NW Scheduler/Publisher - Updates, Support, and Suggestions

[Tortuga]

9 minutes ago, carlos said:

The support system comes across as patronizing and is definitely designed to make you feel that you are bothering them. It's commercial software that you pay for, but they try to present it as if it were freeware. Sometimes they give snarky answers to try and make you feel stupid for wasting their time.

Aussies, eh?

[Gary P]

Our experience is similar. Initial response is aloof and condescending. I agree with a recent post that said if we could find something that has the features we use we would move to it. At the risk of receiving more comments about the lack of good support and developing functions that are useful I continue to feel that there is a lack of community input. The developers seem to be in their own world. This is purchased software and users should be treated with a modicum of respect. I managed a group of developers for quite some time in my secular career and if my developer's responded as does NWS, there would have been consequences. 

[Marky]

I wish they would charge more.

This is global enterprize software that needs better development, support, etc. Their motives are good and the basic foundation of NWS is more stable now than I have ever seen it.

We pay $45 for one year and have 16 brothers as shared persons. I am not aware of any other robust global software that is this inexpensive. I commend NWS for trying to keep the costs to a minimum especially in poorer areas. There needs to be a recognition though that they are often not providing first-rate software and support. If an electrician or a plumber comes to my home and he is a brother, I don't expect a discount. He has to make a living.

Our entire servant body would happily pay a little more to avoid all of the time spent in troubleshooting and fixing things. Maybe it would be fair to charge the annual congregation fee but add an annual $1-2 dollar user fee for each brother that would be using it. That way smaller congregations would pay less and larger ones would pay more.

With some additional revenue they could consider adding another developer, some experienced beta testers so new versions wouldn't get launched with so many bugs, and a dedicated crew for a help desk. The last time I looked they mentioned all the developers were pioneer elders. That is great and very commendable but this is commercial software and needs serious business attention. Part-time workers can be great but only if you have enough of them to do the job right. If they need more money to do that, maybe they could poll the users of the software to come up with the best way to increase the fees.

Just some imperfect brainstorming...

[Martin haworth]

8 hours ago, Tortuga said:

I've heard that from several members here, I think that's why some of the members ask here first.

 

Do you have a question?

No thank you, i managed to figure it out  but i shall definitely come here first if i need help again.

[Eejay]

On 8/2/2026 at 9:27 PM, Tortuga said:

Can anyone confirm that is the process?

Works for me that way. The SC still needs to consult with the appropriate FSGO.

[Floyd]

23 hours ago, Martin haworth said:

Well there system is clearly designed for people only to contact them after an exhaustive search of FAQ and help database.

which is fine but there attitude to questions and emails asking for help or advice is awful.

there’s a definite passive aggressive quality to there emails and a presumption that your are  either incompetent ignorant or rude .

woe-betide anyone that doesn’t follow there contact us  protocols your in for a rather snippy reply.

 

I have had quite the opposite experience. But at the same time because I also work in tech support I know the value of gathering all the evidence and screenshots. I do that anyway even if they did not ask for it.

 

I have check many of my replies and this is usually what I get.
 

 

Quote

 

Hi Floyd,

 

Thanks for your message and reporting this bug. We also appreciate the detailed information and screenshots.

 

This issue will soon be fixed in a Minor update. To check for new Minor updates, please click Me > Updates > Check for Updates, or alternately re-download and install New World Scheduler from our website.

 

We apologise for the inconvenience caused.

 

Kind Regards,

 

 

 

[Indapipe]

32 minutes ago, Floyd said:

I have check many of my replies and this is usually what I get.

I'm in agreement with many who post here that there's definitely an air of condescension in much of their support communications, along with a feeling that they would much prefer not to be bothered with sincere questions from users.

 

I must say that I have experienced a higher quality of response when I email them directly using the support email address, as opposed to the process through the website. 

 

Having said that, on one occasion when I was not satisfied with the tone or the level of help that I experienced, I emailed back in a very professional but direct way as I would with any commercial software outlining exactly what I expect and how I expect to be treated as a paying customer. The response I got was very satisfactory.

