NW Scheduler/Publisher - Updates, Support, and Suggestions

[foghorn]

Is THIS maybe what you are looking for? You click the 'pencil' to open the location list. 

 

 

Edited December 4, 2023 by foghorn
remove extraneous image

[Floyd]

Normally you would have the groups posted on the information board with the weekend meeting location and time. 

 

Edited December 4, 2023 by Floyd

[jwhess]

I just realized that in many congregations, about 1/3 to 1/2 of the publishers do not go to the physical  hall on a weekly basis.  They will not see the 'information board'. If the information they need is not shared digitally (online) some how, they will not get the info.

[coolbrz731]

1 hour ago, jwhess said:

I just realized that in many congregations, about 1/3 to 1/2 of the publishers do not go to the physical  hall on a weekly basis.  They will not see the 'information board'. If the information they need is not shared digitally (online) some how, they will not get the info.

There are many halls with a large elderly population that have trouble making it to the hall.  About 40% of our group zooms weekly, and about once a month some of those zoomers makes the herculean effort to attend the meeting in person.  Sometimes they don't make it for the entire meeting and have to leave early.  And there's also the question of "what group am I in again?"  when changes to the groups are made due to families moving in and out.

[Mike047]

We have a number with disabilities in our congregation and they are very thankful for zoom. They are also thankful for letter writing, which came into itself during the pandemic here in the UK.

 

Many older ones and these dear ones with various limitations are very pleased to have a tick in the box for their ministry share, to make them equal to everyone else!

 

We are so thankful to our brothers in the Governing Body for this spirit inspired change.

[Sooner Guy 89]

50 minutes ago, coolbrz731 said:

There are many halls with a large elderly population that have trouble making it to the hall.  About 40% of our group zooms weekly, and about once a month some of those zoomers makes the herculean effort to attend the meeting in person.  Sometimes they don't make it for the entire meeting and have to leave early.  And there's also the question of "what group am I in again?"  when changes to the groups are made due to families moving in and out.

 

We love the Info Board on the NWS app. We try to keep everything updated the same as the physical board. About 95% of our congregation use the app so it helps all to stay updated.

[Mike047]

It almost seems that with NWS/NWP and ZOOM we don't need to do much at all!

 

Imagine if we didn't have these provisions, what would we do? Oh yes, I forgot we would simply  do what we did before. So it's maybe rather like our brothers giving us great experiences of those faithful ones incarcerated or limited in other ways. We see in them, patterns we need to see in ourselves of having a storehouse that is within us. When we face issues, none of these 'tools' will be available.

 

It's good to keep ourselves fully aware of our personal faith. After all; "even if the man we are outside is wasting away (the hardware), certainly the man we are inside is being renewed from day to day (the software)"

 

If we, ourselves, are like the hardware, then our spiritual 'software' must be up-to-date and useable. No-one can cause a powerdown on any one of us, but they could cause a powerdown on the national grid.

[coolbrz731]

15 minutes ago, Mike047 said:

When we face issues, none of these 'tools' will be available.

I'll repeat what so many others, including the GB have said.  We don't know.  We don't know if these tools will still be available.  My mind was changed when I skyped with a Russian brother and saw they were using all kinds of electronic tools to stay ahead of the authorities.  VPN's, and software that made JW Broadcasting look like a Russian version of Netflix.  I thought the brothers were crazy for showing me that, but hey, it put my mind at ease and it kind of made sense how they were able to accomplish so much regardless of Russian efforts to stop them.  So I never assume what they're doing, or how limited they were, or how limited we will be after that.  Jehovah will make sure we have the tools we need to succeed.  

[Vido]

1 hour ago, Mike047 said:

It almost seems that with NWS/NWP and ZOOM we don't need to do much at all!

 

Imagine if we didn't have these provisions, what would we do? Oh yes, I forgot we would simply  do what we did before. So it's maybe rather like our brothers giving us great experiences of those faithful ones incarcerated or limited in other ways. We see in them, patterns we need to see in ourselves of having a storehouse that is within us. When we face issues, none of these 'tools' will be available.

 

It's good to keep ourselves fully aware of our personal faith. After all; "even if the man we are outside is wasting away (the hardware), certainly the man we are inside is being renewed from day to day (the software)"

 

If we, ourselves, are like the hardware, then our spiritual 'software' must be up-to-date and useable. No-one can cause a powerdown on any one of us, but they could cause a powerdown on the national grid.

I like.....interesting perspective.

[Mike047]

Chris you make a very clear point, but I think you missed my point.

 

Whilst these tools may well be available into the distant future, and some of the scenarios picturing the new system have included them, this is not the point I was making.

 

The 'future' I was referring to was the one many of our brothers are now experiencing. Whether incarcerated, or without current access to equipment, we would be in a go-it-alone situation. Even though this may not last, it is already experienced by many. We may not live in countries with such limitations at present, which is all the more reason to take advantage of what we have now.

 

The Governing Body provide us with a multitude of tools for our use and whatever tools are available in the future they will be exactly what we need. We should not assume that we will have ready access to all of them throughout the end of this system. There are many brothers around the world who would love to have what we take for granted!  

[JJWest]

Brothers, has anyone else had problems with NWS after the last update to 7.3? For instance, I have given access to 2 other brothers, one our new service overseer and the other our new territory servant. After giving them both the proper user access, they joined NWS using the congregation sharing but no publishers are showing for them. Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be? Before I would give user access and never had a problem.

[computerwiz]

6 minutes ago, JJWest said:

Brothers, has anyone else had problems with NWS after the last update to 7.3? For instance, I have given access to 2 other brothers, one our new service overseer and the other our new territory servant. After giving them both the proper user access, they joined NWS using the congregation sharing but no publishers are showing for them. Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be? Before I would give user access and never had a problem.

