NW Scheduler/Publisher - Updates, Support, and Suggestions

[BigMAC]

NW is a great tool when it works...

It's too much work to change because there is not much to change to. In our case we got this mainly to use for public talks. Then we added other meeting parts and reports and stuff. Now people are used to get a notification when something is changed and getting reminders. We are a small congregation so it works for us. But I know some big congs that doesn't want something else because it's a huge task to swap system.

 

I have some concerns about why NW is so closed system, we have no clue who is behind it. We do not get any roadmaps and it's hard to give input. Instead of adding more and more stuff they should make it more stable. I have to make daily backups because it's unstable and we cannot use all features.

 

So I am very excited about Baruch... And to be able to talk to the developers directly.

Edited 2 hours ago by BigMAC
bad grammar as usual

[Mike]

Hospitality Availability Checkbox Issue

I’m working with the hospitality settings and understand that the checkbox needs to be selected to show a speaker is available for hospitality. Most of the time this works as expected, but occasionally I run into speakers where the checkbox can’t be clicked at all.

 

Has anyone else experienced this issue, or is there something I might be missing?

[howudodat]

27 minutes ago, BigMAC said:

NW is a great tool when it works...

It's too much work to change because there is not much to change to. In our case we got this mainly to use for public talks. Then we added other meeting parts and reports and stuff. Now people are used to get a notification when something is changed and getting reminders. We are a small congregation so it works for us. But I know some big congs that doesn't want something else because it's a huge task to swap system.

 

I have some concerns about why NW is so closed system, we have no clue who is behind it. We do not get any roadmaps and it's hard to give input. Instead of adding more and more stuff they should make it more stable. I have to make daily backups because it's unstable and we cannot use all features.

 

So I am very excited about Baruch... And to be able to talk to the developers directly.

Here's some thoughts:
No software is perfect.  I wrote my own software that we used for quite some time.  Then we switched to NWS and I used it extensively, in our current assignment we use hourglass.

Each had / have their own issues.  I wont argue the merits of security claims in this message, that's for another day.  Same thing with technology.  I always start with these questions:

• Does the software do what you want it to do?
• Is the organization behind the software responsive to support requests and change requests?
• How do they tread requests?

Then there are softer questions, like: 

• Is it a business, (or does it feel like a business).  There are pros and cons to this question, every one deserves to eat.
• Purchase vs Open Source vs Build your own.  Again there are pros and cons here.  Ageless question that every one faces.  We make this decision every week where I work

If you are already using something and it mostly meets your needs, work to make it better.  If the devs dont want to do that, change.

 

Being a programmer for 40+ years, I can say that solo writing software from scratch is a huge undertaking.  Unfortunately AI has muddied the waters here, with people claiming they wrote some magnificent piece of software using claude in 15 minutes.  But I am all for new projects! 

[More4me2do]

Many of the problems can be avoided by following the simple principle of "Too many cooks in the kitchen"

 

NWS requires an approach that not many in the congregations have the experience for it. Many of the permissions and rights are assigned according to what the individuals responsibility is in the congregation which contributes to the problem because they may be tech challenged and not being familiar with networks and how to use collaboration tools.

 

Following the suggestions in the NWS documentation 2-3 should only have administrative permissions. In our congregation those who use NWS when they start it their first action is check are there any updates? If yes, restart the PC, install the updates and restart the PC. 

 

Next all elders have viewing privileges and only the ones that need edit and change rights get those assigned. If a task needs to be done and the person doesn't have the permissions, notify the admins and request that they implement it.

 

Admins should do all the regular backups and keep track of them and ONLY they should have the exclusive rights to do restores full and selective ones NO ONE else. Select for your admins those that have earned a living in the IT world. 

 

Basically you have 3 groups of users and it can be illustrated in the automobile world. Those that drive the car and do nothing else, those that make sure it has the necessary things to drive it on the road and finally the car mechanics. You get the idea. No problems here because we do have brothers that have made a living in the IT world. Never forget it is called the leading / bleeding edge for a reason.