Ward Mission Program

This web site is dedicated to technology projects so I thought I would share with you one of the projects that I have been working on and ask for your help with it. This program is designed to help ward mission leaders and ward missionaries conduct the missionary work within their wards. It will help them track those people being taught in the ward, track missionary exchanges and meals for the missionaries. It came out of a need I had as a ward mission leader to better organize and conduct the missionary efforts within my ward.

This was my very first big project in Java so I'm sure that there are a lot of things I could do better. I would value any feedback you may have. More importantly, I would value anyone willing to give me a hand to make it better.

You can find out about it here.

Tom

I used to be WML in a previous ward. Looks kinda cool. My brother is WML in his Ward so I'll see if he wants to download it and then give feedback on it.

This is very interesting to me and looks like a great idea. In the past we have tried to assign out missionary exchanges 6 mths to a year in advance. It would be nice to have it entered in the calendar ahead of time. Having the missionary meals on the calendar is a nice touch. Sometimes we have a meal coordinator that could keep this up-to-date.

Basically our missionary program is a bunch of handwritten reports and calendars and your program could really help streamline that. Often we end up with incomplete information and no way to track what is going on unless we have a good memory or a binder full of the past handwritten reports.

One thing I thought of while looking at your screen shots is that it might be nice to track if they have been attending church and how often.

The old convert baptism checklist really isn't used anymore but it had some great information. It might be nice to expand your program to track members for a little while after baptism. This would help make sure they are being fellowshipped, have callings, are attending church, and planning for the temple. It might even be nice to track if they have given a talk in church or born their testimony. This might add a lot to the program and might be a good phase II.

I like your interface because it is simple and intuitive. My philosophy has always been to keep it simple and your tool looks simple to use. I'm a certified Java programmer but my many years of programming focused on JSP/Servlet technology. I really haven't done much swing or AWT programming but I would be willing to help define specifications for the reporting. Here are some ideas I have off the top of my head.

There is a report that the missionaries handwrite and then copy for PEC, Welfare, and Correlation meetings. It would be nice to have one of your reports mimic this report. Also, it would be nice to have a report that lists people that have not been contacted in awhile. The Bishop likes to make sure people don't fall through the cracks because they were not contacted for a few weeks. If you want me to come up with real specifications for the reporting let me know.

Again, I think you're on to something here. Keep up the good work. I'll download your application and kick it around a bit. I might be able to help on some of the programming.

bhofmann wrote:This is very interesting to me and looks like a great idea. In the past we have tried to assign out missionary exchanges 6 mths to a year in advance. It would be nice to have it entered in the calendar ahead of time. Having the missionary meals on the calendar is a nice touch. Sometimes we have a meal coordinator that could keep this up-to-date.

My goal is to eventually have the the ability to auto-assign splits from a pool of available people and then you can make the calls. It would be cool to be able to export the calendars (both meal and splits) to an HTML file so that you could post it on a web server.

Basically our missionary program is a bunch of handwritten reports and calendars and your program could really help streamline that. Often we end up with incomplete information and no way to track what is going on unless we have a good memory or a binder full of the past handwritten reports.

Yes, keeping good records is what I wanted to do so that as missionaries change or as ward missionaries or WML change, they have a good idea as to what was happening.

One thing I thought of while looking at your screen shots is that it might be nice to track if they have been attending church and how often.

Good suggestion. I have a "history" section that I could beef up to include types of history .. such as attending church.

The old convert baptism checklist really isn't used anymore but it had some great information. It might be nice to expand your program to track members for a little while after baptism. This would help make sure they are being fellowshipped, have callings, are attending church, and planning for the temple. It might even be nice to track if they have given a talk in church or born their testimony. This might add a lot to the program and might be a good phase II.

There is nothing that says you could not continue to track peoples progress after they are baptized. In fact, I did. It is important that they continue to receive the new member missionary lessons, receive a calling, etc. Great ideas!

I like your interface because it is simple and intuitive. My philosophy has always been to keep it simple and your tool looks simple to use. I'm a certified Java programmer but my many years of programming focused on JSP/Servlet technology. I really haven't done much swing or AWT programming but I would be willing to help define specifications for the reporting. Here are some ideas I have off the top of my head.

There is a report that the missionaries handwrite and then copy for PEC, Welfare, and Correlation meetings. It would be nice to have one of your reports mimic this report. Also, it would be nice to have a report that lists people that have not been contacted in awhile. The Bishop likes to make sure people don't fall through the cracks because they were not contacted for a few weeks. If you want me to come up with real specifications for the reporting let me know.

Your first report is already something I plan on doing. I've got the template...just need to code it. Your second report idea is a fantastic idea. What do you think the report would have on it?

Again, I think you're on to something here. Keep up the good work. I'll download your application and kick it around a bit. I might be able to help on some of the programming.

I look forward to any help you could give!

Tom

I imagine this app could someday be integrated Church-wide if well-designed and portable. The calendar could get integrated into the ward calendar on LUWS (at least the meals portion). It could hopefully also be integrated into the missionary referral system for Church materials, MOS, etc... Then we could track the entire cycle from referral called into the MTC Referral Center, to missionary contact to deliver an item, to ward contact and post-baptism. If those investigating the Church move, their records and history could be transferred to the next "Ward Mission" system.

I know there is a fine line between how much technology to give full-time missionaries (i.e. cell phones, etc...) to avoid abuse and distraction. However, I know as a missionary I would've liked to have had access to the ward websites of the area in which I was serving (often several wards/branch) in addition to my home ward. If there were a "Ward Mission" system, I would've liked to have access to the calendar, items on some sort of handheld electronic device. So I could also see this potentially being a tool accessible by the missionaries themselves as technology tools are conservatively adopted by the Church.

tomw wrote:
Your first report is already something I plan on doing. I've got the template...just need to code it. Your second report idea is a fantastic idea. What do you think the report would have on it?

