NW Scheduler/Publisher - Updates, Support, and Suggestions

[Indapipe]

42 minutes ago, Floyd said:

 

That sends all of the information to check. I want the next one which will specifically tell them what is missing and only send to those who are missing information. But is seems to only send it to the group overseers.

Yeah that does seem like a limitation as far as I can see also.

As a suggestion, how about using the 2 forms in conjunction: The first form sent individually to selected publishers that are missing info (The form itself indicates what is missing by leaving the field blank) and then the second form to the respective group overseers to follow up, thus working as a team?

Edited May 11 by Indapipe

[Marky]

There is no way to send emails to individual publishers that auto-populate what information is missing into the message.  The email tag [PERSONS_MISSING_INFORMATION] for some probably good reason(s) unknown to me, is not coded to work in outgoing emails to publisers.  It does show in the dropdown box but it does not work when on the "Email" page.  The NWS help documentation confirms that it is not supported there.  The secretary, admins, nor field service group overseers can use that email tag in individual publishers' email messages.

The only way I know to do what you want is to manually enter what is needed into the message.  You could still use NWS to send the emails and use the other email tags to save you some time.  I would make a list of all the possible missing information.  Then you could just keep copying and pasting the appropriate reqeusts into the respective messages.  You would just paste in what was missing for that respective publisher such as "date of birth" or "date of birth" and "emergency contacts."

Here is an awkward sample that you could customize and improve:

Dear [TO_FIRST_NAME],

Thank you for all of the information you have provided for our records.  We just need a little more information to make sure we have everything available in case of emergencies.  Please respond to me or to your field service group overseer with this information as soon as possible.

Please contact us to add or update this information:

     Telephone number(s)

     Address

     Date of birth

     Date Immersed

     Emergency contacts (Please include names, telephone numbers, emails, relationship and any other pertinent notes.)

Thank you.

Your brother, ________

On behalf of [FIELD_SERVICE_GROUP_OVERSEER]
 

[Aja]

Hey all, I have a 2 part question. Recently I switched from Secretary to Service Overseer and I'm working to get familiar with this new role.

1. Any other Service Overseers out there? Any tips or tricks you'd like to share, particularly in utilizing NWS to keep me organized? I've been looking to see if there is a feature in the program that I can use to schedule the FSG visits that would keep me on schedule and notify the group of my upcoming visit. Does NWS have this function?
2. To all you encyclopedic brained brothers, do you recall there being any direction about an ideal size (# of homes) for each territory map? Our territory maps vary greatly in the number of homes per map and I would love to do an equalizing but was wondering if there was direction on how many is ideal. I know NWS only allows so many per map (300?) but I felt like there was some theocratic direction as well, but I may be getting the 2 mixed up.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Edited May 12 by Aja
Clarity

[Aja]

16 minutes ago, Aja said:

1. ...I've been looking to see if there is a feature in the program that I can use to schedule the FSG visits that would keep me on schedule and notify the group of my upcoming visit. Does NWS have this function?

I found the answer to this in an earlier post from late last year. Search is my friend🤪

[Floyd]

6 hours ago, Aja said:

do you recall there being any direction about an ideal size (# of homes) for each territory map?

 

I just asked our CO about this because we have the same problem. He said it was up to us to decide. I think its because some territory is extremely rural and some is walking. The CO was unwilling to even give his opinion on the matter. The bottom line is it should be worked in 4 months. So if you find that large territories are not being worked in 4 months then you might think about splitting the territory. For us we have almost all walking territory and I have been reorganizing some so that its between 100 and 200 addresses.

Edited May 12 by Floyd

[Tortuga]

2 hours ago, Floyd said:

 

I just asked our CO about this because we have the same problem. He said it was up to us to decide. I think its because some territory is extremely rural and some is walking. The CO was unwilling to even give his opinion on the matter. The bottom line is it should be worked in 4 months. So if you find that large territories are not being worked in 4 months then you might think about splitting the territory. For us we have almost all walking territory and I have been reorganizing some so that its between 100 and 200 addresses.

