|
|
|
|
|
It sure would be nice to have a place to notify someone of all the broken web links.
|
|
|
Current Environment:
Expense reports were being filled out on excel worksheets by computer and some by hand. There was inevitably numerous mathematical errors and the professionals were not separately breaking out sales tax which is refundable from the state of Utah. The account numbers being used by the Council Staff in 30% of the cases were wrong either in the account or the activity code. Accounting would get these marginal reports have to fix the math, account numbers and sales tax errors. In addition the accounting department would need to reentry all of the receipt amounts into another excel program to group them by account number to facilitate their entry into the Account Payable system. The process was full of errors, time consuming and produced an unacceptable level of problems.
Project Description:
The project was to develop a computer program that would allow Council staff to easily input and for the accounting department to economically process reimbursements to staff and volunteers. The main objectives were as follows:
1. Have a system that was easy and intuitive for the user.
2. Gave the user the options need for the what type of request was being made i.e. Expense Report, Petty Cash Reimbursement, Activity Reimbursement or Check Request. (See attached Exhibit 1)
3. Force users to break out the Utah State Sales Tax
4. Force compliance with IRS regulations under the Accountable Plan Regulations.
5. Have the system guide the user into the proper general ledger accounts to use.
6. Accumulate the various charges by general ledger account numbers to ease entry into the general ledger system.
7. To allow staff to easily charge mileage to various cost centers rather than the 000 account.
8. To have a standardize report that is easy read and put into the computer.
Project Timeline
The project initially started back in 2006 with the preliminary ground work being laid with determining what the current system did and working with various users as to what we wanted to accomplish with the project.
Over the next 12 months a flowchart was constructed and reviewed by an internal committee made up of IT, accounting and end users to review the flowcharts, which finished in June 2007 (see Exhibit 2). A software developer was selected and final contract negotiations and reference checks took the balance of the year.
Starting in 2008 the programming began and finished in only 3 months. March 2008 the committee met to review the product. At that time various improvements were made and the system went into beta testing in April and finally roll out to the Council in May in time to be utililized during the very busy camp season. The project has now been in operation for little over a year and has been without question a great success. A sample report (Exhibit 3) is attached to see how nice the reports look and easy to be inputted into the Accounts Payable System.
Conclusion
The project objectives were met as follows:
1. The entire staff was required to use the system and even those who were not particularly computer savvy had no problems with the system after the first time. The time using the system was about the same as the old system but the product coming out was vastly improved and accurate. The side benefit is our professional staff understands the BSA chart of accounts better than they did before, which helps then with their professional development.
2. The auditors in their Report to Management had put the Council on notice that their compliance with IRS regulations relative to documentation was not sufficient. The new computer system force compliance by not letting them proceed with their expense reports until all documentation is properly entered for example on business meals they must put in who was there and what was discussed.
3. The payback on the system was probably about 18 months. This came by cash inflows with at least an additional $2,000 a year in Utah sales tax refunds since the system requires that entry. The other huge payback is in the accounting time that between the Accounts Payable Accountant and CFO the annual savings in time for not having to reenter information and the quicker review time since everything is standardize is estimate at $5,100 a year for an overall saving of $7,100 a year and every year in the future.
4. The other benefit is the professionals and staff are now able to quickly bill mileage and expenses to many different cost centers. This is giving the Council relative to various cost centers much better financial information to evaluate what is working and what isn’t. It is amazing how getting good accurate information can help in properly managing a Council.
If any questions, please let us know. This has been a very beneficial project for the Council and the computer platform and software has been very dependable.
The test site is http://expenses.imagicom.com
You can login with the following user:
Username: test
Password: test
Please make sure the login stuff is all working. You may want to create a test user for them for each of the levels (user, accounting and administrator). Test is currently an administrator.
|
|
|
Given the signficant percentage of the Northern Star Council operating income that derives from foundation grants and distribution from council endowment, our budget has seen significantly reduced income that will continue on a downward trend for the next few years - as a result of the market losses in 2008.
We managed about $300,000 in cuts through budget efficiencies and some overdue district mergers, but the next $400,000 (for a total of about 6% of budget) in cuts required program restructuring.
In order to make the best possible decisions, within a strategic planning framework and in order to build confidence and ownership in the decisionmaking process, the board appointed a Program Assessment Task Force.
This group was charged with reviewing the revenue and cost models within the operating budget, familiarizing themselves with a three year budget forecast, and critiquing a program assessment tool that broke council operations into about 20 different cost centers.
The program assessment tool gave each cost center an appropriate share of budget revenue generated, assigned an appropriate share of program costs, and ranked cost centers one through five on a "mission score" (five being high.)
The Task Force next examined a staff work product that established budget cutting scenarios at $500,000, $1,000,000, and $1,500,000 for use in current or future years, flowing in part from the program assessment process.
The Task Force shaped the final recommendations to the council budget committee and board of directors, based on their perception of prioritization of various programs and services, and the best means to protect core programs within a balance of restricted income sources, impact in the community, and long term viability and relevance of council operations.
