OSM Integration Tech-Tip

Introduction

OSM Integration is only available for Group Package 3 websites.

If you'd like to upgrade to a higher package level, please contact us.

Introduction

OSM Integration is only available for Group Package 3 websites.

Introduction

Online Scout Manager (OSM) is a third-party product which helps Scout Groups to manage their sections, programme, members, badges, communication with parents, accounts and much more.

If you already use OSM, your Scouts Online website can use the data stored inside OSM and in some cases add to it.

This tech-tip explains how to configure your Scouts Online website to communicate with your OSM system and setup the integration features.

OSM Integration Tutorial Video

Setup the Initial Integration

1) OSM Requirements

To setup the integration, your OSM user record will need to have Administrator Leader Access to all the OSM Squirrel Dreys, Beaver Colonies, Cubs Packs, Scout Troops, Units and the Waiting List section for your group.

Log into onlinescoutmanager.co.uk

Open each of the sections in turn and check your Leader Access in Settings / Section Settings / Leader Access for each of your sections.

You will also need Read or Read & Write access to the various OSM features for each of your OSM sections. You will need at least:

  • Read and Write access to Members
  • Read access to the Programme
  • Read access to the Events
  • Read access to Badges
  • Read access to Flexi-Records

If you don't have access to all these features in all of your sections, you will need to ask another volunteer to complete the steps in the '2) Authorise the Integration' panel.

You should also check that your term dates for each of your sections don't have any gaps. This means that the term start dates need to be the same as the previous term's end date, not the day after the last term end date. You should also make sure that there are no overlapping term dates, or a term that covers all/multiple terms.

2) Authorise the Integration

To allow your website to connect to OSM, you will need to authorise the integration. To do this, follow these steps:

  • Login to your Scouts Online website with a Site Admin username and password
  • Open Admin/Group Details
  • Click the OSM Integration button
  • The first time you click it, you'll be asked to authorise the integration
  • Click the Authorise OSM Integration button
  • The OSM website will open and ask you to enter your OSM username and password. You may find that your username and password is pre-populated for you. Once you've entered your username and password, click the Login button.
  • Once OSM has verified your username and password, it will open a Scouts Online page to complete the authorisation process
  • Click the Authorise Integration button
  • Click the OSM Integration Setup button to open the website OSM Integration page again

3) Integration Settings

Setup the fields as follows:

  • Select your OSM waiting list section in the Application Forms field
  • Tick the Send Appl Email Too field if you'd like to receive an email containing the complete application form details when a new member is added to your OSM waiting list via the website application form. Un-tick it if you only wish to receive a notification email.
  • Select a Patrol Member Privacy level, to hide young people's surnames on Badge Progress and Patrol Points tables
  • Map your OSM Section to each of your website Sections
  • Select a Event Privacy Level to control when programme night/event details are shown on your website
  • Click the Test Integration button to check that all the integration is setup in OSM and in the website, and is working as expected

Fig. 1: Integration Settings
 
OSM Integration Features

The following panels detail each of the OSM integration types. Click on a panel to see the details.

Application Form Integration

The OSM Integration can add a member to your OSM Waiting List section when an application form is filled in on your website.

The OSM Integration can add a member to your OSM Waiting List section when an application form is filled in on your website.

To set this up, follow these steps:

  • Login with a Site Admin username and password
  • Open Admin/Group Details
  • Click the OSM Integration button
  • Select your OSM waiting list or joining list section in the Application Forms field. See Fig. 1
  • Tick the Send Appl Email Too field if you'd like to receive an email containing the complete application form details when a new member is added to your OSM waiting list via the website application form. Un-tick it if you only wish to receive a notification email.
  • Click Save Changes to keep your changes or Cancel to abandon your changes

NB. Ensure that the Contact Form module's Form Type field, on your application form pages, is set to either Full Adult Form, Full Youth Form, Basic Join Us Form or Youth Enquiry Form

Fig. 1: Waiting list fields

Programme/Events Integration

Your OSM programme and event activities can be imported into your website.

Your OSM programme and event activities can be imported into your website.

Once imported, your activities will be promoted on your website home page, About/What's On calendar, and on the sectional programme pages. The images of badges attached to programme nights in OSM, will be shown on your website Events List modules.