[carlos]

12 hours ago, Marky said:

With some additional revenue they could consider adding another developer, some experienced beta testers so new versions wouldn't get launched with so many bugs, and a dedicated crew for a help desk. The last time I looked they mentioned all the developers were pioneer elders. That is great and very commendable but this is commercial software and needs serious business attention. Part-time workers can be great but only if you have enough of them to do the job right. If they need more money to do that, maybe they could poll the users of the software to come up with the best way to increase the fees.

 

I agree. If price needs to be adjusted, I can understand that. But a software you pay for cannot have a support like that.

 

There are programs I have bought for $25 or $50, one single payment, not a subscription, and when I ask a question I receive a kind answer. I am not required to read the whole working manual and write a composition about it before asking.  If many users ask the same questions, that means the interface is not clear enough. Fix the issues and the number of support tickets will greatly decrease.

 

[dvdgarofalo]

Anyone use for scheduling KHOC tasks?

We have 3 congregations, I want to create a schedule. Is there a way to assign a task to an individual from the other congregations? Or just to the other congregation and they have to manage their own schedule?

tia

[trottigy]

The branch is rolling out software to schedule KHOC assignments. It is being done through JW Hub Project Tasks.

Edited August 9 by trottigy

[Martin haworth]

1 hour ago, trottigy said:

The branch is rolling out software to schedule KHOC assignments. It is being done through JW Hub Project Tasks.

Oooh interesting, what’s khoc?

[Marky]

Kingdom Hall Operating Committee

They are only formed when there is more than one congregation meeting at the same kingdom hall.

[JJWest]

9 hours ago, Martin haworth said:

Oooh interesting, what’s khoc?

Kingdom Hall Operating Committee 

[Floyd]

20 hours ago, Indapipe said:

I'm in agreement with many who post here that there's definitely an air of condescension in much of their support communications, along with a feeling that they would much prefer not to be bothered with sincere questions from users.

 

I may have missed them but I don't remember seeing any example emails that support that, just the general "vibe" claim repeated. I shared mine specifically because I think it's easy to project condescension onto a message that's just being direct or efficient.

[dvdgarofalo]

18 hours ago, trottigy said:

The branch is rolling out software to schedule KHOC assignments. It is being done through JW Hub Project Tasks.

Any detail on this yet? Like a launch date, or announcement? tia

[JBee]

22 hours ago, trottigy said:

The branch is rolling out software to schedule KHOC assignments. It is being done through JW Hub Project Tasks.

They are, it's pretty good, but the only way to view it or have a Task assigned to you is to have an approved A-2 application. Without that, the Tasks are only viewable if they get sent to you by the assigned A-2 brother/sister.
For local congregation maintenance assignments we use NWS to create matching job cards and the publishers can then mark them completed there and then the publisher with the A-2 and the assignment can do their part in Project Tasks.
(Granted we only have one congregation in our hall now so it's simpler)

[trottigy]

4 hours ago, JBee said:

They are, it's pretty good, but the only way to view it or have a Task assigned to you is to have an approved A-2 application. Without that, the Tasks are only viewable if they get sent to you by the assigned A-2 brother/sister.
For local congregation maintenance assignments we use NWS to create matching job cards and the publishers can then mark them completed there and then the publisher with the A-2 and the assignment can do their part in Project Tasks.
(Granted we only have one congregation in our hall now so it's simpler)

 

Without saying you have to get an A-2 ... They are almost sounding that way.

 

It is already being rolled out by the various LDCs in the US. Talk with your LDC contact person. They should have already scheduled training for the KHOC people.

 

PS It is a great way for the branch to see what type of work is being done at various halls and if the maintenance is being done. This is especially important now that the branch pays the bill.

 

 

[Indapipe]

I'm noticing in the past few months NWS seems to be ignoring conflicting assignments. Previously, when using auto-assign, it would not make an assignment for a brother if it conflicted with an existing assignment. I'm not sure if the app has changed or if a setting has changed. Anyone else notice this, or have any insight?

[foghorn]

55 minutes ago, Indapipe said:

NWS seems to be ignoring conflicting assignments.

I have also encountered that situation. I wonder if it relates to the sequence of assignments. Generally 3 different brothers make weekly assignments: CLM meeting, Public Talks, and Duties.

