eTrailToEagle Blog

iPhone Application

Nathan Anderson — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:03:00 GMT

We are excited to announce the availability of an iPhone application that works with eTrailToEagle.com. This is a great tool that works in conjunction with eTrailToEagle.com.

Now you can access eTrailToEagle.com information on your iPhone or iPod Touch. To use this application you will need to have an account with eTrailToEagle.com. In future versions of this application, parents will be able to login as well. The current version of the application provides view-only access to the information. In the near future you will be able to update the progress of your Troop or Ward right from the palm of your hand.

Please note that this application was developed by Knighthawk Systems. They are responsible for the support of this application. If you have any questions, suggestions or issues with the iPhone Application, please send your requests to Knighthawk Systems using their website.

If you would like to help us test this application, please e-mail us at support@etrailtoeagle.com and we will send you information on how you can best help us improve the product.

Troopmaster Import

Nathan Anderson — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:45:00 GMT

We have been working hard on some new features and one of them includes our new Troopmaster Import. You can easily convert from Troopmaster by exporting your data and then uploading your data to our site. Currently we can import scouts, ranks and merit badge information. This can potentially save you hours of manual entry.

If you would like to test this feature out, please let us know and we will help you through the process.

Thanks,

The eTrailToEagle.com Team
www.eTrailToEagle.com

Follow our progress on Facebook, Twitter and our Blog.

Rank Details Report Improved

Nathan Anderson — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:27:00 GMT

We have published some updates to our Rank Details report today. Some of the improvements include:

Groupings by Patrols instead of by age group
Short descriptions for rank requirements
Improved formatting for printing

Many of you have asked for a Trail to First Class report. This is easy to do using the Rank Detail report. Just select each of the ranks up to First class and then run the report. However, please note that we are working on a better Trail to First Class report which should be ready next week.

Thanks,

The eTrailToEagle.com Team
www.eTrailToEagle.com

Follow our progress on Facebook, Twitter and our Blog.

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Remember me?

Nathan Anderson — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:57:00 GMT

We have implemented a new feature that we wanted everyone to know about. When you login to our website you will see a new "Remember me" option on the Login page:

If you select the "Remember Me" option, it will keep you logged in to eTrailToEagle even after you close your browser or turn off your computer. Many of you have asked that we add this option. Sometimes it is hard to remember your username and password. This should help.

We do not recommend that you use this option on a public computer or a shared computer. That would allow others to login using your account credentials.

We hope you enjoy this new feature. Please let us know what other ideas you have.

Thanks,

The eTrailToEagle.com Team
www.eTrailToEagle.com

Follow our progress on Facebook, Twitter and our Blog.

Rank Quick Entry Now Available

Nathan Anderson — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 06:05:00 GMT

We are excited to announce that our new Quick Entry page for Ranks is now ready. If you are using our Scout Tracking module, make sure you try it out. It will save you a ton of time when you are recording rank information.

Please note that you can select multiple scouts at a time when recording rank information. To do this, you can hold down either the Shift key or the Ctrl key while clicking on their names. If you are not sure on how to do this, please let us know and we can walk you through the steps.

If you are not currently using our Scout Tracking module, we encourage you to sign up. We have been working hard to make it easier to use. Each week we publish new changes that enhance the product and make your job easier so you can focus on your scouts, and not the task of tracking their progress.

If you have any questions on how to use the new Quick Entry page for Ranks, please let us know by posting your comments below. Also, we would like to know what you think about this new feature. Is there anything we can do to make it better? Post your comments below.

Thanks,

The eTrailToEagle.com Team
www.eTrailToEagle.com
Blog: http://connect.etrailtoeagle.com/blogs/etrail
http://twitter.com/etrailtoeagle

New Awards listed in Scout Module

Nathan Anderson — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 22:10:00 GMT

In the Scout Tracking module you can record awards that were earned by your scouts and adult leaders. We have added a few other awards to the list of possible awards. They include:

You can also add custom awards to this list that might be specific to you and your Unit.

If you have any questions on how to use the Award module, please let us know.

Thanks,

eTrailToEagle.com Team
www.eTrailToEagle.com
Blog: http://connect.etrailtoeagle.com/blogs/etrail

2010 Rank Requirement Changes

Nathan Anderson — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:04:00 GMT

Effective on January 1, 2010, the centennial edition of the Boy Scout Handbook will come with several rank requirement changes. Below are the changes according to the National Scout Boy Scouts of America Website:

Tenderfoot

A Scout must teach another person how to tie a square knot using the EDGE model (explain, demonstrate, guide, and enable). He must also be able to discuss four specific examples of how he lived the points of the Scout Law in his daily life.

Second Class

A Scout must discuss the principles of Leave No Trace and explain the factors to consider when choosing a patrol site and where to pitch a tent.
He must explain what respect is due the flag of the United States.
He must again discuss four examples of how he lived four different points of the Scout Law in his daily life.
He must earn an amount of money agreed upon by the Scout and his parents and save at least 50 percent of it.

First Class

An additional requirement to the 10 separate troop/patrol activities states he must demonstrate the principles of Leave No Trace on these outings.
He must discuss four more examples of how he lived the remaining four points of the Scout Law in his daily life.

Life

A Scout must use the EDGE model to teach a younger Scout a specified skill.

Star, Life, and Eagle

Troop Webmaster and Leave No Trace trainer are two new leadership positions.

Source: http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards/2010RankUpdates.aspx

eTrailToEagle will be updated with these new rank requirements on January 1, 2010.