If you've added post code(s) or latitude and longitude figures to the Summary field in your OSM programme night, it will be imported into the website event's Location field and a map with the location(s) will be shown on the event details on your website. See Fig. 3

To import your programme and events into your website, or update events from changes made in OSM, follow these steps:

Fig. 1: Imported events

Fig. 2: Section programme

Fig. 3: Event details with map

Badge Progress Pages

Display a table of awards completed by your members in your sectional pages.

With OSM integration, you can display a badge progress chart for each of your sections.

To do this, follow these steps:

  • Login with a Site Admin username and password
  • Open Admin/Page Management
  • Expand Sections and then expand the pages for your section
  • Tick the Badge Progress page. See Fig. 1
  • Click Save Changes to update the menus
  • In Admin/Group Details, click the OSM Integration button
  • Set the Patrol Member Privacy field to 'Logged in users only' to hide member's surnames from public viewing
  • Click Save Changes

Fig. 1: Switch on the Badge Progress page

Fig. 2: Badge Progress Chart

Patrol Points Tables

If you store points for your Sixes or Patrols in OSM, you can display a league table on your website.

If you store points for your Sixes or Patrols in OSM, you can display a league table on your website.

To do this, follow these steps:

  • Login with a Site Admin username and password
  • Open Admin/Page Management
  • Expand Sections and then expand the pages for your section
  • Tick the Patrol Points page. See Fig. 1
  • Click Save Changes to update the menus
  • In Admin/Group Details, click the OSM Integration button
  • Set the Patrol Member Privacy field to 'Logged in users only' to hide member's surnames from public viewing
  • Click Save Changes

Fig. 2: Patrol Points Chart

Fig. 1: Switch on the Badge Progress page

Flexi-Record Tables

Display data from OSM Member Flexi-Records on your website.

You may display data from OSM Member Flexi-Records on your website.

To show flexi-record tables on your website, follow the use cases for OSM Flexi-Record module.

Fig. 1: Flexi-Record Table

Members Map

Whether you are identifying area to recruit more members or just interested where your members are concentrated, you can see a map showing where your members live.

Whether you are identifying area to recruit more members or just interested where your members are concentrated, you can see a map showing where your members live.

To do this, follow these steps:

  • Login with a Site Admin username and password
  • Open Admin/Group Details
  • Click the OSM Integration button
  • Click the Members Map button
  • You can filter the members shown by selecting a specific Section
  • Change the Style to your requirements
  • Click on one of the icons to see the member's name and address

Fig. 1: Members Map

Members Download

Download details of members from all your sections into a single spreadsheet, directly from OSM.

You can download details of members from all your sections into a single spreadsheet, directly from OSM.

To do this, follow these steps:

  • Login with a Site Admin username and password
  • Open Admin/Group Details
  • Click the OSM Integration button
  • Click the Members Download button to see a page similar to Fig. 1
  • Tick/Untick the sections to include in the resulting spreadsheet
  • Select the level of detail in the Fields drop-down-list
  • Select the sort order in the Sort By field
  • By ticking the Merge Duplicate Members field, a member that is attached to multiple sections will only appear once in the spreadsheet
  • Click Download to get your members spreadsheet

Fig. 1: Members download page

Send News via OSM Emailing List

You can email a news story to your leaders or parents using an OSM distribution email list.

You can email a news story to your leaders or parents using an OSM distribution email list.

To do this, follow these steps:

  • Open Admin/News / Blogs
  • Click Amend next to a story, or click Add New to add a new story
  • Click Save and Send Email
  • You will now see a page similar to Fig. 1
  • This may be pre-populated from the Members Email and Leaders Email fields in Admin/Section Details
  • Un-tick the Send? checkbox for any email that you don't want to send the news story to
  • You can enter an additional distribution email address too
  • If you want the email to be sent from your own email address, enter it in the From Email field, along with your email password in the From Password field. NB. Your password is not held on the website.
  • Click Send Emails to send out the news story or Cancel
  • The story email will include the header image, text and additional images attached to your news story. See Fig. 2.


Fig. 1: Email distribution

Fig. 2: News story email