cubtrails

OK, I totally misunderstood you the first time around. Thanks for clarifying.

The case you described - where the den leader tracks their own awards separately outside of CubTrails, and then emails a list of awards to the chairman prior to pack meeting - would not be a good candidate for CubTrails. I hope that doesn't come off wrong - of course I want a broad appeal, but I'd rather not try to be all things to all people. In my experience, trying to cast too wide a net can cause a product to get bloated and confusing. CubTrails is designed for packs (including parents) to adopt collectively - when everybody gets on board, everybody's life is easier.

Also, with CubTrails everything must be entered from an individual requirement basis. I did this for a few reasons:

* You can easily audit awards from within CubTrails (where and when did the scout complete a given achievement)

* You have to track individuals requirements if you are going to allow parents to mark off achievements

* It's the only way to accurately track partial completion

* Certain ranks (Wolf & Bear) allow you to count achievement that didn't go towards the rank award to be counted towards arrow points. How would you track that otherwise?

As far as seeing a worksheet of all achievements, the closest match to what you're describing can be found under the "Den Planner" from the main den screen. Below is a link to a screenshot looking at the 4 major categories within the Bear achievement. You can click on any item to drill down further, and you can see all the scouts at the top. The nice thing about this is that it tracks Beltloops and Pins, as well as normal achievements, so there's no need to cross-reference your Bear spreadsheet with your Pin/Beltloop spreadsheet. If a Pin is required for a Webelos Activity Badge, you can click through to it right from this screen.

http://screencast.com/t/hMTOXJ1anlvk

And lastly, I completely agree with your point about having a sample pack set up. That is such a great idea. I do have an account I've given out from time to time with some test data in it, and people are more than welcome to take a look around:

www.cubtrails.com

username: captainj

password: 890iop

Thanks, Eric

@5yearscouter

It's a good point about PackMaster - they've been around a long time and have definitely set the standard for scouting software. We've only been running CubTrails for about 3 years, and are only now starting to offer it publicly.

We definitely won't be the cheapest program out there - and probably won't be the one with the most features either. Ultimately, we're targeting people who are looking for:

* Something that's drop-dead simple to learn and get set up

* Something that runs anywhere (PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, etc)

* Something that provides advancement analytics front and center (telling leaders which scouts and dens are falling behind)

In response to your list of things you'd like to see:

* CubTrails allows you to add achievements for a den meeting in bulk

* Activity badges aren't currently a top-level item, but it could easily be pulled out, just like Beltloops and Pins - that's a great suggestion!

At any rate, I really appreciate the opinions and suggestions.

Thanks,

Eric

This is Eric - I created a new profile so I could create a different ID...

We are entering into a "beta" phase of our release of CubTrails. We started this at the beginning of May and will go for 6 months (end of September). Customers that join during the beta phase will get a lower pricing (for life) because I'm hoping they'll provide feedback and help work some of the rough edges off:

Monthly: $6.99 ($83.88/year)

One-year subscription: $69.95/year

Three-year subscription: $54.95/year

@wahooker - I sent you a PM to try to lure you to CubTrails

@ScoutNut - thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it. I had a few questions/comments

-- No way to edit activities

Yeah, activities are a fairly new development, and some of those basic functions are missing. Shouldn't be too hard to add, though

-- No way to edit den meetings

What would make sense to be able to change after the fact?

-- Forms are useless

I assume you're referring to the tracking of forms for the activities? What would make it better?

-- Pack-specific awards

This is the first I've heard of this. How are they typically tracked? Do they have individual requirements that need to be tracked? or just the award?

Again, thanks for the feedback - any other you have would be greatly welcome. I've tried to make CubTrails as simple as possible - I admit that sometimes I end up cutting out things that people deem "necessary"... But it's a work in progress and I'm really open to feedback.

@BSA24

Couldn't have said it better myself. As a former Cubmaster, those are all the things I *tried* to do -- and thank goodness for ACMs to fill in for my weaknesses!

While doing canoeing, I witnessed a scout stand up in his canoe, raise his paddle over his head, and shout to the scouts on shore,

"HEY GUYS, THROW ROCKS AT ME!!"

Before we could stop the 10 scouts on shore, they had all picked up rocks and sure enough, one of the rocks hit the kid in the head. We brought him to shore, made sure he was okay, then yelled at all the scouts.

I'm sure helmets will soon be required when canoeing...

I've served in LDS scouting programs as Webelos Den Leader, Assistant Varsity Coach, and most recently Cubmaster.

For the last year, I've worked as a volunteer to create www.scoutinghub.com - adopted by the Grand Canyon Council to manage adult leader training.

I'm also the creator of www.cubtrails.com, an online system for tracking cub scout achievements.

Excited to rub shoulders with other scouters.

Eric

We've had similar things happen in our pack - and it's really annoying and disappointing. There seems to be a mentality that lying only really matters for big things. And it's rarely worth a huge confrontation over something small.

I don't know if it's always been that way, or if I'm just getting older and noticing it more, but either way it's annoying.

OK, I'll get off my soap box now...