Tom

I think the follow-up report could be very similar to the weekly report except it would list people that have not had any activity for a specified date range, maybe 2-3 weeks. I guess that leads to one other field you may need to have if you don't already. An active/inactive flag would be needed so those that told the missionaries to take a hike don't keep showing up on the follow-up report.

For the follow-up report it would be good to allow length of time since activity and active or inactive flag (or both) as input parameters. This would allow a second report to be pulled a couple of times a year to see if any flames could be kindled for those who were flagged inactive.

I'm going to think about this in this weeks Correlation meeting and see if I can think of anything else that might be useful.

Awesome data. If you think of more things, let me know.

Tom

Ward Mission Program looks pretty nifty. The thing is though, we have the Referral Manager website under development which is in competition to it. See: http://referrals.lds.org/

Both have strengths and weaknesses. I really like the idea of our branch missionaries, branch mission leader, branch presidency, the mission president, and those at the MTC referral call center all being able to login to the site and collaborate our efforts in one place online, and get whatever reports or level of data we each need. Referral Manager has some short comings as far as not allowing enough detail for the missionaries that are actually teaching the investigator -- keeping track of where we left off with each visit, when our appointments are, etc. These are things easier done in Ward Mission Program, or on pen and paper--but both of those options lacks the online collaboration tools that really make Referral Manager most useful.

-Jeff Phillips

jeffphil wrote:The thing is though, we have the Referral Manager website under development which is in competition to it. See: http://referrals.lds.org/

I don't know if I agree that they are in direct compeititon with each other. I think it sounds like they would greatly supplement each other.

The local running program Ward Mission Program can contain the same information as the online Referrals Manager, however it does more than that too. The Ward Mission Program seems to be perfect for coordinating Ward Mission Leader specific tasks at the ward level (reports, dinners, exchanges, etc.). The Referrals Manager seems to be good at connecting MTC, Mission Leader, bishopric/branch presidency, ward/branch mission leader, and missionaries over a worldwide connection if necessary.

I think used in conjuction, it could be a powerful team.

Really wouldn't it be nicer if the missionary's dinner appointments were on a calendar in the missionary section of the LUWS? Then members could just mark down which days they would be availble to invite the missionaries over, and perhaps the ward missionary leader could approve the final schedule and e-mail them a confirmation.

As for the actual missionary work, keeping up with investigators and such, an online site is much better for colaboration. Referral Manager isn't just for headquarters referrals. Mission leaders can enter anybody's name in there locally for everyone we're teaching.

A desktop application is nice for organizing one's own notes, but when I'm out in the mission field I want to have everything on paper so I can carry it with me and see what is going on in the neighborhood I'm in. I'm not sure I want to be dragging my laptop around. I suppose I can print reports. But, that requires me to enter all the information I can into Referral Manager, and then that same information again into this Ward Mission Program, plus the rest of the details Referral Manager didn't have room for. Then I'd still be printing the reports to take with me. Where as now, I enter what I can in referral manager, print the reports, and then write the rest of the details on those reports in my binder to take with me. Seems a little easier just to do it on paper, at least for me. I can see where the program would be nice for some people though.


-Jeff.

jeffphil wrote:Really wouldn't it be nicer if the missionary's dinner appointments were on a calendar in the missionary section of the LUWS? Then members could just mark down which days they would be availble to invite the missionaries over, and perhaps the ward missionary leader could approve the final schedule and e-mail them a confirmation.

Of course it would. It's just that it is not available so that is why I wrote this program.

As for the actual missionary work, keeping up with investigators and such, an online site is much better for colaboration. Referral Manager isn't just for headquarters referrals. Mission leaders can enter anybody's name in there locally for everyone we're teaching.

Agreed.

A desktop application is nice for organizing one's own notes, but when I'm out in the mission field I want to have everything on paper so I can carry it with me and see what is going on in the neighborhood I'm in. I'm not sure I want to be dragging my laptop around. I suppose I can print reports. But, that requires me to enter all the information I can into Referral Manager, and then that same information again into this Ward Mission Program, plus the rest of the details Referral Manager didn't have room for. Then I'd still be printing the reports to take with me. Where as now, I enter what I can in referral manager, print the reports, and then write the rest of the details on those reports in my binder to take with me. Seems a little easier just to do it on paper, at least for me. I can see where the program would be nice for some people though.

One of the things I've not finished was the reporting because when I would go to my WML meetings, I did not take my laptop. I'd copy everything by hand and then update the software. Ideally I would like a nice printed a report of the history with a way for me to update the new notes. Someone else is helping me design the reports. If anyone wants to help code them, that would be AWESOME!

Tom

-Jeff.[/quote]

jeffphil wrote: Really wouldn't it be nicer if the missionary's dinner appointments were on a calendar in the missionary section of the LUWS? Then members could just mark down which days they would be availble to invite the missionaries over, and perhaps the ward missionary leader could approve the final schedule and e-mail them a confirmation.

tomw wrote:Of course it would. It's just that it is not available so that is why I wrote this program.

Well it's not in the actual Missionary Section on the LUWS, but
a Ward Website Admin can easily add a resource calendar
that will show up under the Resources section.

Normally, resource calendars are used only by the Stake for
scheduling buildings, but on a ward level they can handle
scheduling whatever you want - Missionary Meals,
Splits, or various other date-based events.
In our ward we use one to schedule the use of the
ward computer so Elders Quorum and Relief Society
don't both arrive to update their Home and Visiting
Teaching at the same time.

-- Atticus Ewig

atticusewig wrote:Well it's not in the actual Missionary Section on the LUWS, but
a Ward Website Admin can easily add a resource calendar
that will show up under the Resources section.

Hey, that's a pretty cleaver idea. I never thought of using the resource calendar for people/eating resources instead of building / equipment resources.

