Badge Stock and Custom Badges

Badge stock management#

Keeping track of which badges you have in stock saves time and avoids the frustration of awarding a badge only to discover you do not have it on hand. Scoutworks provides a dedicated stock management system so you always know what you have, what you need, and what to order.

Getting started with stock#

To set up badge stock tracking:

1. Navigate to Badges in the sidebar
2. Click Badge Stock in the sub-navigation (or use Badge Actions → Manage Stock)
3. Initialise your stock levels by entering the quantity you currently hold for each badge

You only need to do this once. After the initial setup, Scoutworks keeps your stock levels updated as you award badges.

Managing stock day-to-day#

The Badge Stock page gives you a clear view of your inventory:

• Current stock levels for each badge
• Low stock warnings when quantities drop below a useful threshold
• Bulk adjust quantities — update multiple badges at once when a new order arrives

When you award a badge to a member, the stock count decreases automatically. This means your inventory stays accurate without manual updates.

Section stock and group stock#

Scoutworks lets you hold badge stock in two places, and you can mix and match:

When you award a badge, Scoutworks decides which pool to take it from in this order:

1. Section stock first — if the member's section has the badge in stock, one is taken from the section pool.
2. Group stock as a fallback — if the section is empty (or the section doesn't track that badge at all), one is taken from the group pool instead.
3. No deduction — if neither pool has the badge, the award still goes through; nothing is taken because there's nothing to take.

This means you can run section boxes day-to-day and keep a central group reserve for when a section runs out, without doing anything manual. Restocking a section automatically starts taking from the section pool again on the next award.

Downloading a shopping list#

When it's time to place an order, Scoutworks can build the order for you. On the Badge Stock page, open Stock actions and choose Shopping List (badges to order). You'll get a PDF listing every badge that needs ordering:

• Badges you owe — awarded to members but not in stock. The list shows the minimum you need to cover them.
• Badges running low — at or below the reorder threshold you've set. The list shows an optimum quantity to top you back up.

Custom badges are included automatically, so district and group badges you've added appear alongside the official programme.

By default the shopping list covers your whole group. To get a list for just one section, set the filters at the top of the page first — the download matches what you've filtered:

• Age Group → e.g. Cubs gives you a shopping list of Cub badges only.
• Location → a specific section limits the list to that section's stock. Badges held centrally as group stock still appear, so shared badges (like the Joining In Award) aren't missed.

You can also run the same list from Badges → Reports as the Badge Shopping List report, where you pick the location and age group in the dialog instead of filtering the page first. See Badge Reports and Insights.

Verifying stock with parents#

Use Badge Actions → Send Badge Check to email parents asking them to confirm which badges their child has physically received. This is a brilliant way to reconcile your records — if a badge was awarded but never handed over, or was lost, you will know about it.

Custom badges#

While Scoutworks comes pre-loaded with the full official badge programme, many groups also award their own badges — group-specific awards, district challenge badges, county badges, or fun badges for camps and special events.

Creating a custom badge#

1. Navigate to Badges in the sidebar
2. Click Custom Badges in the sub-navigation (or use Badge Actions → Add Custom Badge)
3. Fill in the custom badge details:
   • Badge name
   • Description
   • Which section types it applies to
   • Uniform placement (Optional) — where the badge is worn
   • Any requirements (optional)
4. Save the badge

Your custom badge now appears alongside the standard programme badges and can be assigned, tracked, and awarded in exactly the same way.

Choosing where a custom badge is worn#

Uniform placement tells parents where to sew the badge. Whatever you pick here appears on the placement guide the parent downloads for their child, so it is worth a moment's thought — the parent has no other way of knowing where a badge you invented belongs.

Parents see the result in Where badges go on their Badge Progress page — see Where Your Child's Badges Go.

Managing custom badges#

To view, edit, or remove custom badges:

1. Go to Badge Actions → Manage Custom Badges (or navigate to Badges → Custom Badges)
2. You will see all custom badges your group has created
3. Click on any badge to edit its details or requirements
4. Remove badges that are no longer needed

Custom badges are group-specific — they are only visible to your group and will not appear for other groups using Scoutworks.

Custom badge or uniform item?#

Some things your group hands out sit in a grey area — district badges, name tapes, group badges, woggles. The question to ask is: is it earned and awarded, or just worn?

Either way you'll know when to reorder — badges through the shopping list here, uniform through low-stock alerts on the Uniform page. See Issuing and Tracking Uniform for the uniform side.

What's next#

• How Badge Tracking Works — the bigger picture of progress, requirements and awarding.
• Awarding Badges — signing off badges, which is what updates your stock counts.
• Issuing and Tracking Uniform — stock, sizes and allocation for everything that's worn rather than earned.