Hey everyone, I recently learnt about a “leaders account” for SNCO’s from other cadets on a gold expedition. Aparantly it takes some off the admin off the CO’s hands and allow the user to reset passwords, approve courses into the squadron etc. Can anyone tell me more info on what exactly it is and how I can get one?
Cheers
On SMS? Never heard of it.
I think youre talking about eDofE. There are knowledgeable people regarding DofE on here but I’m not one of them I’m afraid.
Cadets can be allocated Leader accounts on eDofE if they have completed the relevant training course (IttDofE). This will allow you to manage DofE participation places and records.
Staff Cadets can also be given access to SMS and can be allocated role accounts such as Adjutant and Training Officer if required. Unit OC can allocate and remove permissions to access various functions and information as required.
MB
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One big problem at my squadron is that courses/events don’t get posted onto Bader for cadets to see. This is due to “glitch” my boss needs to approve the course for the sqn to see it but he doesn’t. We recently lost our sqn admin officer. Its got so bad that I have cadets who have been at the sqn for 1+ years and have never done anything outside of the squadron. Would getting a role account for me to manage allow me to approve courses? If so how can that be done?
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From what I know Cadet Portal and SMS are two different things? How could I gain access to SMS as an SNCO?
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So Leaders Accounts are an eDofE thing, they aren’t limited to SNCO’s they are surprisingly enough for DofE Leaders to administer the award at a local level.
They let you authorise participants programme planners and sign off there evidence before ultimately sending the award off to someone with an administrators account to be authorised.
They are exactly the same account that your OC or whoever runs DofE on your Squadron has.
I’m not sure if it’s a universal requirement (I would need to check the ACTO) but I’m pretty sure you need to do a 1 day Intro-DofE Course to hold an account. (I think you can get the account first and do the course later). You also have to be over 18 to have an account.
I wouldn’t give one to everyone, but if a Silver of Gold candidate (or an SNCO) was assisting with running DofE as their volunteering (or as their NCO role on the unit) I would.
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UPDATE: I believe I was mistaking the leaders account for an SMS account. No one other than my OC has an SMS account.
The Squadron will have a generic SMS account (they all do). Your OC can set up access for you.
If you are referring to events appearing on Cadet Portal, the Wing (or whoever is running them) will add Squadrons to the event. It is then up to Squadron staff to make them visible to Cadets on Cadet Portal.
Unfortunately some OCs don’t do this. Do you have any other volunteer staff you could ask about it? They should have access to the generic account even if they don’t themselves have a role.
FINALLY SOMEONE RECOGNISES MY PROBLEM!!! That’s exactly it, my CO doesn’t approve events into the squadron so no cadets see them! If my CO gives me access to SMS will I be able to approve them?
Your OC can give anyone on the Sqn access to SMS, all Staff should have it along with Staff Cadets, but it is also possible to create an account for Under 18s.
Those staff in the following roles - OC / Adj / Training Officer / SNCO all have access via their role account, but the permissions can only be updated by the OC Sqn.
Other staff / cadets access via the Multi User account combined with a personal username, the personal username is crated by the OC Sqn as well as the permissions.
Your OC would need to give you View Event & Edit Event permissions so that you could publish these events to Cadet Portal.
What is the difference between a role and a personal account?
One is for you, one is for the position or role you do in the organisation such as OC, training officer etc.
As an aside, it would be wise for you to think about what you’re posting and ask “would I say this to your OC’s face”. If the answer is no you need to think whether you should change the wording.
If you get activity permissions the technical answer is yes. The issue will be if you’re doing it against the OC’s wishes they aren’t going to take kindly to that.
If the answer is still “yes”, then take a beat and think “how are they likly to respond” & “can I tweak what I say to them so it’s more effective & the OC responds more positively”.
OC are often having a whole bunch of people telling them how they should be running their Sqn. Another person who appears to be having a pop at them is unlikely to be well received & listened to, even if the intentions are well meaning.
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You’ll be able to submit them to wing for approval or advertise on cdt portal. Only OCs can approve low risk events on SMS & only after being granted permission to do so.
When/if you get permission, I would also consult the OC about just what events are shared on CP. There may be very valid reasons for NOT sharing.
The OCs workload will also increase if cadets start bidding on things they are not eligible for. You might not see this as the snotty emails will land in your OCs inbox rather than anybody else’s - but it’ll be one extra thing they have to deal with. And it does sound like they’ve got a significant amount on their plate already.
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Trying to read between the lines a bit - I think what the OP means is ‘add to Cadet Portal so cadets can sign up’ rather than approve?
If that’s indeed what you mean then yes anyone with a generic SMS account can add them. But keep in mind that once you copy the details to Cadet Portal any updates from the organiser won’t come across automatically so you’ll need to look out for them.
As others have said, your OC might have a reason for not publicising events. Best to discuss first - ask if they can show you how events get added to Portal as a starting point maybe?
Yes, I would be happy to share everything I have posted with my CO. He is the only uniformed memeber at my squadron and as an SNCO I have been consulting with him how to improve the squadron. He has been an OC for over a decade so he can obviously see the problems in the squadron and understands i am only trying to fix them.