When we started using Territory Helper, our SO developed the territories with 60-80 homes each. I don't know if he had direction to do that or if it was a Service Committee decision. 

Edited May 12 by Tortuga

[foghorn]

2 hours ago, Floyd said:

For us we have almost all walking territory and I have been reorganizing some so that its between 100 and 200 addresses.

Same here - that number seems to work well. We have territories set for 2 Not-Home attempts. Now that we are marking each address as we work it, we are doing a MUCH better job of consistently working the NH's. Typical time to complete a territory ranges from 2 months to 4 months (somewhat influenced by weather, other activities). One approach is to make one complete pass by the week-day groups, then do the 2nd pass on the weekend. After that, the remaining NH's go to letter-writing group. And a few small territories can be reserved for older and infirm ones.

[Marky]

@Aja 

Through NWS you can schedule a service overseer visit that will be posted to NWP.

Congregation > Congregation Events > + New > In the “Type” dropdown choose “Service Overseer Visit” > Enter the date > In the dropdown menu at the bottom select the field service group.

Request the coordinator to have it announced.  It is just a personal opinion but I think it sends a better message when it is announced more than just a few days before the visit.  Meaning, announcing it the week before the visit instead of the week of the visit.  It shows the SO is organized, cares about the group, and wants everyone possible to arrange to support the visit.

 

[trottigy]

We are switching over from Deckhand to this. I'm going to do my best to be supportive of the change. I'm glad there is a place to get help.

 

Thank you all for being so helpful.

 

[markahart]

I'm thinking that with 100-200 addresses, factoring in at least three attempts at not-at-homes, and then writing to the ones left over, will they be completed in four months?

[carlos]

Our COBE mentioned one issue today. NW Scheduler automatically generated a task to visit a publisher who was baptized one year ago. The problem is it automatically selected which elders will make the visit. We can't find the way to change those brothers, or even better, to prevent the app from automatically assigning this task to specific elders.

 

How can we do that? I set up myself as the COBE assistant so that I can see what he sees, but can't find a way to change this.

[Marky]

I have never seen that happen before.  I scoured but I don't see a way to prevent that in the future as it seems to be an automatic system feature.  If this is from a recent upgrade I assume a future upgrade will give us a toggle to turn it off.

I am guessing the second elder that was assigned this task was the publisher's group overseer?  That is the direction we have is that the coordinator should arrange for 2 elders to make the visit and with one of them being the group overseer.

 

[More4me2do]

Didn't really know where to post this, but I am contemplating to get the new Microsoft Surface Pro 12 with the Snapdragon X Plus processor using Windows 11 Pro. Does anyone heard of any compatibility issues running NW Scheduler on these non Intel processor Surface Pro devices?

[More4me2do]

On 1/16/2025 at 12:00 PM, jayrtom said:

Does any one know if the NWS works on the new windows PC's with snapdragon plus /elite?

Did you ever find out if NWS works on the snapdragon plus /elite processors? I am contemplating getting the just announced Surface Pro 12 which has the snapdragon plus processor.

[Tortuga]

2 hours ago, carlos said:

Our COBE mentioned one issue today. NW Scheduler automatically generated a task to visit a publisher who was baptized one year ago. The problem is it automatically selected which elders will make the visit. We can't find the way to change those brothers, or even better, to prevent the app from automatically assigning this task to specific elders.

 

How can we do that? I set up myself as the COBE assistant so that I can see what he sees, but can't find a way to change this.

I thought that was in the Automatic Tasks section.

[Marky]

9 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

I thought that was in the Automatic Tasks section.

That is where I have always seen it but what I see still just says "Publisher baptized one year"

For us this has always just posted a reminder for the coordinator to do this, it did not assign two specific brothers like carlos is experiencing.  I am guessing if he "disables it that will mean the coordinator is not even reminded of this important anniversary.  I could be wrong.

[Indapipe]

1 hour ago, More4me2do said:

Didn't really know where to post this, but I am contemplating to get the new Microsoft Surface Pro 12 with the Snapdragon X Plus processor using Windows 11 Pro. Does anyone heard of any compatibility issues running NW Scheduler on these non Intel processor Surface Pro devices?

