Movement Readiness – a blog by Hamish Stout

This blog is focussed towards line managers (especially County/Area/Region (Scotland) Commissioners) and is made available to everybody as part of our ‘open’ approach.

We continue to make good progress towards preparing local access to Compass for January 2016. The supplier has completed what we expect to be the release version of the software and the final sequence of functionality, performance and security tests is currently being performed.

Right now we need to focus on ensuring that we are all (in our Groups, Districts and Counties/Areas/Regions) ready for Compass and prepared so that we can make full use of it as quickly as practicable.

When an adult logs on to Compass, we want them to see accurate data about them, and can access functions that work to help them in their role.

For the movement to be ready requires local leadership (County/Area/Region (Scotland) Commissioners) to support. There will be many questions raised by individuals when local access to Compass is restored, especially relating to data that is only available locally, for example training or permits detail.

So, what are some key local ‘projects’ to prepare for the restoration of Compass:

  1. Updating roles and Disclosures.
    Each County/Area/Region (Scotland) needs to ensure that Compass is updated so that it is up-to-date for every adult currently active in Scouting, so that:
  • All currently active adults have a Compass record and are showing their current open role(s) on Compass. It is important that all roles are there but please put an initial focus on the roles in the table at the end of POR that show as Criminal Records Check Required.
  • All open roles are at the correct status – pre-provisional, provisional, full (because this affects their access to Compass, and to Atlantic Data in England and Wales).
  • All ‘past’ roles, those that are no longer active, are closed on Compass.
  • District Scout Network Commissioner role is now available within Compass.
  • All adults who SHOULD have a Disclosure DO have a Disclosure.

These updates are made using the current offline processes and need to be completed by mid-December. Disclosures are processed using the processes appropriate in each of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

  1. Permits (nights away and activity permits)
    It is important that all permits are recorded on Compass.
    When local access is restored the Compass database will have been updated to reflect the permits data that was in MMS as well as data added to Compass prior to January 2015. So, once Compass is locally available, a project will be required in each County/Area/Region (Scotland) in order to update adult records with permits awarded since January 2015.
  2. Training data
    It’s very important that each adult members training is accurately reflected in Compass. This supports adults having the correct role status (pre-provisional, provisional and full) and is necessary in order to award Wood Badges.
    When local access is restored, the database will have been updated, as far as is possible, to reflect the training data that was in MMS, plus any Wood Badges awarded since then. So, once Compass is locally available, a project will be required in each ‘County’ to input training data in order to ensure that each adult’s record accurately reflects their training. Each module entered will need to show, as a minimum, validation date and validator membership number.
  3. Local support
    Because Compass data will reflect all data that was in MMS, and any added to Compass while it was locally live in 2014/early 2015, it is inevitable that the majority of user questions that cannot be answered by the new Compass support materials will require local answers. The data to support those will simply not be available at Gilwell Park.

So each County/Area/Region (Scotland) needs to consider:

  • How users will register their support questions? Phone? Email? Local drop-in sessions? – and how will you tell your users how to access support?
  • How will the questions get answered? Again, phone or email or …? And who will do this?
  • How all users in your County/Area/Region (Scotland) will be made aware of and use your support route?

We know that every County/Area/Region(Scotland) is different in size, organisation and culture so there is no ‘one size fits all’ right answer to any of the above ‘projects’. But if you need advice, or have questions, please contact us via compass@scouts.org.uk.

Please help restoring local access of Compass to be as smooth as possible by ensuring that local support and action is fully in place by the time the Compass restoration starts in January.