I've been looking at this, and I've got a possible idea here.

Full-time missionaries keep an 'area book' (see Preach My Gospel for more info on this) and they put alot of similar information in those area books, which basically contain alot of information about the proselyting area as well as about alot of investigators they may have or have had over a certain amount of time.

Taking it to the technology and application level then, let's say that the missionary were to be able to log into his/her Church-provided email account, and like other webmail apps out there, there could be things in the Church-provided email site that could be customized for the missionary to use to upload information on referrals received and other information relative to their work including what happened with the referral, etc.

Once the information was completed by the missionary, some data could be ported via the 'net over to the ward mission leader, who would then know right off what the fulltime missionaries were doing in his ward. The potential for an online 'progress record' also exists. That way, if the missionaries could not attend PEC as often as they would like especially here in Utah where some sets cover several stakes, the ward mission leader could then

I'm not sure how to get it from the missionary to the WML electronically, using Church systems, someone will have to fill that one in for me.

atticusewig wrote:Well it's not in the actual Missionary Section on the LUWS, but a Ward Website Admin can easily add a resource calendar
that will show up under the Resources section.

What's more is a stake admin can create a "resource" that is shared by two or more units. That would help if a set of missionaries are assigned to two wards.

JamesAnderson wrote:I've been looking at this, and I've got a possible idea here.

Full-time missionaries keep an 'area book' (see Preach My Gospel for more info on this) and they put alot of similar information in those area books, which basically contain alot of information about the proselyting area as well as about alot of investigators they may have or have had over a certain amount of time.

Taking it to the technology and application level then, let's say that the missionary were to be able to log into his/her Church-provided email account, and like other webmail apps out there, there could be things in the Church-provided email site that could be customized for the missionary to use to upload information on referrals received and other information relative to their work including what happened with the referral, etc.

Once the information was completed by the missionary, some data could be ported via the 'net over to the ward mission leader, who would then know right off what the fulltime missionaries were doing in his ward. The potential for an online 'progress record' also exists. That way, if the missionaries could not attend PEC as often as they would like especially here in Utah where some sets cover several stakes, the ward mission leader could then

I'm not sure how to get it from the missionary to the WML electronically, using Church systems, someone will have to fill that one in for me.

I think this would be a great long term solution but I think there are many missionaries who don't have access to computers. I think the uploading of information would be best handled by the Ward Mission Leader. Then information would be handled by someone who is more permanent as well.

tomw wrote:Awesome data. If you think of more things, let me know.

Tom

I was thinking about your application during Correlation meeting this week and I think you have all of the basis covered. I agree that a web application is better for collaboration but it might be better to start with your client-side piece. I think we need to know if people will use it and get feedback from them before setting it up as a web-based application.

JamesAnderson wrote:I've been looking at this, and I've got a possible idea here.
...
Once the information was completed by the missionary, some data could be ported via the 'net over to the ward mission leader, who would then know right off what the fulltime missionaries were doing in his ward. The potential for an online 'progress record' also exists. That way, if the missionaries could not attend PEC as often as they would like especially here in Utah where some sets cover several stakes, the ward mission leader could then.

I think what you're describing here is a website that would substitute or significantly cut back on the time spent by the RS, HP, and EQ counselors, mission leader, full time missionaries, and ward/branch missionaries so they can focus their weekly missionary coordination meetings to a greater degree on the spiritual needs of the investigators, leaving the "who-done-what" info to be coordinated electronically. This could cut back on time spent in PEC as well, as the mission leader could prepare his report in advance using some cookie-cutter template of stats reported from the site, and adding in some comments or extra bullet points he wishes to address. Perhaps if a tool existed on the site itself to prepare such a report to the priesthood leaders, then they could themselves login to read it. Then in PEC the mission leader would only need to answer any specific questions the unit leaders can't find answers to browsing the site on their own.

I'm not sure how to get it from the missionary to the WML electronically, using Church systems, someone will have to fill that one in for me.

That all depends on how much technology you want in the mission field itself, and how the ward/branch & full time missionaries will cooperate with it. I certainly don't want to be lugging my laptop around when I'm out doing missionary work. I've debated using a PDA instead of my 3-ring binder as an area book. That might work in our case since we don’t have any full time missionaries here. But, if we get a pair back here again I fear the majority of their efforts wouldn’t make it into the database so it wouldn’t be that effective.

Out here we've had some discussion of the fact that we can never get a hold of the full time missionaries. (We're allowed to borrow them from the neighboring ward sometimes if we feel like going and getting them.) They are of course not in their apartment to answer the phone from 10 AM till 9 PM, so if somebody wants to get with the missionaries after work it's hard to determine their exact location at the time we arrive, and quite frankly we don't know exactly when we'll be getting out of the office before we leave in the morning with all that comes up during the work day.

We as members would find it much more suitable if the Elders had a cell phone that we could reach them on. In our mission only the AP's get cell phones from what I understand. I imagine the fear is something along the lines of the potential for certain Elders to abuse their use. (Calling their girlfriend back home, etc.) I'd personally like to see each companionship carry a smart phone with a built in PDA that has IP access over the cellular carrier's network. Perhaps some special software that permits it only to be used for missionary work could be installed to subdue the mission president’s fears. But then again, we don’t actually know what those fears are. Maybe he’s just afraid they’ll lose or break the phone, in which case a smart phone would only increase the potential loss.

I could probably think of 50 ideas of how a smart phone with online connectivity could be used in missionary work… Actually, I just thought of 51:

http://beta.tech.lds.org/forum/showthread.php?t=310

I don't think there's much that a member would need to tell a missionary that would require getting a hold of them immediately. In fact, we got too many calls to give blessings to members and for other service needs that should have been fulfilled by home teachers. For member referrals or other missionary related needs, I would think leaving a message on the answering machine would be sufficient.

mkmurray wrote:I don't think there's much that a member would need to tell a missionary that would require getting a hold of them immediately. In fact, we got too many calls to give blessings to members and for other service needs that should have been fulfilled by home teachers. For member referrals or other missionary related needs, I would think leaving a message on the answering machine would be sufficient.