 

I make the Duty assignments. If the CLM overseer has already made his assignments, the Auto-Assign for Duties seems to work reliably - conflicts are avoided so thoroughly that occasionally the system tells me that no brother is available for a certain duty. 

But - suppose I assign duties BEFORE the CLM overseer makes his assignments. I am suspicious that conflicts originate later when he makes his CLM assignmetns. It could be he uses auto-assign and it fails to flag conflicting duties. Or - does he disregard/override the conflict signals. I don't really know...

[Brother Pete]

I have made several attempts in requesting a territory feature that is available in TerritoryHelper but sadly lacking in NW Scheduler. Apparently if enough users request the same there's a good chance it might be incorporate in a future release.

We have been using NW Scheduler for a number of years and recently the body decided we transition from TerritoryHelper and just use what's available in NW Scheduler and pay only 1 subscription. The issue we have is NW Scheduler does not support multi polygons in a map in order to create blocks. In TerritoryHelper you could create blocks in different colours that divides the map into manageable sections. It helps the group overseer plan the areas that need working and helps the publisher know exactly which area to work on and the boundaries. The suggestion to create each block as a map is not practical as you would end with too many maps to maintain and because of their variable sizes a overseer would have to guess how many to check out. As a workaround we have created our own maps in Google MyMaps that allows you to create blocks within a map and a link is added to NW Scheduler map. The issue with that is publishers have to jump between the NW Scheduler map for Do Not Calls and Google MyMaps for blocks.
If you think you would like to have this feature added to NW Scheduler please send your suggestion to https://nwscheduler.com/support-contact-us/ and include as much detail as possible and attach image examples. as you may have experienced. the support team can be temperamental and can be dismissive if you don't put in the effort in providing the information.

[Brother Pete]

Our committee would like to use the new Auxiliary Pioneer feature in NW Publisher except it doesn't appear to make it easy for the committee to process straightforward application i.e. the publisher has met the criteria for the privilege. Currently we use the official pdf forms and these are uploaded to a central folder and each committee member has access to initial the application if there are no objections. Any unsigned applications are discussed before any further action is taken. If all three have signed off the pdf application then secretary then marks the publisher in NW Scheduler as an Auxiliary Pioneer.
A suggestion to improve of what has been implemented so far in NW Scheduler would be to create a new task for the secretary to mark the Publisher as an Auxiliary Pioneer when all 3 members have ticked the their task. 

[More4me2do]

Have you fully digitized your territories so that the publishers can change the status of each individual home / residence?

 

After doing this to our territories the number of residences per territory is between 100 and 300. Because we can see in real time where publishers work, boundaries become immaterial as we can see where they are by the change of the status of any given home. Our FSGOs just give publishers the territory number as they appear in the NWP app and street or area in the territory. The software does the rest.

 

Our choice of status change for homes are 

1. At Home

2. Not at Home

3. Do Not Call

4. No Trespassing

5. Vacant

6. No Soliciting

 

My guess would be that this feature will not be of benefit to those of us who have fully digitized their territories and therefore the developers most likely will not implement it.

 

[foghorn]

10 hours ago, Brother Pete said:

It helps the group overseer plan the areas that need working and helps the publisher know exactly which area to work on and the boundaries.

I agree fully with @More4me2do. Once you add all the addresses to a territory, the concept of "blocks" becomes useless. If the territory is unworked, you can assign one or more groups with instructions like: "Work all the blue houses on Adams Avenue". If partially worked already, the instruction might change to "work all the orange houses (ie, NH once) on Adams Avenue. Since houses will be marked in real time, the group overseer as well as each car group can immediately see the progress on each street in territory.

[More4me2do]

The digitizing was a game changer for us who organize the ministry and for the publishers as they now feel more engaged in working a territory by changing the status of homes.

 

In addition what I have done is in the scheduler for each territory under the information tab you have 2 fields you can assign links to. The 1st one I labeled Directions. From the Satellite of Google maps I selected a spot that allows for parking of a few cars, that way you go straight from the meeting for field service into the territory and not have another meeting place where again rearranging what was already done after the conclusion of the meeting for field service.