Project Compass is all about the new membership system for The Scout Association (TSA) and in Suffolk, we still hope to be switching over to it during the first 3 weeks in September 2014. Work behind the scenes has been very very busy by all the Appointment Secretaries and local District champions to get the data ready for transfer to Compass and I am very pleased to report that we are now "Complete" for the crucial element of the "Location Tab" issue i.e. every Adult/Young person record has a valid data entry in that tab now.
Please remember that any NEW records entered on the system MUST contain the relevant item down to SECTION level for the ROLE - i.e Beaver Leader/Section Assistant - must have a Beaver Section Location.
So.. what happens now then?
a) The Membership Management System (MMS) - lovingly known as "My Backpack" - will be closed from Monday 28th July at 09:00 and all the data (Adult & YP) from that will be transferred to the Compass system. All DC/Apt Secretaries have already been informed that any new people checks had to be completed by 14th July to allow time for completion.
b) Training material & systems are now being finalised for use by the initial wave of Compass users, - CC/DC/Appt Sec/Champions so that they can get to grips with what's going on. To be honest, the initial views look to be a bit different to what we know in My Backpack, but otherwise, the data the screens contain is much the same as before so it's really nothing to worry about too much.
c) A new website dedicated to How to use Compass has been developed and will provide very detailed instructions on how to deal with all the things the system has available. Its currently partially completed and more sheets are being added every day. You take a look at what there at this link: Compass User Guides
d) OSM Users should have been notified about a transfer routine from OSM to the Excel data upload template for data that they hold. Group/Section Leaders, once registered on Compass, will be able to upload the YP data themselves directly when we have switched over in September.
e) GSLs/ESLs can get the Young Person Excel template and instructions for the YP data from the link in the Compass Downloads page here (log-in required).
If you have any queries, please contact the Suffolk Compass Champion, Carl Gloess at the following email address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and he'll deal with it as soon as possible.
The full guide to what activities are happening and by when is available in the Compass/Compass-Downloads option from the About in the main menu (log-in required).
The full guide to what activities are happening and by when is available in the Compass/Compass-Downloads option from the About in the main menu (log-in required).