The issue for us is that we aren't able to help the missionaries if we can't find them or get a hold of them. When your boundaries cover 1000 square miles, the Elders could be anywhere. We might have arranged the day before to meet at a specific location at a specific time, but things happen. The missionaries might have planned to be working through several referrals in one of our outlying communities all afternoon to meet with us afterwards. Sometimes you just get a bad streak where nobody is home or nobody is interested in the message, so every appointment on your list gets crossed off quite rapidly. Then you have cases where we are detained to stay late at work and won't get to the appointment to meet the missionaries at our preagreed place until an hour late. So, they're stuck in this neighborhood all afternoon and into the evening waiting for us to meet them, when they could have just gone to another area to work through those referrals. They can't be bouncing back and forth because of the restrictions on their vehical allowance. Most of the pay phones in our area have been removed. Without a phone, they can't call us and we can't call them. As such their efforts are less effective and our usefulness in offering to go on splits or assist with missionary work is reduced to really actually being more of a hinderance in some instances. A cell phone would solve those problems as we could call and figure out where they are when we have time to meet up with them.

-Jeff

Yes, I agree a cell phone would be a great next step. However, I feel strongly that it only needs to be a dumbed down local-call-only phone. No fancy PDA's or Smart Phones. There might be some productivity gleaned from that, but I would think not enought to justify the cost expense for the church.

Also, I personally feel that missionaries should not carry around expensive gadgets for a few reasons. You don't want to be a reliable target for theft or robbery. Also, in my opinion, missionaries pulling out expensive PDA's in front of investigators or members in humble cirumstances can accidentally introduce a feeling of distance. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I just don't want people somehow thinking missionaries are well off and better than us. I'm not saying it's a major issue, but I think it could contribute. Again, I hope you get what I'm trying to say and I apologize for the bad explanation.

I get what you're saying. What if we were to give them some old Palm III's with the anchient green & black display?

As for the cell phone issue, I don't like the idea of it being restricted to local-only calls. Our ward mission leader has a Salt Lake City cell phone number but lives in Michigan. One of our members has a Lansing phone number on his home VoIP service but lives up here in the thumb. It is increasingly popular for someone to move and just bring their old phone number with them using a cell phone or VoIP service.

What you could do is give the missionaries one of the utra-basic cell phones and program it to only allow calls to numbers in the phone's address book. I've done this before for a friend who had a daughter that was racking up huge cell phone bills. It worked quite well when she discovered she needed a password to dial anybody except her family members.

This issue of course with this is how to get phone numbers into the address book. Missionaries are always encountering new potential investigators. If they can't call them until they see the mission leader then it degrades their ability to setup appointments during the week. That means they'd have to keep their land line phone around in their apartment, and I really don't like the idea of having the church incur two phone bills as a result.

Perhaps what we could do is setup a special phone number that can be dialed from the missionary's cell phone. The phone system could check the call ANI info to ensure the call came from an authorized cell phone, and if so, prompt for them to enter the number of who they wish to call. The phone system could query the membership and referral databases. If the number belongs to a member or an investigator, then the call could go through. If not, it would be blocked.

The mission leader could still have the password to add numbers for the progressing investigators or various members to the address book so those could be dialed directly without the more cumbersome method. But, at least there would be a means to call any investigator back that is put into the existing web-based system or entered by the MTC.

-Jeff

Interesting thoughts...

How would you keep a trunky elder from calling home (or even girlfriend) frequently?

mkmurray wrote:Interesting thoughts...

How would you keep a trunky elder from calling home (or even girlfriend) frequently?

The feature I was referring to is in a lot of models of cell phones already. When enabled, you have to enter a password to add numbers to the phone's speed dial list, or to call numbers that are not already in that list.

The "special number" concept I mentioned was aimed to provide a means for Elders to call their new referrals before the mission leader has time to update and add them into the phone's address book. This special phone number (already in the authorized speed dial list) would work kind of like a calling card number, except instead of querying to see if there are enough minutes remaining, it would query the referral database for the mission to determine if the destination phone number is authorized.

Of course, the girl friend back home could go on http://www.mormon.org and add her phone number as a referral for a bogus address in the missionary's area. Hmm... I doubt they would be that cleaver though.

-Jeff

mkmurray wrote:Also, in my opinion, missionaries pulling out expensive PDA's in front of investigators or members in humble cirumstances can accidentally introduce a feeling of distance.

Also, I don't think you want investigators knowing they are being tracked as a "prospect". Putting down a name and number and a schedule is fine, but you don't really want them make the rest visible to them.

This phone conversation is interesting, because I think this possibility is right around the corner, I agree there are alot of good positive uses, however, I'm picturing my 20year old sister and the way that she uses her cell phone. You can't have a 15 minute conversation with her without being interrupted by at least call from a friend or cohort.

I forsee a lot of problems of abuse/overages even just elders calling investigators and spending 15 minutes finding out about their day, Yes, its good to know they care, but it has a potential to be a lot of wasted time I think.

This thread has wandered from the ward mission program. We should probably redirect any more phone comments to [thread=310]this thread[/thread].

mkmurray wrote:This thread has wandered from the ward mission program. We should probably redirect any more phone comments to [thread=310]this thread[/thread].

Yes, thanks for getting us back on track. I think we should be talking about Tom's cool Ward Mission Program. Is there any feedback from those who have downloaded it?

bhofmann wrote:Yes, thanks for getting us back on track. I think we should be talking about Tom's cool Ward Mission Program. Is there any feedback from those who have downloaded it?

I'm getting ready to upload a new version with the calendering in a much more stable state.

