Anyone using JW Scheduler software?

[JJWest]

12 hours ago, molnarj said:

I don't know if it makes any difference but for that reason I import the data one by one. And make sure nobody's working in the program at the same time. If you are importing data and someone else is also working in the program and he is closing the program later then you, his timestamp is the latest and will be used for synchronisation but it doesn't contain your latest imported reports. 

How can you tell if someone is working in the program at the same time as you?

[molnarj]

Go to Congregation Sharing: 

 

In the Status Colum you can see if someone is/was recently connected:

 

 

But a short message to all the elders (Whatsapp?) that you are working in the program could be useful. 

 

[Aja]

16 hours ago, molnarj said:

I don't know if it makes any difference but for that reason I import the data one by one. And make sure nobody's working in the program at the same time. If you are importing data and someone else is also working in the program and he is closing the program later then you, his timestamp is the latest and will be used for synchronisation but it doesn't contain your latest imported reports. 

Not sure if the devs are here, but my issues are worsening. My COBE just reported to me that now previous months are showing up missing for some publishers. If it's an issue of the program not knowing which data to go with, couldn't they do something like KHS did where if it found a discrepancy it would give you a warning and let you choose which data to go with? 

[Jared]

On 4/3/2022 at 1:29 PM, Aja said:

Secretary here. Just a heads up: I lost several field service activity reports that were sent via the JWS publisher app (including my own) for last month. I see there is another update to build #1197. Not sure if that addresses any of these issues but we'll see. Features are nice but hopefully the devs can focus on making things a bit more stable. I love the program at it's best but it has lost data for publishers now a couple of times and it's shaking my confidence a bit😓

This happened to me as well. It was overwriting February's report with March's info for dozens of people. Now I am having everyone send me their time the old fashioned way for Feb and Mar so I can confirm it's all correct. The update page said there is no need to update to the latest build unless I am experiencing issues, so I was on the prior build. Lesson learned.

[JJWest]

On 4/4/2022 at 10:28 AM, molnarj said:

Go to Congregation Sharing: 

 

In the Status Colum you can see if someone is/was recently connected:

 

 

But a short message to all the elders (Whatsapp?) that you are working in the program could be useful. 

 

Thank you

[Aja]

So I submitted a ticket and this was the response I received: 

 

Quote

On April 1^st we identified and fixed a Time Zone bug regarding Importing Publisher Reports from the JWS Publisher app. The bug caused March Publishers Reports imported into JW Scheduler to overwrite February, or it might erase February.

 

This bug was fixed on April 1^st with Build update #1195. After installing the Build update #1195 or greater, any Data Waiting to Import will now have the correct month.

 

Please note that brothers should always carefully check the Data Waiting to Import before they click Import. That is why JW Scheduler doesn’t automatically import data directly from the app, as it allows the Secretary to first carefully check and avoid importing data with problems.

 

Unfortunate some brothers have not been carefully checking before clicking Import, and they did not update to the latest Build release on April 1^st. Therefore, any imported data will continue to have problems.

 

To solve this issue, please ensure all brothers Importing data from the JWS Publisher app are using Build #1195 or greater. This can be installed by clicking Me > Updates > Check for Updates.

 

If you have already imported some data with the wrong month, you might want to restore that specific Publisher Report data from Automatic Backup before you import the new data. E.G. You can quickly and easily restore only February 2022 reports from an earlier Automatic Backup.

 

Then, you can ask any friends who have already submitted their March report, to please re-submit their March report. They can do this from the JWS Publisher app by tapping “Re-send”. These reports can then be re-imported into JW Scheduler without problems. Any publishers whose data hasn’t yet been imported, or is waiting to import, do not have to do anything.

We seem to be back up and running, just trying to get a few of the friends that submitted early in the to re-send their report. Hope this helps others

[luisenriquereyes]

3 hours ago, Jared said:

This happened to me as well. It was overwriting February's report with March's info for dozens of people. Now I am having everyone send me their time the old fashioned way for Feb and Mar so I can confirm it's all correct. The update page said there is no need to update to the latest build unless I am experiencing issues, so I was on the prior build. Lesson learned.

The overwriting of reports data some have reported here has not happened to me.  For those of you having this problem,  have you sent a support request to the JW Scheduler support team?

[George91]

Hi to everyone!
Please help me to print group lists. I mean not the service group, but members of other groups. I see only the option to print members of service group. Thank you!

 

 

[luisenriquereyes]

19 hours ago, George91 said:

Hi to everyone!
Please help me to print group lists. I mean not the service group, but members of other groups. I see only the option to print members of service group. Thank you!

 

 

It seems to not be an option.  When I need to print an Other group list I just do a print screen of this window.

[Jeffjazzy]

We are really enjoying using JW Scheduler! But, a question. I'm the CLMM overseer and we previously used the CLM/TMS program and app for our congregation. One thing I really appreciated about that combo was that it had a "confirm" setting in the TMS app that provided me an indication the participant had received and confirmed having their assignment. That saved me or the chairman from having to text or call to make sure the participant was aware of an upcoming assignment. 

