NW Scheduler/Publisher - Updates, Support, and Suggestions

[More4me2do]

Much easier in the USA

 

sfla-E Us 10/23
Correspondence and Records
3. The body of elders may decide whether to retain Congregation’s Publisher Records (S-21) electronically or in printed form.
4. There is no objection to using online storage services for nonconfidential documents, such as those containing information that would be posted on the information board. However, information of a sensitive or confidential nature, including judicial matters, should never be stored online.

 

[Eejay]

2 hours ago, More4me2do said:

easier in the USA

As in UK

[foghorn]

5 hours ago, More4me2do said:

However, information of a sensitive or confidential nature, including judicial matters, should never be stored online.

I am thinking about the terms "sensitive" and "confidential" in this instruction. What data does NWS handle that falls into this category? Personally, I don't have any concern about anyone viewing my field service report. The only confidential personal data might be my contact information - but of course, it is encrypted. So technically, my contact information is NOT being stored in the NWS server - just some random text. So I wonder - is there anything in NWS that you feel should be excluded? Just curious...

[Marky]

Correct, the data that we enter on a local computer is encrypted in both directions to and from the NWS servers.  Elders and ministerial servants can see it on their local computers but it is not stored in a way online that anyone can read it.  Even the developers and admins at NWS cannot see/read any of the encrypted data regarding our individual congregations.

In the U.S. anyway, I can't see how it violates any Branch direction. 

[Marky]

On 6/25/2025 at 10:50 AM, Landon1285 said:

Does anyone know how or if the recurring feature when assigning field service conductors to a particular day works? 

It does not work the way you might intuitively think.  At least I didn't get it at first.

Ticking the Recurring box does NOT mean the brother's name and everything else will automatically populate into the future week's schedules.

Ticking the Recurring box only determines if what brother's see on the NWP app shows ALL of the assignments or just the one's that are not recurring.  Before that works though you need to set it up in the App Settings.

Go to New World Publisher App > App Settings > under Assignments, from the dropdown menu choose All or Non-recurring only.

Some bodies of elders feel there is no need to keep posting and showing assignments that are consistently recurring.  They prefer to just post and show the assignments that are random or not regularly scheduled.

Choosing All will obviously show all recurring AND non-recurring.
Choosing Non-recurring only will show all of the assignments you have entered with the exception that it will not include the recurring ones.

Once you have updated your settings go back to the scheduling page.  If you chose All in the settings just leave the Recurring box blank.  If you are choosing not to show the recurring assignments then you need to tick the empty box that shows up in your screenshot.  (That image of a ticked box is a little misleading because it makes you think it is already ticked but it is just an image.)

 

[madefl]

17 hours ago, molnarj said:

 

You could untick the option: Allow Submit Reports under App Settings. You can then use NWScheduler to collect the Fieldservice reports without them being send to the App.

Yes, we did that. But it doesn't change the fact, that confidential data is in the App, everything besides the name is considered confidential, as per SFL. 

[madefl]

17 hours ago, molnarj said:

Ours in Holland has 15 sections and the date is 10/23. So madefl, what is yours? We will receive an updated version of the Shepherd book in September. So maybe an upate of the Addendum as well?

It 10/24 central Europe, but it was in there also in the previous version. 

[AndyCase]

9 hours ago, foghorn said:

I am thinking about the terms "sensitive" and "confidential" in this instruction. What data does NWS handle that falls into this category? Personally, I don't have any concern about anyone viewing my field service report. The only confidential personal data might be my contact information - but of course, it is encrypted. So technically, my contact information is NOT being stored in the NWS server - just some random text. So I wonder - is there anything in NWS that you feel should be excluded? Just curious...

I think it comes down to definition of "confidential" and "online".

Give me 10 mins on the internet and I can find most people's names, addresses and phone numbers. So not exactly confidential.

As for being "online", the data held in NWS is not in the public domain, or what we term online, or on the internet. 

Have you ever used Google documents, spreadsheets etc. All of those are stored online as backups. 

We were using those, but switched to NWS after some careful and prayerful thought. 

 

We are waiting for the day that the branch release their own app. 🤣 That would make everything easier. In fact the JW hub is starting to incorporate more useful features such as dates and reminders etc. maybe that is something that will come in the future.

[madefl]

3 hours ago, AndyCase said:

I think it comes down to definition of "confidential" and "online".

Give me 10 mins on the internet and I can find most people's names, addresses and phone numbers. So not exactly confidential.

As for being "online", the data held in NWS is not in the public domain, or what we term online, or on the internet. 

Have you ever used Google documents, spreadsheets etc. All of those are stored online as backups. 

We were using those, but switched to NWS after some careful and prayerful thought. 