Tom

It would be nice if the http://referrals.lds.org/ website had some CSV import/export functionality that could be used as a means of bridging the gap between it and programs such as Tom's.

tomw wrote:I'm getting ready to upload a new version with the calendering in a much more stable state.

Tom

Great! Let us know when it is ready.

I have posted a new version of the Ward Mission Program. I'd like people's input on the project. Specifically if you are a java developer, I'd like to know if you have any problems compiling and running the source code. I want to streamline the process.

This new version has the calendaring feature more complete. You can now add exhchage and meal events for the missionaries.

The program can be found here.

Tom

tomw wrote:I have posted a new version of the Ward Mission Program. I'd like people's input on the project. Specifically if you are a java developer, I'd like to know if you have any problems compiling and running the source code. I want to streamline the process.

This new version has the calendaring feature more complete. You can now add exhchage and meal events for the missionaries.

The program can be found here.

Tom

I wasn't able to dowload the source or binary zip files from the most recent build. I kept getting a 404 Page Not Found error. I could download the source and binary zip files from the older version though. I could start and run the most recent code using your Java Web Start link and it worked just fine. I was able to pull the most recent version using Subversion and it compiled fine. I haven't run the application from the code checked of subversion yet but will try it when it is not so late.

bhofmann wrote:I wasn't able to dowload the source or binary zip files from the most recent build. I kept getting a 404 Page Not Found error. I could download the source and binary zip files from the older version though. I could start and run the most recent code using your Java Web Start link and it worked just fine. I was able to pull the most recent version using Subversion and it compiled fine. I haven't run the application from the code checked of subversion yet but will try it when it is not so late.

Thanks for checking it out. I've fixed the two links you said were broken. Sorry about that all.

Tom

tomw wrote:Thanks for checking it out. I've fixed the two links you said were broken. Sorry about that all.

Tom

Yes, it works much better now. Thanks.

I'm going to get it up and running in the next couple of days and give it a good run through. Thanks for asking our opinion on it.

I'm having some trouble getting java installed on my computer. If I ever manage to get it on here though, I'll take a look.

JasonG wrote:I'm having some trouble getting java installed on my computer. If I ever manage to get it on here though, I'll take a look.

What kind of problems are you having?

Perhaps a new thread would be best though.

I don't know that I would want to have baptism and confirmation dates entered here. Wouldn't a check box indicating that they have been baptized and confirmed be adequate? The problem is entering this information into a system with potential users as ward and full time missionaries and even the ward mission leader isn't secure. Other discussion have been started regarding the use of the membership number and confirmation date. It seems to me that tracking the exact date here isn't needed.

This is probably meant more to track investigators progress and their baptism/confirmation date would be public knowledge to anyone attending, but not to those who come into the ward afterwards. I really think a simply, yes/no, check would be a more secure storage and use of this information.

nimebe wrote:I don't know that I would want to have baptism and confirmation dates entered here. Wouldn't a check box indicating that they have been baptized and confirmed be adequate? The problem is entering this information into a system with potential users as ward and full time missionaries and even the ward mission leader isn't secure. Other discussion have been started regarding the use of the membership number and confirmation date. It seems to me that tracking the exact date here isn't needed.

This application is a client based application and would only reside on the person who is using the application's hard drive. Technically, I guess, the data could be shared by copying all of the data files and giving it to someone else but this application was not meant or designed to be web based. The app was really designed to help a ward mission leader, who would want to know dates. Here is why the date is important for baptism. Without a date, it is hard to do reporting on new member lessons verses investigator lessons. By just having a "check box" for baptism, how does the program know which lessons were taught as an investigator and which were taught as a new member. The reason that this is important is that some of the reports (from the missionary department) need to know that.

Tom

The baptism date isn't as much of a concern. Does the same need hold true for the confirmation date? That seems to be the more sensitive information as far as the church is concerned.

Don't get me wrong, I see your program as a great resource and tool! I wouldn't take the time to ask questions otherwise. I'm also not saying that it shouldn't be this way, I'm just trying to understand better.

I think your application has so much more potential, such as use by the Elders Quorum to track HT visits to certain families. I know it's hard enough sometimes for the Elders Quorum to even get people to report their home teaching as done or not done but for some families it would be great to have a record of each visit and how the visit went and what the family need etc.

I was looking at this and the Emergency Preparedness Program at http://jay.askren.net/emergency/ . Would there be any possibility, point, or reason to combine the two programs into a more comprehensive single unit? Just wondering. Thanks again Tom!

tomw wrote:The app was really designed to help a ward mission leader, who would want to know dates.

Even though we don't use the convert baptism checklist much anymore we still try to have new converts make it to the temple at one year from their baptism. It would be helpful to know the baptism date for that too.

nimebe wrote:The baptism date isn't as much of a concern. Does the same need hold true for the confirmation date? That seems to be the more sensitive information as far as the church is concerned.

There is a place on the official "Teaching Record" that missionaries use for confirmation date. However because we don't need to track anything from that, I could probably lose that field.

nimebe wrote:Don't get me wrong, I see your program as a great resource and tool! I wouldn't take the time to ask questions otherwise. I'm also not saying that it shouldn't be this way, I'm just trying to understand better.

I very much appreciate your time reviewing the project! Thanks!

nimbebe wrote:I think your application has so much more potential, such as use by the Elders Quorum to track HT visits to certain families. I know it's hard enough sometimes for the Elders Quorum to even get people to report their home teaching as done or not done but for some families it would be great to have a record of each visit and how the visit went and what the family need etc.

I hadn't thought of that but you are right. It could be extended into a lot of other directions.

nimebe wrote:I was looking at this and the Emergency Preparedness Program at http://jay.askren.net/emergency/ . Would there be any possibility, point, or reason to combine the two programs into a more comprehensive single unit? Just wondering. Thanks again Tom!