 

Check to make sure they chose the right sharing server. It's too easy to pick the wrong one...

 

If they have the correct server location, do they have multiple computers using NWS? 

[JJWest]

Thanks, Jeremy. How do you check to see if you chose the right sharing server?

[computerwiz]

Just now, JJWest said:

Thanks, Jeremy. How do you check to see if you chose the right sharing server?

 

Open NWS and click on Congregation Sharing. Look at the bottom to see what location you have for your sharing.

 

Ask those brothers to do the same and report back to you. 

[JJWest]

Thank you, appreciate the help!

[Aja]

I have a sister at our hall who has two minor children who are not yet publishers but enrolled in the school. She would like to receive notification on her NW Publisher app when her girls have assignments. I have them delegated to her in NWS but she says she still is not seeing them under Assignments, much less getting notifications in advance. Is there any way to get her kids assignments to show up in her app?

[computerwiz]

8 minutes ago, Aja said:

I have a sister at our hall who has two minor children who are not yet publishers but enrolled in the school. She would like to receive notification on her NW Publisher app when her girls have assignments. I have them delegated to her in NWS but she says she still is not seeing them under Assignments, much less getting notifications in advance. Is there any way to get her kids assignments to show up in her app?

 

No way that I know of.  I don't think it's possible.  Best thing you can do is put the mom's email into the kids' email addresses, then send email assignments out after making them.

[JJWest]

19 hours ago, computerwiz said:

 

Open NWS and click on Congregation Sharing. Look at the bottom to see what location you have for your sharing.

 

Ask those brothers to do the same and report back to you. 

I verified that they are on the right sharing server and they are. They territory servant is still not seeing any publishers, so he cant assign any territories.

[computerwiz]

1 hour ago, JJWest said:

I verified that they are on the right sharing server and they are. They territory servant is still not seeing any publishers, so he cant assign any territories.

 

Ensure they are on the same version of NWS as well. If they chose to ignore a major update, they could be out of sync. And weird issues can pop up. 

 

Assuming they are on the same version, the next thing would be to go to each publisher and put a "1" in their name. Just do a few and then go back and remove the "1" from each. See if they show up for that brother. If so, then do the rest... 

[Pabo]

On 12/5/2023 at 12:53 AM, jwhess said:

They will not see the 'information board'. If the information they need is not shared digitally (online) some how, they will not get the info.

 

We have various formats of getting the various schedules to our congregation members.

 

CLM Schedule - a copy is on the KH Information Board, it is digitally available through the app we use (Lighbox/Deckhand), a copy is emailed to each publisher when it has been prepared and a SMS reminder at the beginning of the week to all participants for the upcoming week.

 

Attendants Roster - On the KH Information Board, digitally on the app and also a physical copy of the roster is given to each person on the roster with their name emphasised.

 

Carts Roster - On the KH Information Board and digitally available.

 

However, we still get ones showing up to the meetings saying they didn't know they were assigned that duty for that night/day!

 

[coolbrz731]

30 minutes ago, Pabo said:

 

We have various formats of getting the various schedules to our congregation members.

 

CLM Schedule - a copy is on the KH Information Board, it is digitally available through the app we use (Lighbox/Deckhand), a copy is emailed to each publisher when it has been prepared and a SMS reminder at the beginning of the week to all participants for the upcoming week.

 

Attendants Roster - On the KH Information Board, digitally on the app and also a physical copy of the roster is given to each person on the roster with their name emphasised.

 

Carts Roster - On the KH Information Board and digitally available.

 

However, we still get ones showing up to the meetings saying they didn't know they were assigned that duty for that night/day!

 

We send our congregation members their assignments in triplicate.  They're assignments are on the information board in the KH.  They also get automatic reminders from NWPublisher app.  Fortunately, many do not know how to change the default settings, so it will remind them by default.  We also have a brother communicate with them over text messages, and asks them to confirm they received the notification with a thumbs up.  

[foghorn]

The method used in our congregation for the mid-week meeting works pretty well. Of course, the meeting schedule is pushed out to the app. All the markers and notifications are sufficient for many publishers. But to make "double-dog sure" (good old Southern slang expression), the chairman for the mid-week meeting contacts each participant directly, by phone or text. this is done usually 2-3 days before the meeting. In this way he learns of any cancellations, giving us time to assign substitutes.

[Floyd]

10 hours ago, foghorn said:

The method used in our congregation for the mid-week meeting works pretty well. Of course, the meeting schedule is pushed out to the app. All the markers and notifications are sufficient for many publishers. But to make "double-dog sure" (good old Southern slang expression), the chairman for the mid-week meeting contacts each participant directly, by phone or text. this is done usually 2-3 days before the meeting. In this way he learns of any cancellations, giving us time to assign substitutes.

 

Yes we do that too.

[computerwiz]

14 hours ago, Pabo said:

However, we still get ones showing up to the meetings saying they didn't know they were assigned that duty for that night/day!

 

Us too, but it's pretty rare for us.  Sometimes I think we hold everyone's hands a little too much.  I mean, if someone's gonna tell you that you have a part, why bother trying to remember it yourself?  Right?  🤔 😅

 

The most I will do is send them an email a few days before.  Any other reminders they get will have to come from NWP or their own calendar...

[Mike047]

Now that we are using NWP most of us have clear notification of upcoming items. However, we have some here, who do not have the technology and need a verbal notification and, sometimes, a physical 'nudge'. A number of other  congregations  here in the UK are using Hourglass, and some are using yet another system.

 

Are all congregations in the US on NWP?