 

We are waiting for the day that the branch release their own app. 🤣 That would make everything easier. In fact the JW hub is starting to incorporate more useful features such as dates and reminders etc. maybe that is something that will come in the future.

Well we don't have to guess, as it says in the Addendum:

"25. Data entered on the Publisher Record (electronically or on paper) are confidential except for the name."

 

 Also the expression "not entered into any App" does not mean online only. That's where it gets difficult, even excel is technically an App. 

 

 

 

 

 

[AndyCase]

5 minutes ago, madefl said:

Well we don't have to guess, as it says in the Addendum:

"25. Data entered on the Publisher Record (electronically or on paper) are confidential except for the name."

 

 Also the expression "not entered into any App" does not mean online only. That's where it gets difficult, even excel is technically an App. 

 

 

 

 

 

Not in the Addendum I have. 

[AndyCase]

7 minutes ago, madefl said:

Well we don't have to guess, as it says in the Addendum:

"25. Data entered on the Publisher Record (electronically or on paper) are confidential except for the name."

 

 Also the expression "not entered into any App" does not mean online only. That's where it gets difficult, even excel is technically an App. 

 

 

 

 

 

I suggest that if the addendum you have that is applicable to your country says that then you make sure to abide by it. 

But ours definitely doesn't define confidential that I can see

[Floyd]

Our CO wrote the branch office in the US because he was concerned. He specifically mentioned NWS. He got a letter back that was shared with us which said that it was up to each body of elders to decide what software will be used. They did not say we should not use NWS or NWP. We basically got the idea that it was ok to use it. That was the CO's take on it as well and he was against it.

[trottigy]

1 hour ago, Floyd said:

Our CO wrote the branch office in the US because he was concerned. He specifically mentioned NWS. He got a letter back that was shared with us which said that it was up to each body of elders to decide what software will be used. They did not say we should not use NWS or NWP. We basically got the idea that it was ok to use it. That was the CO's take on it as well and he was against it.

 

That is basically what the US addendum says - no objection to using online storage services for nonconfidential documents. The only confidential item sited is judicial matters. 

 

Different countries have different legal requirements for personal information, but most must allow online storage - as Google and Amazon are surely doing that. 

Edited Sunday at 04:51 PM by trottigy

[More4me2do]

In the first comment on this page I quoted from the US Addendum where it says:

"3. The body of elders may decide whether to retain Congregation’s Publisher Records (S-21) electronically or in printed form."

 

So if you are in Europe or a country that has GDPR or Electronic Data Protection laws than your usage of personal information is governed by those laws.

 

For example in the ministry in those countries you can't write down a person's contact details and pass this on to someone else. In addition, I believe that publishers have to give their consent to having a S-21 form kept on file. 

 

The conclusion is this you have to go by what the local laws are just as you go by the local customs and culture and as a result you have different instructions in different branches. That is why I said in the top comment, "Much easier in the USA" and that is from the USA addendum, which does not apply to other parts of the world.

Edited Sunday at 05:13 PM by More4me2do

[Indapipe]

3 hours ago, madefl said:

Well we don't have to guess, as it says in the Addendum:

"25. Data entered on the Publisher Record (electronically or on paper) are confidential except for the name."

 

 Also the expression "not entered into any App" does not mean online only. That's where it gets difficult, even excel is technically an App. 

 

 

 

 

 

If that is your understanding of the meaning in the addendum that applies to your geographic region, then the best course may perhaps be that you stop using NWS and NWP.

[Landon1285]

When using the email feature I realized that I will need to use a triple/quadruple space between each paragraph. 

 

Even though I spaced the paragraphs nicely and the preview showed the correct spacing the actual email had all paragraphs combined. 

[Marky]

Some text editors have been built with different behaviours.  What has worked for me in NWS emails is to click Shift + Enter/Return twice.  It also should work to click Enter/Return once and Shift + Enter/Return once.  Either way you should see one empty line space between paragraphs in the text editor and that is what should be rendered in the sent email.

[carlos]

19 hours ago, madefl said:

Well we don't have to guess, as it says in the Addendum:

"25. Data entered on the Publisher Record (electronically or on paper) are confidential except for the name."

 

We don't have that point in Spain either. 

 

Data entered in the publisher record, aside from the publisher name, is: date of birth, date of baptism, address, gender, other sheep or anointed. You don't really need to enter any of those for NW Scheduler to work. A name is enough. You could keep the cards in paper or in whatever form you find acceptable and copy the report from NW Scheduler to them. You can even delete it from NW Scheduler once it's copied.

 

Anyway, I would suggest contacting your CO or the branch directly. Our body of elders had some doubts, then we asked our CO and he was familiar with the app. He said many congregations in our circuit are using it and the branch is ok with it. So it's likely your CO is already aware of this software and can give you an authoritative answer from the branch.