Can units add what roles those people have displayed? Or is it just OC, Training, Adj, SNCO, remainder?
No it is associated with the role-based Bader accounts - like you said, OC/Adj/Trg Off/SNCO and General account. We donât record that CI Bloggs has been allocated as IC Brews so we have no way to access that kind of information.
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Does this update fix the issue where some/many cadets were unable to log in?
Is this something that could maybe be looked at? It could be very useful for squadrons to be able to allocate within SMS who their ATTO/FAO/RCO/FCO etc etc are. From a wing staff point of view this could be great too as if for example the WFAO wantâs to email all the unit FAOs they could get a list instantly of who they actually are. Recently there have been multiple emails out within the wing from from SMEs asking who their squadron equivalents are.
Also worth adding once personal accounts are a thing, then you could auto generate email groups for this too?
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Is that on the agenda? As knowing who the named accounts are is probably more known by the Cadets and actually less of an issue than knowing who the DofE Officer/Shooting Officer etc are.
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Provides formal structure to Sqn Heirachy also⌠Instead random made up roles. Which in turns provides structure for growth and development.
Iâm in favour of being able to show via sms to cadet portal what staff are attached to what role.
But definitely not in HQAC or another body deciding what hierarchy each Sqn should employ.
Every Sqn is different.
Last thing we need is arbriary 1 size fits all âsolutionâ.
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There are already pretty clear set squadron roles. Maybe allow the option for the OC to add other roles that the cadets can see, but all of the âstandardâ roles could be build in.
Squadron Adventure Training Technical Officer
Squadron Shooting Officer
Squadron Radio Comms Officer
Squadron First Aid Officer
Squadron Health and Safety Officer
etc etc etc
There should still be the option for the OC to leave an item empty for what ever reason.
And potentially yes, allow OCs to add âcustom rolesâ.
I could see this being really useful.
Also just while Iâm thinking about this. You could then have within cadet portal under the activity sections that point of contact at the squadron. Under the shooting tab it can say âFor more information talk to WO Whoeverâ.
Iâm liking this the more I think about it!
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Looool. I wouldnât even dream of having this many staff roles on squadron, itâd be too unlikely.
These would be two people for us, and theyâre also the OC and training officer.
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Same here. Might look a bit silly allocating 10 roles to each staff member 
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Same for my unit too! Of that example list thatâs one person. However, allocating a name to that list, and the cadets being able to see that could be useful!
In my imaginary world where this is a thing that exists and we have personal accounts, it could also mean a SME could feasibly email the person from each squadron who needs to see the information, rather than all.wing constantly.
First aid officer wantâs to know how many annies each unit has. Be able to send one email that only goes to those who need to see it.
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I think what is there is good already:
Is it paperwork related, ask the adj
Is it to do with quals/PTS/program, ask TrgOff
Is it to do with big picture or I want promoting, ask OC
Iâm thinking slightly bigger picture too. Those squadrons who have 50 cadets and a fair amount of staff would benefit from this a lot more than those of us who struggle with <20 cadets and 2/3 regular staff.
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A lovely thought, but how many squadrons would keep it updated? Then potentially squadrons miss out on opportunities as CI Jones left 6 weeks ago but nobody reallocated that role on baderâŚ
Easy fix to that is any email that goes out using my imaginary group also gets sent to the OC and/or Adj. They wouldnât get any excess email as before it would have gone to all.wing anyway.
Also, Iâm just throwing ideas around! Nice to have these debates about things like this 
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Iâve been at both ends of the scale. It wouldnât look any more silly than my first command where I was on the OC, Adj & Training Officer accounts.
Iâve always kept the DofE Officer as a stand alone job when it hasnât been me.
I think having the option to have the tab show who is the point of contact for what would be really helpful, especially for the less day to day activities. Whereas I would think something was very wrong if they didnât already know who the Adjutant was.
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Pre-pandemic that was my squadron and having something like this would have been helpful.
Having said that most of the OC/Adj/TO were double if not triple hatted anyway.
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Yes, we hope so! CP was a little poorly but I think we have figured out what was happening and have put some hotfixes in place which were rolled out earlier today.
I am happy to suggest it to the SO2 Bader Developer and see what he thinks. VSDT doesnât really get involved in SMS development.
I donât think HQ RAFAC cares in the slightest what happens at the local level in this sense. The only structure and roles recognised for Squadrons are those identified in policy coupled with who has an allocated role-based Bader account.
I can assure you that there is no plan to do this outside of what we have done already in this release.
I am inclined to agree to be honest. At the moment, someone is allocated an OC role account, SMS is updated and CP displays it with no need for manual intervention - which is what makes it viable as a national system.
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This is much like my own experience.
Iâm yet to be on a Sqn with a band, and although many Cadets in our Wing take part in Road Marching doubt many units have assigned either a Squadron Band or RM Officer.
More likely is Radio Officer but (based on my experience teaching at a Wing level) many Cadets reply âwe donât have a Sqn Radio Officer Sirâ which does grate my gears a bitâŚ
Holding a title doesnât necessarily mean holding all the answers, or even the qualifications or experience.
How many WATTOs are experts on trekking, climbing, kayaking, canoeing AND mountain biking?
On a Sqn level they donât even need to be qualified in one of those but justified by being familiar with the area.
Another example is Sports OfficerâŚ
In my time Iâve been a âSports Officerâ on two units (and an annual camp) but never held a Sports Leader award and more likely to play pool or darts than so expertise in the Corps chosen sports!
Instead i promoted the Wing sport trials and events and sorted the entries for these, occasionally being the Sqn representative.
A âSqn role officerâ as a POC might not be as valuable as a SME but still have a part to play however small
Now I appreciate in 9/10 cases where a Sqn SME isnât held these titles will fall typically to the Adj whoâll do the leg work (admin for courses etc) for the topic but at the very least having a Point Of Contact i think is valuable to the Cadets if only so they can see it is covered (or rather it isnât left outâŚ)
KISS
If it does not work for all then it is not viable - too many systems get destroyed by being overly designed to enable local flexibility - this then leads to dilution of the core requirements
Have seen this from both sides
- software roll outs that were designed to meet senior management requirements but did nothing for those that used them day to day - therefore no one at user level used them except when they got the âI need the xx report tomorrow so get your stuff updatedâ
- or the deployment of fantastic functionality but no investment in the business process re-engineering needed to make it all work
In both cases lead to chosen suite being abandoned and replaced with another after 12-24 months