NW Scheduler/Publisher - Updates, Support, and Suggestions

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

It has happened to our cong previously.
I suggest you check that everybody is 'up-to-date'.
This includes all PC'S running 'admin' mode. Then check all 'end-users' are up-to-date, too.
(This can be checked on the NW App.It will list each device and the version it is running.)
I assume all 'admin' users know to "DownLoad" all data and then "Send" (Upload) it before they Exit/Log-off.
This was our problem. A 'new' Elder would skip the Upload. As he did not enter any data (he was only checking some info), he would not exit properly. Nothing was uploaded, and data was lost.
Everyone 'admin' needs to log-on and log-off correctly.
Since this was addressed, it has now settled down and has been working for months.
However, I will watch this month with interest.


Old (Downunder) Tone

[Indapipe]

On 12/10/2024 at 4:39 AM, carlos said:

I would happily change to a different app with better customer support.

I couldn't agree more. I love the app and so does everyone in our cong that uses it. It's really too bad but I generally don't even bother contacting support if we have an issue as they give the impression that the last thing they want you to do is "bother" them. They make you jump through hoops just to report an issue. I generally turn to the online community of friends here or on T-Tools for support. I would understand if it were a free app, but we pay for it. As soon as that is the case I feel that they should treat us like the paying customers that we are, just as any other secular software team would. End of rant. 😁 

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

I agree that the customer support seems to be lacking. However, having worked in that field, many times the answer to the problem has already been posted.  It is a matter of checking the Tutorials & FAQ's.

In my experience- more often than not - it is user error.

So I imagine in this case, it is using their limited resources wisely. 

My gimmick was to ask people what page/topic of the instructions were they having difficulty with. This would at least get them to check the manual... most didn't even look at the manual.  Lol

[carlos]

On 12/12/2024 at 10:51 PM, ➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone said:

So I imagine in this case, it is using their limited resources wisely. 

 

If they at least copied the relevant paragraph from the manual in their reply at least it would be useful. Telling you to check the Help (which is many tens of pages long) is not very useful.

[foghorn]

On 12/12/2024 at 4:51 PM, ➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone said:

So I imagine in this case, it is using their limited resources wisely. 

    I have seen many unfavorable comments about the brothers' method of handling user issues. I am more sympathetic - if you consider a few facts, you might be more lenient in your viewpoint. The programmers NEED to know about PROGRAM errors; they would prefer that USER errors be resolved through the documentation.

     The NWS website tells us that this app is used in 1,000's of congregations (with many languages). Suppose there are 1,500,000 users. Assume average congregation size of 75. That means about 20,000 congregations. With 2 administrators per cong, that means at least 40,000 administrators of NWS. If 0.1% of administrators submitted a help request, that would be 40 requests per day. It could easily take a help desk 15 minutes to research/respond to each help request. Suppose they could average 5/hr. That still means one person a full 8 hrs/day responding to issues. To devote one person/day to troubleshooting would likely be very expensive.

    It is likely that 1/2 of the issues are not program errors, but rather USER errors that could be resolved by reading the documentation. Surely we all recognized that many people (even JW's 🙂 ) rarely read the documentation for a program. You have to admit, the programmers have spared no effort in creating copious documentation in full detail for every operation. In addition, there are some troubleshooting tools and instructions built in to the program: logs, an outstanding save/restore function, and the Person and Device Refresh functions. Putting all these tools to work should allow a capable administrator to resolve most USER issues in-house.

   As Tony Downunder knows, when you work the help desk for a while, you can often tell right away what the user's problem is from experience. This may allow the tech to conclude that the user's problem is definitely addressed in the documentation, and thus respond accordingly.

    The extensive pre-requisites for us to actually submit a help request should help all of us conclude it might be easier and faster to just research the documents first! When we actually DO submit a help request, the required screenshots are essential to demonstrate there really is a reproducible PROGRAM error. How else could they begin to resolve it?

    I do agree though, simply responding "See the documentation" is very terse and not very helpful. Better would be to send a documentation link and say: "The solution to your problem is documented on this page..."

[Cruzer]

On 12/9/2024 at 5:13 PM, carlos said:

I reported today a minor issue we are having with NW Publisher. Even though publishers are sent and received, they still show as not sent for publishers. This had never happened before. Some friends are sending their reports several times since it keep showing not sent (although it's not a problem if they send it several times).

 

I opened a ticket with support today, I expect to have a reply in a few days.

 

Is this happening to anyone else?

 

A local congregation in my area appears to of had the same issue. Perhaps the following may help as it did for them:

> Congregation

> Congregation Sharing

> Shared Persons

> Verify all group overseers (or assistants) have "edit access" (green) for "Publisher Reports" under the "Persons" section (see attachment).

> In the drop down selection, select "All Groups" or the group they attend.

 

In our congregation, only the secretary has "All Groups" selected, while all the other group overseers have their specific field service group selected.

 

https://nwscheduler.com/how-to/members/jw-scheduler-user-access/

 

Appears the settings here were correct at one point for the congregation that needed help, but after the last major version update, some of these settings were reset to default.

 

Edited Saturday at 05:12 AM by Cruzer

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

And if I may add one observation:
Most congs would have a mix of elders, all with various levels of tech experience. My guess is that most are not "Tech Savy," but probably more like newbies.
A few wrong keystrokes... the data is wiped, or the system crashes.
This is just my guess. Lol

Old (Downunder) Tone