Possibly. Currently that would require a fair amount of redesign on one or both of the programs but it is not out of the range of possibilities. My thought was that they serve different purposes. Chances are that the emergency preparedness person from the ward would not be the same as the ward mission leader. However, as the program expands, they could merge.

Tom

Hello,

I recently downloaded the binary file from your site. It looks like a great tool to have. Having served in that calling in the past, I was able to get a feel of the features I can find helpful during correlation meetings, PEC and Ward council. While in that calling (2002) I maintained most of my information on an spreadsheet (excel). I used this spreadsheet and maintained it every week (will probably revised it twice a week at a minimum). That helped me produced nice graphs, statistics, etc for then passing those graphics as part of my report to the bishopric during PEC meetings. I have always wanted to build (or help build) an app that helps other WML in their calling and when I saw this post I was very thrilled. May I help out in any way? I have Swing and J2EE background that I hope it can be of some help.

Some aspects that I think this tool can greatly benefit are:

- Reporting tools. Graphs, statistics, trends are just numbers but these can help discover certain facts of missionary efforts that could help improve the time and energy we spend on our work (e.g. how many families feed the missionaries, number of hours missionaries spend on conversion, retention, etc, averages, means, standard deviation). I apologize if I sound like there would be too much "math" involved, but it's a science we can put to use in this equation.
- Embed some "workflow" engine in the app. This means that an "investigator" record could be configured to be "commented" or "reviewed" by a leader (e.g. EQ president, RS president, Bishopric, etc). This could greatly improve the way a WML can view the work on specific families and report back (and quicker) during PEC. There are records the missionaries use (e.g. "Investigator record", "New Convert record", others?) that can be tracked by this workflow engine and have a proper followup (similar to what a issue tracking system would be in software engineering). Once again, this is a reporting feature.
- A Geospatial analysis (based on addresses) can be used to analyze and discover some interesting facts. For example, latest area tracked, percentage of referrals obtained by sector, membership location per investigator capita. This can lead to effectively cover the area assigned by missionaries with coordination from the WML.
- This tools could interact with a remote server for persistence (as opposed to the local drive). This would lead to a web-based integration solution where users (WML) can interact from anyplace (workplace, other home computers, etc). There are a number of known "cons" about the client/server model that would make this issue to be discussed further down the road. I know that when I served in that calling, one of my main problems was that I had to carry my laptop with me all the time. If I were to be at work and I wanted to review my spreadsheet, I would not be able to (if I don't have my laptop with me). Carrying my entire laptop just for that app was probably not an option for me at the time. Now we have Google gadget tools, web-based solutions, SMS solutions that could certainly help out tremendously only if we have a "web-based" support.

Let me know if I can be of assistance and whether there are any features I could start looking to implement.

Thanks!

albertoaflores wrote: Let me know if I can be of assistance and whether there are any features I could start looking to implement.

Reports was next on my list. As you can see from the application, there is a "reports" module but it does not do anything yet. I was thinking on using JasperReports as the reporting engine. We could use iReports to create report files.

I love your vision on where we could go with this project. If anyone is interested, we could have a chat session and I could talk about how the program is structured and we could make some decisions on next actions to take.

Tom

This even has application in family history now that there may be multiple consultants in any given unit doing a variety of things, including member visits.

So what may be needing to be done to make it more versatile, is to have a way to set up fields for various positions, and that would allow the user to set up the program based on the position the tracking would be fore, it would be different for missionary, family history, EQ, etc.

Tom,

I would be interested in a chat. I'm typically online (Google-Jabber, AIM, Yahoo) pretty much all day - Easter Time). I can always accomodate my schedule to meet yours.

Let me know!

Tom, I would like to say that the concept of the Ward Mission Program is excellent. I do seem to have trouble getting it to save the dates that I enter, but I have a larger question that is of interest to me.

The proliferation of data modules and tracking programs across auxiliaries and units of the church seems to be breaking the second laws of data normalization (i.e., delete all data redundancy). (I found a version of the rules for refresher http://www.datamodel.org/NormalizationRules.html) Membership records exist and are maintained annually (usually at the end of the year during tithing settlement). Changes occur across the ward in phone numbers, addresses, names, status, etc. Setting up a system that requires multiple updates each time an object has characteristics redefined seems to introduce additional and unnecessary complexity to a system that should be unburdened with such heavy data tracking requirements.

This has been in on my mind since I first began to feel that a little technology and analysis would help me in my calling. However, I feel so uncomfortable with the duplication of information and the associated burdens to maintain the data in such dynamic wards and missionary environments.

I would like to know how others feel. Entering in information into a full database application can be burdensome over time, but not add a huge benefit over storage in, say, an Excel spreadsheet (or its opensource counterparts) - wherein small macros could be written in VBA (or python, etc.) to generate the reports. Stability, exception handling, and error checking is already built in to such applications. Does this justify the construction of new application? (It seems that it would only if it connects directly to the original data source - membership records)

Tom, I must admit your application is slick, but all the requirements and application details on your web site are technology driven. I don't see a requirements document that details the data and functionality requirements that are independent of a technology, or a rough technology review that demonstrates the cost-benefit advantage to the technology choice - given the available technologies.

Please don't read this post as a criticism. I would just like to bring up the subject of "data and functional requirements before technology," and know how people think about it.

--Kenneth
Charlottesvlle, VA

kgcrowther wrote:Tom, I would like to say that the concept of the Ward Mission Program is excellent. I do seem to have trouble getting it to save the dates that I enter, but I have a larger question that is of interest to me.

