Scoutbook

Scoutbook is the BSA owned and operated web-based system for Scouting Units to centrally track and communicate a multitude of organizational critical data. Our 626 Units have been using Scoutbook for multiple years and it has undergone improvements every year. Just as 2019 began, the BSA connected Scoutbook to the the national BSA office to help manage membership and to live sync advancement being entered locally, with national tracking systems. So, Scoutbook is the official source of truth as far as the BSA is concerned in terms of managing and tracking all youth in BSA units.

Our Troops and Crew use Scoutbook as the primary communication tool to send messages to parents, leaders and Scouts. All advancement items are entered into Scoutbook as quickly as possible for parents and youth to know what has been recorded and what is still needed for completion.

Scoutbook is not an application, it is a mobile enabled and designed website. If you are viewing Scoutbook on a tablet, laptop or desktop screen, the page will be formatted wide and 2 columns of navigation columns may appear. If you are on a mobile device, the site will format everything as a single column of data and controls.

Getting Started

As of early 2019, the only method for adding new youth to Scoutbook and connected to one of our units is to turn in a filled out BSA Youth application to the Northern Star Scouting registrar office. This can be done in person or scanned and emailed in for quicker processing. Once entered by council, the youth will appear on our unit roster to then be able to assign to the Den or Patrol they will be working with. Once we see the youth on our roster, our leaders will then connect that new youth record with their parent, either by connecting them to an existing adult member account or by creating a new adult record. In either case, the parent will receive an email from Scoutbook inviting them to connect with that youth record.

Logging in to Scoutbook

If you are new to Scouting, your Scoutbook login will be the email address that you provided on the BSA Youth Application. You will receive a temporary password in your invite email and then you will be asked to create your own password to use later on. Our unit leaders do NOT have the ability to know or reset your Scoutbook password. That can be done with the Forgot Password link on the login page.

If you are now or have ever been a registered BSA Leader, or have taking any BSA Training (like Youth Protection Training) in the past, you will have an adult BSA ID associated with your name. That BSA ID will have a Username and an Email address associated with it on My.Scouting.org. Scoutbook has a Single Sign On (SSO) connection between My.Scouting and Scoutbook, now. So, your Scoutbook login will be your Username, not your email address. If you cannot remember your username or your My.Scouting password, please go to My.Scouting.org and use the Forgot username/password? link and work through the process of learning/resetting them before attempting to login to Scoutbook.

Next: Update your and your Scouts Profile pages

When you first log into Scoutbook, click on My Dashboard and then Administration to see the Scouts and Units you are connected to in Scoutbook. Click the link for My Account. Once there, be sure to go into the Edit Profile page and enter as much up to date information as possible, especially all possible phone number fields. You can also provide your Cell Service and allow the system to send you text messages. We don't currently use that feature much, but it may be useful to contact many parents at once while we are camping, like when to expect our arrival home.

Once your Profile is updated, go back to your Dashboard and do the same for all youth members in the section labeled My Family. Update all phone fields as well as School information.

Option: Invite your Scout(s) to connect directly with Scoutbook

As adult leaders, we cannot connect with your Scouts, directly on Scoutbook without your permission. If your Scout has their own email address, you can invite them to connect to Scoutbook, directly. To do so, scroll to the bottom of your Scouts Profile page. There you can enter in their email address and allow them to connect. They will receive a similar email from Scoutbook like you did and can set their password to the system. Once connected, Scouts can communicate with other Scouts and Leaders from within the system. When ANY message goes to your Scout(s), you will be copied on that message as well and whenever they send a message out, you will receive a copy.

Finally: Track and Manage your Scout

Viewing the main screen of your Scout, you can get a quick view of how close they are to their next rank as well as all of the awards that have been recorded and awarded to them. Further down, you can see a quick overview and then click the links to see the details in categories like: Advancement, Awards, and Leadership, along with Service and Camping Logs. Each link will provide more detail for you to view.

If you have any questions or disputes with any details recorded for your Scout, please reach out to the Unit Advancement Chair or one of the Scoutmasters with details about what might be incorrectly recorded or missing.