or Scouts can attend (Depending on what was selected when the event was created)
• Regional Events are events that either Cubs or Scouts can attend (Depending on what was selected when the event was created)

Pack, Troop And Group Events are created by Adult Leaders in your Group and are specific to your Group.

District Events are created by your DC and are specific to your District. These events can either be "For Cubs". "For Scouts" or "For Groups" and do not need to be created again for your Group.

Regional Events are created by your RC and are specific to your Region. These events can either be "For Cubs". "For Scouts" or "For Groups" and do not need to be created again for your Group.

There are no limitations on your ability to create Group / Troop / Pack events. In theory, you can create multiple Group / Troop / Pack events on the same day as a Regional or District events as you may have chosen not to attend the District / Regional event and be holding another event entirely. This is possible and has happened to Groups in the past. For instance, you may choose to hold a Badge Advancement day on the same day that Kim Shield is happening, etc. The system is set up to manage this.

So, lets look at the effect of you creating a Group / Troop / Pack event on the same day as a Regional / District event, where the names of the event are, roughly, the same. (IE: Group Event called "Kontiki" created on the same days the the Regional Event called "Kontiki 2016"). Attendance can be captured for either (or both) of these Events as Scouts.Digital sees these events as being available to your Group (Your Group Event and the Regional Event). Think of the Scouter capturing the attendance for this event. They will be unsure of which event to capture attendance for, simply because they are named similarly and happen on the same day. Perhaps attendance is only captured for one Event. Perhaps both. This generates confusion at the time and affect's your Group / Troop / Pack Heath calculations, but generates a much greater problem later on in the year.

Now, 6 months down the line, you come to Star Troop Calculations.

At this point, your Star calculation will see these two events as being available to your Group and use both of them in the Star Award calculation. If you only captured attendance for one of them, you will be penalized. If you captured attendance for both of them, you will be better off. Both ways are wrong and do not show a correct reflection of your calculations.

So, the moral of the story is:

• If you are running an Event that is specific to your Group / Troop / Pack, create an event for it and capture your attendance normally.
• District Events are created by District Commissioners, but you can still capture attendance for these event normally.
• Regional Events are created by your Regional Commissioner, but you can still capture attendance for these events normally,
• DO NOT CREATE GROUP / TROOP / PACK EVENTS THAT HAVE THE SAME NAME AS DISTRICT OR REGIONAL EVENTS AS THIS CREATES CONFUSION AND WILL THROW OUT ALL YOUR REPORTS, HEALTH CALCULATIONS, PARENTS DASHBOARDS AND STAR CALCULATIONS