Yes, dates need to be cleaned up. Right now you must enter in the dates as "mm/dd/yyyy". It is important to put the full 4 digit year. Also, you cannot use dashes (-) between the numbers but must instead uses slashes (/).

kgcrowther wrote:The proliferation of data modules and tracking programs across auxiliaries and units of the church seems to be breaking the second laws of data normalization (i.e., delete all data redundancy). (I found a version of the rules for refresher http://www.datamodel.org/NormalizationRules.html) Membership records exist and are maintained annually (usually at the end of the year during tithing settlement). Changes occur across the ward in phone numbers, addresses, names, status, etc. Setting up a system that requires multiple updates each time an object has characteristics redefined seems to introduce additional and unnecessary complexity to a system that should be unburdened with such heavy data tracking requirements.

I agree. However since MLS does not have a good ward mission module, this has become somewhat necessary. This was one reason that when I created the program, I specifically kept the information about "members" very light.

kgcrowther wrote:Entering in information into a full database application can be burdensome over time, but not add a huge benefit over storage in, say, an Excel spreadsheet (or its opensource counterparts) - wherein small macros could be written in VBA (or python, etc.) to generate the reports. Stability, exception handling, and error checking is already built in to such applications. Does this justify the construction of new application? (It seems that it would only if it connects directly to the original data source - membership records)

I think if someone creates such a spreadsheet, they should tell people about it and share it. I wrote this program because:

1. I wanted something to help me with my calling.
2. I enjoyed it. Most open source or free software is written by people because they enjoy the process.

Is there more effective or efficient ways to do the same job as my program does? I'm sure that there are. I'd love 10 ward mission programs or spreadsheets.

kgcrowther wrote: Tom, I must admit your application is slick, but all the requirements and application details on your web site are technology driven. I don't see a requirements document that details the data and functionality requirements that are independent of a technology, or a rough technology review that demonstrates the cost-benefit advantage to the technology choice - given the available technologies.

Yup, you are right. I wrote this for myself and then later decided to share it. I have on my site a "documentation" section that I've been meaning to get to.

kgcrowther wrote: Please don't read this post as a criticism. I would just like to bring up the subject of "data and functional requirements before technology," and know how people think about it.

We need people who are good at gathering and documenting specifications to help out on various projects. For those writers out there, speak up and we can give you some work!

Tom

tomw wrote:I think if someone creates such a spreadsheet, they should tell people about it and share it. I wrote this program because:

1. I wanted something to help me with my calling.
2. I enjoyed it. Most open source or free software is written by people because they enjoy the process.

Is there more effective or efficient ways to do the same job as my program does? I'm sure that there are. I'd love 10 ward mission programs or spreadsheets.

Thanks Tom. I think that is a good attitude. And, I must say that I agree. Creating something that is helpful to self and then sharing can inspire concepts and ideas for others to build on, and collectively can lead to major innovation.

I have read through all the comments in this thread and tried to collect the comments into a single outline of requirements for a advanced-generation ward mission program. (Tom's does most of the more critical tasks.) I invite any comments about the priority, necessity / criticality, or potential technology that relates to any of the requirements... Perhaps we can build this list to conceptually create the ideal to provide direction for any technological solutions.

A.Audience
1.Ward Mission Leader
2.Ward Missionaries (to a lesser extend)
3.Missionary Meal Coordinator (if applicable)
4.Missionary Exchange Coordinator (if applicable)
5.Bishopric and Bishopric Representatives (mainly through reports and record updates)
6.Priesthood and Auxiliary Leaders and Their Representatives (mainly through reports)

B.Main Functional Objectives
1.Track investigators being taught in the ward[INDENT] a. Utilize whatever relevant from teaching report
b. Track church attendance
c. Track progress through missionary lessons
d. Active/inactive flag
e. Store address (or lat./long.) of investigators (to compare to tracking areas and population densities)
2.Track new members and new member work
a. Utilize whatever relevant from convert baptism checklist
b. Track progress through new member lessons
c. Track when new members talk in sacrament meeting
d. Track when new members bear their testimony
e. Track church attendance
f. Track fellowshipping efforts
i. Track home teaching and visiting teaching visits
g. Track callings
h. Track plans for temple attendance
i. Store address/location of new members
[/INDENT]3.Track relevant ward efforts with part-member
4.Track relevant efforts with less active families
5.Track relevant missionary efforts with active ward members
6.Track meals for missionaries[INDENT] a. Allow schedule 6-12 months in advance
b. Track locations with respect to evening appointments
[/INDENT]7.Track missionary exchanges[INDENT] a. Allow schedule 6-12 months in advance
b. Future capability to auto-assign exchanges based on objectives and member info.
c. Store locations/address of appointments and members
[/INDENT]8.Enable sharing/collaboration among members of the ward missionary correlation meeting (ward mission leader, ward missionaries, full time missionaries, member of bishopric, representative from priesthood and relief society)[INDENT] a. Simple and intuitive interface
b. Provide reporting capability that passes relevant information
c. Provide specific report for the bishop
d. Flag/alert/report concerns based on tracked information compared to expectation
e. Store reports (or generate reports) for any relevant time frame
f. Export/Import capabilities of databases to standard format (e.g., CSV) for loading most updated member information
g. Export/Import capability of databases with comparison algorithms to identify the most up-to-date information (the ward mission is frequently able to get more updated member information that can be passed to the bishopric)
h. Export/Import capability of calendars to an HTML or iCal file for sharing
i. Potential for coordination with LUWS resource calendar
i. Architecture consistent with church info. systems (LUWS, referral system, etc.) for potential future integration
j. Enable import/export of referrals for sharing across ward boundaries
k. Provide potential for PDA-ready application
l. Graphs, statistics, and trends of various areas that are specified in the ward mission plan to be improved
m. Geospatial reports
[/INDENT]9.Improve performance beyond paper report systems
10.Should phase to a secure web-based technology

C.Major Operational Requirements
1.Should be maintained by Ward Mission Leader or someone permanent
2.Provide technology that could begin to replace functionality of the area book (when missionaries begin greater use of technology in their work)
3.Protect confidential information (e.g., confirmation date)
4.Control sharing of program and program information
5.Embed some workflow aspects to the application so that records/reports (or instances of records) can be passed around without duplication or simultaneous edits
6.Potential integration with a synchronization server (database stored locally, but when Internet connection available it syncs up with across other ward clients)

This is a great list of requirements! Let's formalize this in a document and I can then post it on the project site as well.

