Challenge badges are earned a bit at a time — a requirement here, another one three weeks later — so it is hard to tell what a term of meetings actually adds up to. Until now the only way to find out was to open every event's forecast and add the badges up on paper.
The Badge Forecast does that for you. It reads the badge requirements already attached to your events and tells you which badges will be finished, who finishes them, and on which date.
Opening the forecast
Go to Badges in the menu, then Forecast in the submenu.
Choosing a window
The forecast always looks forward from today. Pick how far with the window control at the top of the page:
| Window | Best for |
|---|---|
| Next 4 weeks | Checking what the next few meetings deliver |
| Next 3 months | A term at a time — this is the default |
| Next 6 months | Half a year, useful for staged and long-running badges |
| Next 12 months | A full year's programme |
There is no start date to set, and you cannot look backwards. A meeting that has already run should have its requirements signed off against the young people who actually attended — that is badge history, not a forecast.
Beside the window you can search for a badge by name, and use Filter to narrow to particular sections. The section filter starts on the sections you have chosen under Profile → Personalise, so the page opens on the sections you run. Widen it whenever you want the whole group.
The four figures at the top
| Figure | What it counts |
|---|---|
| Badges complete | Badges finished inside the window by someone who did not already hold them |
| Members earning one | Distinct young people who finish at least one badge — somebody finishing three counts once |
| Requirements covered | Badge requirements attached to events in the window |
| One requirement away | Young people who would finish a badge if you covered exactly one more requirement |
Two ways to read it
Use the view switcher on the right of the toolbar.
By badge
One row per badge, showing how many finish it, how many get closer, how many already have it, how much of it is covered, and the date it lands.
Click any row to open the badge's detail, which names the young people who finish it, those who get closer, and every meeting that covers one of its requirements.
By person
A grid with a row per young person and a column per badge. Each cell says what the window does for that person and that badge:
| Mark | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Green tick | Earns it in this window |
| Blue dot | Gets closer, but does not finish |
| Grey tick | Already has it |
| Empty circle | No change |
| Dash | The badge is not for their section |
When more than one section is in view, each section is a row you can open and close. The closed row still tells you how many young people in that section are earning a badge and how many are getting closer, so you can see the shape of the whole group without scrolling through every name.
Click any young person's row to see what they will earn, ready for the next time a parent asks.
At risk of missing out
Some badges come down to a single meeting. If a requirement is covered at only one event in the whole window, anyone who misses that meeting does not finish the badge.
The At risk of missing out section names those young people, says which meeting their badge rests on, and how many of the recent meetings they have attended. In the badge detail, the same meetings are marked Covered here only.
Catching this early means you can cover the requirement again at another meeting while there is still time.
Add these to a meeting
Below the risks, Scoutworks suggests the requirements that are not covered anywhere in your window but would finish a badge for the most young people if you added them. Each suggestion says how many more would finish.
This is the quickest way to turn a near miss into a badge — one activity, several badges completed.
When the forecast is empty
If nothing shows, none of your events before the end of the window has a badge requirement attached yet. Add requirements to a meeting and the forecast fills in by itself — see How Badge Tracking Works for attaching requirements to events.
What's next
- How Badge Tracking Works — attaching requirements to events and signing them off
- Badge Reports and Insights — gap analysis, shopping lists and progress posters
- Planning a Whole Term with the Programme Planner — building the programme the forecast reads
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What's next?
Related guidesHow Badge Tracking Works
An overview of how Scoutworks handles badge progress tracking, from requirement completion to awarding badges.
Read articleBadge Reports and Insights
How to use badge analytics, gap analysis, reports, and poster generation to manage your programme effectively.
Read articlePlanning a Whole Term with the Programme Planner
How to plan a full term of meetings around a badge — pick a badge goal for your section, let Scoutworks lay out the weeks with real activity suggestions, then publish the term to your calendar in one click.
Read article