ScoutsTracker has added the concept of a “wallet”, that is basically like a bank account in which financial transactions can be recorded, e.g., its balance can be topped-up with deposits, payments can be made for events, and transfers can be made between wallets.

The term “wallet” is being used rather than “account” because “account” already has meaning within ScoutsTracker (i.e., the entire collection of roster, events, badge progression, emails, inventory, etc.), and additionally, “wallet” better connotes the ability to pay for things directly from the wallet.

There is a wallet for each member, each event, and the Section itself.

When a parent/guardian gives you cash, a cheque or sends you an e-transfer, you can record that amount in the member's top-up wallet. Likewise, if your Group Committee, Sponsor, or other donor gives your Section money, you can record that amount in your Section's wallet.

A key feature of a member's wallet is that when a member signs up for an event that has a fee, the member can opt to pay the fee directly their wallet (provided there's sufficient balance), and not have to write a cheque or organize an e-transfer.

Similarly, when a Scouter records a signup, they can optionally record payment directly from the member's wallet. And when a refund or expense reimbursement is recorded, you'll have the ability to simply transfer the amount back into the member's wallet for use towards the next event.

One of the key goals of this feature is to dramatically reduce the amount of time Scouters spend processing external payments and chasing down unpaid fees! It is envisaged that parents will periodically give you a top-up cheque/e-transfer but thereafter, you can withdraw funds as necessary.

If a parent does still give you cash/cheque/e-transfer to pay for an event, when recording the payment in the event, ScoutsTracker will actually record their cash/cheque/e-transfer as a deposit into the member's wallet followed immediately by transfer to the event. This standard accounting practice means it's possible to “follow the money” via a formal wallet statement (like your bank statement) that shows all the money in/out of the wallet, with explicit references to any applicable event and/or member. I.e., a parent/guardian will have complete clarity as to what has happened the balance in their wallet.

And there are also other features and benefits. E.g., if the Section decides to subsidize an event, that subsidy can be recorded in the event's wallet (and will correspondingly appear as a deduction in the Section's wallet). And when reviewing the event's wallets, you can quickly see which events made a profit or lost money; and the Section can claim an event's profit or cover an event's loss, by transferring money in/out of the Section's wallet.

To support all this, there is now a new login permission called “Can see everyone's wallets”. Note, anyone with the “Can manage the schedule” can see an event's wallet as they need to track payments and expenses. However, simply needing to manage an event's finances should not entitle the login to see all of a member's other transactions, hence the new login permission.

There is now additional built-in Training to cover the basics of wallets and recording transactions.

There is a SC trial underway that lets all Scouters earn OAS. ScoutsTracker now lets you Give Credit and track Scouters' progression through the OAS stages.

To be clear, Scouters who are active Youth members in another section have already been able to earn OAS for quite some time, and this new feature just extends that ability to all Scouters.

Also, Scouters are able to earn only OAS stages… PAB's or other Program badges are still off-limits.

However, allowing adult Scouters to earn OAS is a concept that is under trial by Scouts Canada, and can be viewed as controversial. On the one hand, letting Scouters earn OAS stages lets Groups see how well skilled their Scouters are to help the Youth progress through the OAS, it lets parents identify Groups with the best-skilled Scouters, it lets SC identify which Skills need more resources, and it can contribute to a “whole Section” enthusiasm for OAS particularly in the older Sections. On the other hand, there is a valid concern that Scouters will unwittingly but inevitably shift the focus of the Section's activities from what the Youth need to what the Scouters want; and, it fundamentally goes against the dogma that Scouting is a Youth development program so that by allowing Scouters to track their skills, this basic philosophical tenet has been compromised.

For Sections that oppose the idea of allowing their all Scouters to track OAS, this new ability can be enabled/disabled by going to “Account” | “Program preferences”.

• SS-5957: Support British convention of using periods instead of colons in times (e.g., “6.30pm”)
• SS-6011: Better generation of login names when a) there are redundant LoginAccess records, and b) when there are customized parent login names but no parent login members
• Reduce red-herring messages relating to duplicate LoginAccess records
• RSVP: RSVP form now uses members' actual ages as the primary indicator of whether consent is required

• SS-5984: Embedded calendar was showing “Commissioners” instead of “Committee” in the calendar swatches
• SS-5993: COMMITTEE: Missing whitespace in Welcome Message text
• SS-6012: Personal Record Sheets (and initial requirements report) weren't showing the requirement numbers)