Does anyone know if JW Scheduler has a similar feature?  We've not been able to locate that as yet if it does. 

Thanks brothers. 

[Qapla]

Our Secretary called today - seems JWS lost Feb and March service reports and we need to send them to him  

[molnarj]

21 hours ago, George91 said:

Hi to everyone!
Please help me to print group lists. I mean not the service group, but members of other groups. I see only the option to print members of service group. Thank you!

 

 

It seems there is not an option for that yet. You can check the Help/Support pages on the website. If it is not there, there is an option to submit requests for future releases. Very likely they will take it into consideration. It does not seem difficult to implement. 

[molnarj]

1 hour ago, Jeffjazzy said:

We are really enjoying using JW Scheduler! But, a question. I'm the CLMM overseer and we previously used the CLM/TMS program and app for our congregation. One thing I really appreciated about that combo was that it had a "confirm" setting in the TMS app that provided me an indication the participant had received and confirmed having their assignment. That saved me or the chairman from having to text or call to make sure the participant was aware of an upcoming assignment. 

Does anyone know if JW Scheduler has a similar feature?  We've not been able to locate that as yet if it does. 

Thanks brothers. 

There is no such option in JWS. However, the app gives you a notification that you have an assigment. It gives you a reminder about a week before and another about a day before. The moment of the reminder is adjustable. You can turn it of if you don't want notifications/reminders. We never had an issue with someone forgetting their assignment. But I still text everyone about 3 days before.

[molnarj]

52 minutes ago, Qapla said:

Our Secretary called today - seems JWS lost Feb and March service reports and we need to send them to him

Maybe you can send him this option to solve the problem, but March still needs to be re-send.

 

To solve this issue, please ensure all brothers Importing data from the JWS Publisher app are using Build #1195 or greater. This can be installed by clicking Me > Updates > Check for Updates.

 

If you have already imported some data with the wrong month, you might want to restore that specific Publisher Report data from Automatic Backup before you import the new data. E.G. You can quickly and easily restore only February 2022 reports from an earlier Automatic Backup.

 

Then, you can ask any friends who have already submitted their March report, to please re-submit their March report. They can do this from the JWS Publisher app by tapping “Re-send”. These reports can then be re-imported into JW Scheduler without problems. Any publishers whose data hasn’t yet been imported, or is waiting to import, do not have to do anything.

[Jared]

On 4/6/2022 at 8:18 PM, luisenriquereyes said:

The overwriting of reports data some have reported here has not happened to me.  For those of you having this problem,  have you sent a support request to the JW Scheduler support team?

I stopped submitting support requests to them because the tone of responses seemed to be "hey dummy, read the manual and try again and stop wasting our time with stupid questions." 🤷‍♂️ Future builds fix most of the problems we run into, so I just wait for the next build.

 

I guess that's better than KHS who simply ignore support requests. 😂

[luisenriquereyes]

7 hours ago, Jared said:

I stopped submitting support requests to them because the tone of responses seemed to be "hey dummy, read the manual and try again and stop wasting our time with stupid questions." 🤷‍♂️ Future builds fix most of the problems we run into, so I just wait for the next build.

 

I guess that's better than KHS who simply ignore support requests. 😂

I agree with you.  Some of their responses have not been very friendly.  But I guess the brothers are under a lot of stress.

[computerwiz]

4 hours ago, luisenriquereyes said:

I agree with you.  Some of their responses have not been very friendly.  But I guess the brothers are under a lot of stress.

I have never had a non-friendly response. I admit I'm a software developer, and I read their help info thoroughly. When I submit help tickets, I also include detailed directions of how I encountered the error. Details that software developers appreciate...

 

Now...perhaps they could slow down a bit...I just did a ton of work recently as quickly as possible for my job, and I feel the same...easy irritable. 

 

I don't know how many developers they have, but at my work, I am the only one. The pressure of many bugs from many people is... extremely challenging.

 

Ephesians 4:2 - with all humility and mildness, with patience, putting up with one another in love, 

 

[Jared]

On 4/8/2022 at 10:39 PM, computerwiz said:

I have never had a non-friendly response. I admit I'm a software developer, and I read their help info thoroughly. When I submit help tickets, I also include detailed directions of how I encountered the error. Details that software developers appreciate...

 

Now...perhaps they could slow down a bit...I just did a ton of work recently as quickly as possible for my job, and I feel the same...easy irritable. 

 

I don't know how many developers they have, but at my work, I am the only one. The pressure of many bugs from many people is... extremely challenging.