I run it just fine on my SPX. It doesn't run as quickly because it runs under emulation but it works fine.

[carlos]

7 hours ago, Marky said:

I have never seen that happen before.  I scoured but I don't see a way to prevent that in the future as it seems to be an automatic system feature.  If this is from a recent upgrade I assume a future upgrade will give us a toggle to turn it off.

 

Thanks, Marky. Yes, one of the elders is her group overseer.

I am contacting the developers about this and will share their answer.

[Floyd]

18 hours ago, Marky said:

For us this has always just posted a reminder for the coordinator to do this,

 

Really it should be a reminder to the secretary not the COBE since it is the responsibility of the secretary to let the COBE know.

[Marky]

27 minutes ago, Floyd said:

 

Really it should be a reminder to the secretary not the COBE since it is the responsibility of the secretary to let the COBE know.

Good point!

Secretary notifies coordinator > coordinator arranges the visit.

I am just an admin because our coordinator and secretary and even any of our other elders don't enjoy tech matters.  All 3 of us get the reminder that so-and-so's one year baptism date is coming up on _______.    At least that is the way it has been for a long time.  We don't have one coming up soon so it will be interesting to see what Carlso finds out from the developers about possible changes.

[markahart]

On Thursday everything in the PT Sharing was confirmed and in green. I opened it yesterday and found this. Almost everything has a reverted to needing confirmation or acknowledgment, including talks that have already been given. The same situation in the Incoming Requests. How do I fix this?

[Marky]

Here are the troubleshooting steps.  Try them in order because it is usually Step 1 that fixes it.  At least one of these steps always seems to work.  I posted it below but you can also find it at this link:  NW Scheduler | Public Speaker Sharing

 

Public Speaker Sharing Problems

There are several things both you can do, and other congregations in your Circuit can do, to diagnose and fix Public Speaker Sharing Problems.

The following should be tried in order of importance:

Step 1. Update NW Scheduler

Ensure your congregation and all other congregations in your Circuit are using the latest Minor Version of NW Scheduler.

Step 2. Check the Logs

1. Under Congregations, click the Congregations and Speakers Logs button
2. Under Requests, click the Requests Logs button
3. Check both logs for any errors or problems, which may help you diagnose and fix the issue

Step 3. Refresh Congregations and Speakers

1. Under Congregations, click the Refresh Congregations and Speakers button
2. Ask other congregations in your Circuit to also click the Refresh Congregations and Speakers button
3. Check the Logs after refreshing

• Note: This causes a fresh copy of your Public Speaker data to be sent to other congregations. It also forces a check for any new data from other congregations. There is no need to regularly do this, but only if you are having problems.

Step 4. Refresh Requests

1. Under Requests, click the Refresh Requests button
2. Check the Logs after refreshing

• Note: This refreshes all Public Speaker Requests. There is no need to regularly do this, but only if your data has problems.

Step 5. Check Congregation Sharing

It is possible your Public Speaker Sharing is working correctly, but another elder in your congregation is overwriting your Requests or the Request Status.

1. Click Congregation > Congregation Sharing > Sharing Logs and check the Full Congregation Sharing Logs for Public Speaker Requests. This should show who is overwriting or changing the data.
2. Limit User Access – Schedule Public Talk – Edit to only 1 or 2 brothers.
3. Ensure all Shared Persons are using the latest Minor Version of NW Scheduler.
4. See other troubleshooting steps under Congregation Sharing Problems

Step 6. Leave and Re-join Circuit

If a congregation is still having problems, they should Leave and then Re-join the Circuit.

If all congregations in a Circuit are having problems, you should Delete and re-create the Circuit.

[jayrtom]

On 5/16/2025 at 4:05 AM, More4me2do said:

Did you ever find out if NWS works on the snapdragon plus /elite processors? I am contemplating getting the just announced Surface Pro 12 which has the snapdragon plus processor.

Hi
Yes it works perfectly. Didn´t notice any lag 😉

[markahart]

Thank you  Marky.

[markahart]

One question Marky. In making sure congregations have the latest minor update, should I also include congregations in our guest circuit as well?