Represented on the Task Force were council committee members, district chairs and commissioners, advisory board members, and board of directors members.
|
|
|
In order to ensure that our board is perceived by the public and our customers as engaged, effective, and transparent; in 2009 the Southern New Jersey Council created a new position, Vice President for Corporate Governance. The vice president and his committee are all corporate leaders in the community and serve on no other council committees. Some of their responsibilities include:
1. Audit committee
2. Nominating Committee
3. Annual review of all council rules and operating procedures.
4. Annual internal membership audit.
5. Risk management and insurance
6. Annual renewal of board and staff conflict of interest declarations.
7. Ensuring that the council by-laws are followed and periodically reviewing the by-laws for recommended updates or changes.
In short, the committee is a group of dedicated community leaders tasked with ensuring transparency, ethics and openness in all we do.
|
|
|
Not sure why PAS Find only shows the last few years of membership history for an individual, but it would be great to see ScoutNET's entire history on a person in PAS Find. Currently seems to go back to only 2005.
|
|
|
Many of the forms that are used on a regualr basis by district & council volunteers that are supplied by national are not user friendly according to today's times.
I.E. The Whitney M. Young national form is a fillable PDF document, but is not used very much.
However, the District Committee Work Plans that are to be filled out on a monthly basis by the committee members are not available on a fillable PDF document.
It is my suggestion that we work diligently to make sure that all documents are updated as the Whitney M. Young form has been to keep us current and connected with the volunteers.
|
|
|
Can the ProSpeak editor mass e-mail all professionals monthly when a new edition is posted online? Now that it is no longer coming in paper, I am trying to hunt it down. Now did I write down that link?
|
|
|
I just heard from a volunteer that said she has pages of drivers and training in the tour permit program but they are not organized in any way. It would be helpful if they were alphabetically sorted instead of being sorted by order in which they were entered.
Also, is there any way to delete a tour permit that was started and is no longer needed?
|
|
|
Never understood Arrow Points. When a Cub earns all he can get, in order to display them proudly at a Pack Meeting he has to keep his uniform shirt untucked. The leaders all tell him to tuck in his shirt and then he has to hide all of his Arrow Points. I'm sure we're smart enough as an organization to fix that one.
|
|
|
I don’t think it is a good security item that passwords are needed to be given to anyone from the end-user for their assistance when there is a problem, the computer security community (outside of scouting) has spent years telling users that they should never have to give out their passwords. However I have been told (by the help desk) that we have a system that for them to be helped requires us to ask for a password. We are trying to instill confidence in our security procedures for personal information and then have a policy such as this? For good security the Help Desk and/or the person at the local council should not have to ask for a password from a volunteer for trouble shooting an online service center (Internet Advancement, Internet Recharter) issue.
|
|
|
Monmouth Council has developed several sources of sustainable and diversified revenue through innovative use of the council's assets. In the Scout Service Center's back space, the council has partnered with Garden State Rocks, an indoor state-of-the-art rock climbing center and has a 5 year lease. The council also leases office space at the Service Center. Through the camp properties the council has several sources of diversified revenue from leases, including a laser tag business operation, a new cross-country camp for middle school-aged youth, and a hunting club. Through these partnerships and sources, the council adds over $50,000 to the Operating budget each year.
|
|
|
How about the ablitity to send out texts to people the same way mass email is an option. More and more texting is used. Another tool to reach those that use Texting.
|
|
|
As we use mobile devices to access the internet, mobile website options would be good to be able to access and view the various websites.
|
|
|
If you look on the old uniform, there was a patch that said Boy Scouts of America. It has since been replaced with glued on letters. These letters begin to fall off after awhile. I think we should return to having the Boy Scouts of America placed on a embroidered patch that will last. It looks horrible when you put on a shirt that says Boy cout of America.
|
|
|
Unfortunately, the Adventure Base 100 traveling exhibit will not be stopping in our council. However, it will be traveling through our council twice. Our folks are disappointed about it not being able to stop here, but understand the scheduling and time constraints involved. They are hoping though that it might be possible to get the schedule of when the exhibit will be driving through our council and its route so that we could provide the opportunity to our scouts and scouters to fill various highway overpasses so that they can see it go by and wave. This could be an exciting opportunity for scouts across the country in other areas where the exhibit will be unable to stop.
|
|
|
The incompatability with Internet Explorer v. 8.0 needs to be addressed. When purchasing new computers it will be difficult to downgrade the browser to a prior version that was never installed in the first place. That puts us in the position of retaining old, outdated computers in order to maintain compatability with BSA software. Not the best solution....
|
|
|
As a Venturer, I promise to
do my duty to God and
help strengthen America,
to help others, and
to seek truth, fairness, and
adventure in the world.
There is something odd about those last two lines. In our other Scouting Oaths and Laws, we promise to guide our actions in certain ways. In these two lines we are expecting the rest of the world to act in certain ways; to be truthful and fair. News Flash! The world is not fair and often folks are not tuthful. We have no control over how the rest of the world acts. The oath should be focused on what we can control, our own behavior. I suggest changing the oath to read:
'to be truthful and fair and to seek adventure in the world'.
|
|
|
There are great resources and training put into the development, retention, and growth of our executive staff yet there is very little for local council support staff.
