On January 5th unit leaders will be able to submit local and national tour permits electronically. This new system takes just four easy steps, and it will save the transportation and training information, so leaders can easily recall it for future permit applications.
All registered unit leaders will have access to Tour Permits from MyScouting, accessed on www.scouting.org. Councils will approve or return the permit applications using MyBSA.
The MyScouting account verifies that the owner is a BSA leader associated with a unit. Within Tour Permits, the leader has access only to his unit. This authentication replaces the physical signatures on tour permit applications. Other unit leaders are notified via e-mail when an application is submitted and approved.
The volunteer can submit both local and national applications, for either traditional units or Learning for Life posts. Once approved, each tour permit will have a unique tour ID number.
Unit leaders enter all the necessary information for the tour, and rules specific to tour permits are applied. When appropriate, helpful messages will advise the leader about any missing information. Once the tour permit has been submitted, the council will evaluate and approve it or return it for further work. Online features allow easy entry of driver information for transportation and required training supervision.
There will be automatic notification at all appropriate steps in the process to the permit creator, the tour leader, and the assistant tour leader. The unit committee chair and unit leader will also receive e-mail notifications if they have MyScouting accounts.
The online Help document explains how to complete and submit permit applications to the council. Additionally, the Guide to Safe Scouting is available on the site for easy reference; Safety First Learning for Life Guidelines is also available for Learning for Life posts. Other documents, such as the BSA Transportation Guidelines and the Pledge of Performance can also be accessed from Tour Permits.
Authorized council staff members will review and process submitted applications. The tour permit creator receives a PDF version of the approved permit via e-mail. The approved permit PDF can also be obtained from Tour Permits in MyScouting.
As a reminder, local tour permit applications should be submitted two weeks before the tour and national applications at least one month before the tour start date.
We encourage all Scouting units from our council to use this new service to submit their local and national tour permit applications online.