Getting Parents Involved in Scouting

Nathan Anderson — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:08:00 GMT

Getting parents involved in your scouting program makes a huge difference. We can't stress that enough!

Please note that as you create accounts for parents on eTrailToEagle.com, you must assign their son(s) to them or the parent will not be able to track the progress of their son(s). To learn how to do this, please follow the instructions on this page:

http://connect.etrailtoeagle.com/blogs/etrail/archive/2009/01/26/linking-a-parent-with-their-son.aspx

If you have any questions on this feature, please let us know.

eTrailToEagle.com Support

New Report: Ward Directory

Nathan Anderson — Fri, 15 May 2009 00:04:00 GMT

Today we released a Ward Directory report. This will allow you to print a report with your Ward's contact information. We will be providing various options with the report, but for now, it is a general listing of young men, parents and leaders. To access this report, do the following:

Login to eTrailToEagle.com
Click on Duty to God Tracking
Click on Reports
Select Ward Reports
Select Ward Directory and click on Run

If you have ideas on how to improve the report, please let us know and we will work to improve it.

New Feature: Renaming Patrols

Nathan Anderson — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:45:00 GMT

We just released a new feature that allows you to rename your existing Patrols. Thanks to all those users that send us their suggestions. To access this feature do the following:

Login to eTrailToEagle.com
Click on Scout Tracking
Click on Patrols (from the menu on the left)

Here you can add new patrols, delete a patrol and even rename a patrol. Please note that you will not be able to delete a Patrol unless the Patrol is empty.

If you have any questions on how to use the Patrol section of the site, please let us know by click the Contact Us option at the top of the page.

Activity Module Updated

Nathan Anderson — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:52:00 GMT

We have redesigned how our Scout Activty Module works. Troops use this feature to track all of the different activities that they are involved in. Many Troops use it as a Calendar by entering in all of their activities. Some of the specific activities you can track are:

Campouts
Hikes
Service Projects
Meetings
etc.

How many times have you asked, "Does Billy have enough service hours?" or Does Billy have enough camping nights? Stop asking and start tracking. If you track these types of activities on our system, the Individual Reports will show you the total number of nights, miles and hours for these activity types for each scout.

Another feature we just finished allows you to record adults as attendees to all of these events. Before you could only select Scouts as attendees.

We have also included a new report that shows all events based on a date range. You can use this report to show upcoming events and use it like a Calendar.

We appreciate everyone's feedback thus far. Look for more improvements to come over the next few days.

Troop Directory Report

Nathan Anderson — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 06:04:00 GMT

Today we release a Troop Directory report. This will allow you to print a report with your Troop's contact information. We will be providing various options with the report, but for now, it is a general listing grouped by Patrol. To access this report, do the following:

Login to eTrailToEagle.com
Click on Scout Tracking
Click on Reports
Select Unit Reports
Select Troop Directory and click on Run

If you have ideas on how to improve the report, please let us know and we will work to improve it.

Transferring Records

admin — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:13:03 GMT

Has your Ward split or reorganized? Has your troop recently split or reorganized? Have you had a young man move to or from another unit?

If so, we can save you a lot of time. We can easily transfer records between units and wards as long as they both are using eTrailToEagle.com. If they aren’t using our site yet, encourage them to sign up today.

To make this transfer happen, please send us information on what exactly you need transferred. Please list names of the youth, parents and leaders that need to be moved. You will also need to have written permission (e-mail) from the other Unit before we continue with the transfer.

Once we have this information, we can do the transfer. If you have any questions, please contact us by clicking on the Contact Us link at the top of the page.

Our blog has moved...

Nathan Anderson — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:16:00 GMT

We have moved our blog to a new location. Our blog is now part of eTrail Connect. Please update your bookmarks as needed:

New Location:
http://connect.etrailtoeagle.com/blogs/etrail

New RSS Feed:
http://connect.etrailtoeagle.com/blogs/etrail/rss.aspx

eTrail Connect is a new collaborative site that we are creating that allows you to share ideas and information related to Scouting and the LDS Duty to God program. That's right, we want you to contribute. If you have helpful ideas, activities, games, camping locations, spreadsheets, documents, photos, etc. We want to hear about it. eTrail Connect will have places to share this information with the scouting community.

If you are interested is helping us with this site, please let us know.

Thanks,

eTrail Connect Team
http://connect.etrailtoeagle.com
support@etrailtoeagle.com

Scout Report Subscriptions Easier With New Update

Nathan Anderson — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 03:08:00 GMT

We have just released a new update to the Report Subscriptions feature in our Scout tracking module. The Report Subscriptions feature automatically sends reports based on a schedule you select. We have modified this feature to allow you to easily pick the e-mail addresses of leaders and parents you have in the system. This will save you time and also allow you to be more accurate.

Automate the delivery of reports to parents and leaders.

We also fixed a problem where our report delivery system was having troubles sending some reports. We completely redesigned our report engine and now you will see that each report is delivered on the schedule you select. We are sending out thousands of reports to our users each week. If you aren’t taking advantage of this feature, you should start today. To start using this feature, do the following:

Login to eTrailToEagle.com
Click on Scout Tracking
Click on Report Subscriptions
Click Create to start a new subscription

Tip: Double check and make sure that you have the correct e-mail address for each parent and leader. Many reports do not get delivered because the e-mail address was entered into the system incorrectly.

Feedback: We know that many of you use this feature. We would like to get your feedback on how the report subscriptions feature has helped you in your efforts to track the progress in your unit. Also, do you find that the parents would prefer a report e-mailed to them, or do they prefer to login and view the progress at any time?