In every local council the support staff play a key role in the success of a council. Executives come and go but it seems that support staff have a much longer tenure in their position and interact with volunteers from all over. A high performing council has a strong executive staff and support staff. In larger council's the office manager who oversees the support staff may have the largest number of direct reports but has little or no BSA leadership or management training. Although you can send an office manager to FTSLO or PM this seems like success by accident and not by design.
Most executives do not have experience managing support staff until they become Scout Executive. How to effectively manage support staff, proper support staff flow chart, and best practices are currently no where in our Talent Management system.
Develop a training track for support staff that would include job skill development such as use of MS Outlook and Office, customer service, the role of district executives and basic district and council operations.
Something that would give local councils a way to improve and build a high performing support staff, including best practices from local councils. A tool for local councils to evaluate the structure of their support staff to evaluate effeciency, mode, and performance.
A first generation of this could be as simple as an on-line training video for support staff on basic district and council operations and customer service.
Training for FTSEO and Senior Leadership that talks about support staff managment and development. Right now we are not successful with half of our staff by design, we are perhaps successful by accident. A design for success with our support staff who are the backbone of our organization.
|
|
|
I've noticed that there is a distinct lack of mention of Varsity program. Just here in the Ideas site alone there isn't a category for it. To my knowledge there hasn't been any recent literature or training to support it. Maybe revamp it to make it more appealing to the youth:
- Triathlons
- Cross Country Races
- Mountain Man competitions
- BMX and/or skateboarding
|
|
|
Training Completed/Training Not Completed Reports Yes, if these reports had email addresses we could more easily contact people et cetera. In addition, this could be one way of getting email addresses into the council system without having our people manually entering in data, which consumes so much valuable time.
|
|
|
Technology series merit badges . Also, make this a whole group, like the citizenship group.
Scouting Heritage Merit Badge. Studying history of our organization will develop greater meaning and appreciation for those who are interested.
|
|
|
On-line tour permits have been a welcome addition, but why are leaders able to submit their tour permits without having Youth Protection and Hazardous Weather training?
We get a lot of tour permits without this information and we are left to follow-up and resolve these issues immediately, because after all tour permits generally aren't submitted in a timely manner.
Can we change the on-line tour permit program to not allow tour permits with missing information be submitted?
|
|
|
It would be create if you could search through your incidents for the answer you got before. I look and there is no history under my incidents
|
|
|
If we're supposed to be turning out the best of the best as Eagle Scouts, can anyone tell me why Scholarship Merit Badge and Public Speaking Merit Badges are not required for Eagle rank?
Scholarship goes without saying. An Eagle Scout should be a decent student who works hard in school. To not make it required suggests that the Organization doesn't value good scholarship in our youth. If you don't do well in school, don't worry, you can still be an Eagle Scout.
Public Speaking should at least be optionally required with something else. How many Eagle Ceremonies have you been to where the new Eagle Scout got up to speak and had no idea what to say, or how to properly present himself? I'm not saying we can create the perfect public speaker, but we should encourage our young men to learn the basics of talking to groups. It's a skill that will carry on with them their whole lives.
|
|
|
I believe a lot of our issues could be solved if we teach volunteers how to identify, recruit and train other volunteers. Part of the process should include recognition/incentives (I know that we have a recruiter patch already-but the following idea goes a little further). In our council, we are thinking about an experimental knot to provide recognition for volunteers that distinguish themselves in recruiting and to have a little fun in the process. Here's the idea:
The Scout Executive’s Recruiter’s Knot
The Scout Executive’s Recruiter’s Knot is awarded to Scouters that distinguish themselves in the area of recruiting and training new adult volunteers at the unit, district, and council level. The award consists of a figure of eight knot on a red background. The knot and border will be white, silver, or gold depending on the number of volunteers recruited.
Qualifications
A registered Scouter may earn the Scout Executive’s Recruiter’s Knot by identifying, recruiting, and training three or more adult volunteers over a 12 month period. New recruits must have been approved by the appropriate individual(s) prior to being recruited, must accept an assignment to a committee and agree to serve at least 12 consecutive months, and must complete training for their position.
Unit Level Volunteers All unit level volunteers must be approved by the unit committee and chartering organization.
District Level Volunteers Approved by the district nominating committee and district chairman or district commissioner.
Council Level Volunteers Approved by the committee chair and vice-president for committee members. In the case of board members, individuals must be approved by the council nominating committee and council key 3 and must be elected by the current board.
Award Levels
White Figure of Eight For recruiting, training, and engaging three volunteers in a 12 month period.
Silver Figure of Eight For recruiting, training, and engaging five volunteers in a 12 month period.
Gold Figure of Eight For recruiting, training, and engaging seven volunteers in a 12 month period.
Each knot award will also include a framed certificate.
The Scout Executive will review and approve all applications and personally present the award at an appropriate occasion.
|
Total Rows 401
Displaying 151 to 175 |
|
|
|
Vote Up
Vote Down
Close