 

Ephesians 4:2 - with all humility and mildness, with patience, putting up with one another in love, 

 

I completely agree! As a software developer myself, I can only imagine that they have a lot of irons in the fire. I too read their help thoroughly and give detailed repro steps when I submit tickets. Even so... 🤷‍♂️

 

No matter the bugs and foibles, JWS is by far the best system I have ever used for handling scheduling, reporting, etc. I sing its praises to anyone who will listen. Our congregation members love the mobile app. 👍

[Jeffjazzy]

You know what really helps to take some of the pressure off the developers is having a strong online community of experienced end users. Sometimes they may have already discovered solutions, especially when it pertains to use of features and short cuts and so forth. That was one thing I appreciated about CLM Explorer. They have a wonderful online community who many times offer helpful tip and tricks to new users. I found the developer, Robert Hudson very helpful when I had questions. Others helped out too. I'd still be using it but the BOE wanted to switch to JW Scheduler. 

[Aja]

JWS Publisher App (Android) has released an update that apparently allows the user to request literature. Does anyone know how to turn it on inside of JWS? I've looked around but didn't see it and don't see any program updates either.

[computerwiz]

3 hours ago, Aja said:

JWS Publisher App (Android) has released an update that apparently allows the user to request literature. Does anyone know how to turn it on inside of JWS? I've looked around but didn't see it and don't see any program updates either.

I'm sure we all have to wait for the program update. They did that last time where they released the app before the PC program.

[luisenriquereyes]

JW Scheduler 6.2 BETA now available

 

NEW FEATURES

• Literature. Literature Requests and Literature Items can now be entered into JW Scheduler! Publishers can also make Literature Requests directly from the JWS Publisher app. A default selection of Literature Items has been added, and you can also add your own custom Literature Items. Please see Congregation > Literature.

• Custom Duties. Due to the new Hybrid Meeting arrangements, JW Scheduler now supports up to 8 fully customizable Duties. Each meeting you may now assign up to 20 different brothers to perform these duties! Please see Scheduling > Duties.

• Registration Options. JW Scheduler is used by many different congregations in many different ways. Some congregations are small, some are large. Some use many features, some use only a few. To better accommodate all our different users, while still supporting the development of new features, we have introduced three Registration Options: Individual, Congregation Standard and Congregation Premium. Please see Me > Registration to see the features of each option.

  • Note: To help everyone transition to the new Registration Options, all existing Congregation Registrations have been given a complimentary upgrade to Congregation Premium for the remainder of your license. After, you may downgrade to Congregation Standard if you prefer.

• Registration. You can now Register, Renew, Upgrade or Downgrade directly from within JW Scheduler. Please see Me > Registration.

• License Server. Registration Keys no longer need to be manually entered. Instead, JW Scheduler will automatically connect with our License Server to check your Registration. This should greatly simplify registration. Please see Me > Registration.

NEW and UPDATED REPORTS & TEMPLATES

• Duties Schedule. Several new templates to better display large amounts of duties and brothers.

• Weekly Overview. New Colorful template.

• Cleaning and Garden Care. New Cleaning only and Garden Care only templates.

• Other Groups. New Other Groups template to print all Other Groups.

• Field Service Groups. Added checkbox for "Show Unassigned".

• Away Public Speakers List. Away Public Speakers List changed to Public Speakers List, and includes an option to include Local Speakers.

• Emergency Contact List can now choose the Name Format.

UPDATES

LANGUAGE GROUPS

• Language Groups are now created from Other Groups, not Field Service Groups. This allows more flexibility, e.g. multiple Field Service Groups are part of the Language Group, or your congregation has multiple Weekend Meetings, etc. All existing Language Groups will be automatically converted to Other Groups, but you may need to remove the previous Field Service Group.
• Language Groups can now set their own Living as Christians part themes and timing.

SCHEDULE – CLEANING

• Cleaning can now be assigned by Week or by Meeting, the same as Duties.
• Cleaning assigned by Week will show the Cleaning Duty twice on the JWS Publisher app, once for each meeting.

JWS PUBLISHER APP (requires JWS Publisher app 2.1 or greater)

• Literature Requests can be sent from the Me screen, if enabled by the elders.
• Can now open PDFs using phones default viewer (to allow for printing, links, etc)
• Star now shows next to recently updated Schedules
• Added warning when re-sending Field Service Report

BUG FIXES

• Bug fixes are usually released in Build Updates. If you have a problem or bug, please click Me > Updates > Check for Updates.

[Aja]

One slight issue I'm facing maybe you all can help me with: We assigned a brother to handle the weekly maintenance checks at the Kingdom Hall when we were still not going to the hall. He was messing with scheduling it and tried using both the both the Cleaning and the Garden Care schedulers (I'm not certain why he used both). But now that we are back in person, that arrangement is no longer needed. He has since updated the cleaning schedule and it shows up correctly in the JWS Publisher app under duties. But I am still seeing a schedule for Garden Care in JWS Pub. When I go into the main JWS program, nothing is scheduled anymore (all fields are empty) but it is still showing it as a task in the app. Any idea how I can make the notifications in the app go away? Your help, as always, is appreciated.

[Jeffjazzy]

It appears that this being a beta version it has not fully been rolled out as yet. At least it does not show up in my updates as yet. 

[Aja]

Update to JW Scheduler 6.2 Stable is available.