Attendance and Advancement Integration in Trail Life Connect

With some initial planning, the attendance tracking tool and the advancement tracking tool within Trail Life Connect can work together so that an update in one tool will update relevant information in the other tool. This orientation will outline two use case scenarios, showing the approach to using the integration from within each tool.

Traillifeconnect

Scenario 1: Tracking Advancement While Marking Attendance

For integration to work successfully using this method, a fully defined Activity Plan must already be created within an existing Calendar event ***before*** attendance is recorded.

Click "Calendar" on the Dashboard (or "View Calendar" from the left menu)

Click to open an existing Calendar event (or create a new event if one does not already exist) (*For this scenario, a "Troop Meeting" event for March 3, 2025 will be used)*

Click the "Manage" button to open event management

On the 'Manage Event' page click the tab for "Activity Plans"

To begin creating an Activity Plan, select whether to track the Activity by 'Levels' or 'Patrols' (*In this scenario, 'Levels' will be used)*

Choose one or more Levels to specify for whom the Activity will apply (*In this scenario, 'Hawks' will be used)*

An optional field is available for specifying a primary leader for the activity

*(In this scenario, William Tentpeg is selected as the primary leader)*

Another optional field is available for selecting the names of any assistant leaders, if needed or desired

In the "Badge or branch" field, select the Woodlands Trail Branch, or the Navigator/Adventurer Badge that will be covered (*In this scenario, the "Values Branch" for Woodlands Trail will be used)*

Next, choose the sub-item(s) for the previously selected 'Badge or branch' that will be covered *(In this scenario, the "Godly Values" Step under the Woodlands Trail "Values Branch" will be used)*

If desired, add relevant notes for the planned Activity (as well as any game time notes, if applicable)

Click the "Create Activity" button to save

The saved Activity Plan now appears above the section for 'Add New Activity' (from the information provided a leader can see that the "Godly Values" Step within the Woodlands Trail "Values Branch" will be applied to the "Hawks" level; additionally, William Tentpeg is the primary leader and relevant notes are displayed)

Multiple Activities can be created and listed on the same event. For example, a leader could complete the 'Add New Activity' form again within the March 3, 2025 Event to indicate that the "Mountain Lions" level will cover the "Our Faith" Step under the "Values Branch." Once created and saved, this would appear as a separately listed Activity Plan. Separate Activity items for Navigators and/or Adventurers can be created and listed as well. Later, when Attendance is recorded with the integration turned on, each specified Level will be credited with *only* the Advancement Activity specified for that Level.

\*Now that the Activity Plan is created, integration between the Attendance and Advancement tools can be leveraged

Click "Track Attendance" under "Calendar" on the left menu, or click the "Attendance" tile/icon on the main Dashboard

By default, the most recent Calendar event will be populated into the 'Select event' field

If the displayed event is not correct, click into the 'Select event' field to locate and select the correct event

Any existing event can be searched and selected for marking attendance by typing either part of the event name, or by typing the event date *(In this scenario, "03/03" is typed and the "Troop Meeting" from 03/03/2025 appears for selection)*

Once the correct event is displayed, if it is not checked already, be sure to click and check the box to "Track advancement with activity plans"

Your default preference for this checkbox (automatically checked or automatically unchecked) can be saved within your TLC Profile (shown later)

With the box checked to track advancement, the previously created Activity plan appears in the upper right (If desired, check to make sure all of the settings are correct, and make any changes where needed)

The "Badges" column additionally displays the activity, or activities, that will be applied for each listed Trailman (Note: for this scenario, the listed Activity will only apply to "Hawks" as planned. For the "Fox" and "Mountain Lion" levels, only attendance would be marked but no Advancement activity would be applied.\ \*If the icon in the "Badges" column is highlighted yellow, then the planned Activity item has already been earned by that Trailman.)

Click the "Attended" checkbox for any Trailman who was in attendance (to both mark his attendance and apply the activity to his Advancement record) To finalize and apply, either click another TLC link to navigate away from the page or click to refresh the browser window

Tom Tentpeg is now marked as attended for the event on 03/03/2025 (\*additionally, note that the badge icon is highlighted yellow to show that the listed Advancement/Activity item is applied to Tom's Advancement record)

To further verify that the Advancement activity was applied, navigate to the Trailman's account profile Viewing Tom Tentpeg's Advancement summary, and selecting the "Values Branch," the checkmark is visible for "Godly Values" applied on 03/03/2025

- If a **Level** or **Patrol** is not specified in the Activity Plan, the listed activity item(s) will not apply to any Trailman's Advancement record - If **Patrol** is specified for the Activity Plan, and a Trailman is in a different Patrol (or is not in any Patrol) the listed activity item(s) will not apply to that Trailman - If only the top level Badge or Branch is selected, but no specific sub-item(s) is/are selected, no Advancement item(s) will be applied for any Trailman

Scenario 2: Tracking Attendance While Marking Advancement

Click "Track Advancement" under "Advancement" on the left menu

Select a 'Tracking Style' *(In this scenario, "Grid View" will be used)*

Select a program level *(In this scenario, "Woodlands Trail" will be used)*

Click in the 'Select Trailmen' box to select one or more Trailmen *(In this scenario, "All Hawks" will be used)*

Select the badge or activity *(In this scenario, the "Values Branch" will be used)*

If not checked already, be sure to click and check the box to "Track event attendance"

Your default preference for this checkbox (automatically checked or automatically unchecked) can be saved within your TLC Profile (shown later)

By default, the most recent Calendar event will be populated into the 'Track event attendance' field If the displayed event is not correct, click into the listed event field to locate and select the correct event

With the correct event displayed, and the box checked to track attendance, click to mark the relevant Advancement item for a Trailman who does not already have that item checked *(In this scenario, Tyler Tentpeg is being clicked to earn "Godly Values" for the event on 03/03/2025)*

Tyler's completion is now marked

To verify the integration after recording Advancement:\ Return to the "Track Attendance" screen; select the event in question (if not populated by default); confirm that Attendance was also marked for the relevant Trailman when the Advancement activity item was recorded *(In this scenario, Tyler Tentpeg is marked as attended via the integration with Track Advancement)*

Default Integration Settings

To specify your preferred default integration settings for tracking Attendance and Advancement, click "Profile" to go to your TLC Profile

Below your Profile information, click the button to "Update Profile"

Scroll to the bottom to either check, or uncheck, the option have either (or both) of the integration boxes checked by default when you visit either Track Attendance or Track Advancement

After making your selections, click the "Update" button to save your changes