Tom

Nicely done, KG. Thank you for putting that together for us.

tomw wrote:Reports was next on my list. As you can see from the application, there is a "reports" module but it does not do anything yet. I was thinking on using JasperReports as the reporting engine. We could use iReports to create report files.

I love your vision on where we could go with this project. If anyone is interested, we could have a chat session and I could talk about how the program is structured and we could make some decisions on next actions to take.

Tom

hi tom,
i'm a swing/j2ee developer and have been tying together a plethora of open source libraries/apis for several clients... i have pretty extensive experience with the JasperReports reporting engine, and report design with iReport. i'd be more than happy to help out with any gui / reporting issues you'd like help on.

i've also been developing a web-app to track all aspects of church meetings (reporting, assignments, minutes, etc)... it's based on Grails and tries to cope with the typical workflow of an "LDS" meeting...

that's just a shameless plug, but i'd love to help on the WMP!
cheers,
tamati

I am new to LDS tech and would like to know how to download your program Tom, I woiuld like to try it in our ward.

Thanks

Calprinter wrote:I am new to LDS tech and would like to know how to download your program Tom, I woiuld like to try it in our ward.

Thanks

This is the link he gave in the very first post of the thread.

tcpaki wrote:hi tom,
i'm a swing/j2ee developer and have been tying together a plethora of open source libraries/apis for several clients... i have pretty extensive experience with the JasperReports reporting engine, and report design with iReport. i'd be more than happy to help out with any gui / reporting issues you'd like help on.

i've also been developing a web-app to track all aspects of church meetings (reporting, assignments, minutes, etc)... it's based on Grails and tries to cope with the typical workflow of an "LDS" meeting...

that's just a shameless plug, but i'd love to help on the WMP!
cheers,
tamati

AWESOME! I'd love the help. Let me know a time when we can chat online and I can share with you where I am at and what specifically I could use help with. I'd like to get the reporting started.

Tom

Calprinter wrote:I am new to LDS tech and would like to know how to download your program Tom, I woiuld like to try it in our ward.

Thanks

Definitely let me know what you think! Also, if you want to help out, we can make it much better than it current is.

Tom

I see no link refered to in Toms 1st msg nor in your response, What am I doing wrong?

I discovered that if I mouse over the word link I get to the site. Pardon my question.

tomw wrote:AWESOME! I'd love the help. Let me know a time when we can chat online and I can share with you where I am at and what specifically I could use help with. I'd like to get the reporting started.

Tom

that sounds great! i must admit that i'm coming into a very busy week, so i'll have to get back to you on a suitable time, but in the meantime, i'll checkout a copy of the src and have a play.
look forward to chatting soon.
cheers,
tamati

Calprinter wrote:I see no link refered to in Toms 1st msg nor in your response, What am I doing wrong?

I know you've already answered your question, but just as a note: by default all links here default to tan color with no underlining. The difference is quite subtle and easy to miss.

Calprinter wrote:I discovered that if I mouse over the word link I get to the site. Pardon my question.

Speaking of which can we have a different color or have an underline for links that might help make the links more noticeable.

tcpaki wrote:that sounds great! i must admit that i'm coming into a very busy week, so i'll have to get back to you on a suitable time, but in the meantime, i'll checkout a copy of the src and have a play.
look forward to chatting soon.
cheers,
tamati

Awesome! Thanks.

Tom

thedqs wrote:Speaking of which can we have a different color or have an underline for links that might help make the links more noticeable.

We are working on a whole site theme redesign which will address this (as well as other) issues.

Tom

tomw wrote:We are working on a whole site theme redesign which will address this (as well as other) issues.

Tom

Will this be an additional theme (like LDS Tech (new)) or are you going to change the current themes?

thedqs wrote:Will this be an additional theme (like LDS Tech (new)) or are you going to change the current themes?

The whole site is being reviewed. There are various bugs in the CSS that we plan on fixing (in the current theme). For example many people have complained about the spacing in the forums (which is why "new" was created). We will fix this.

Tom

Did this project ever finish? It just seems to have stopped. Has it been moved to another thread?

Alas...no. I've been put in a different calling and have been super busy. I'm open to ideas and suggestions and the code is available for anyone who wants to work on it.

Tom

tomw wrote:This web site is dedicated to technology projects so I thought I would share with you one of the projects that I have been working on and ask for your help with it. This program is designed to help ward mission leaders and ward missionaries conduct the missionary work within their wards. It will help them track those people being taught in the ward, track missionary exchanges and meals for the missionaries. It came out of a need I had as a ward mission leader to better organize and conduct the missionary efforts within my ward.

This was my very first big project in Java so I'm sure that there are a lot of things I could do better. I would value any feedback you may have. More importantly, I would value anyone willing to give me a hand to make it better.

You can find out about it here.

Tom

I am a new ward mission leader and am interested in your application. However, when I click on the word "here", I get an error message that the web page is out of date or whatever. Can you help? Bart Richards

Welcome to the forum! Looks like Tom's website changed the path slightly. Try HERE instead.

Hi! I was just called as a WML and have been scouring the internet for useful links. The Ward Mission Program looks extremely useful--(Thanks Tom!). I also wanted to see the differences to the online church sponsored site: http://referrals.lds.org/ but it gives me the following error:

Your account is not authorized to use the Referral Manager

Anyone know how I get access to this site??

I can't wait to use the program, regardless! Thanks for all the work! I wish I could help assist with the code maintenance, but alas I'm just a lowly Linux administrator that knows some perl and ksh scripting....

-Mike in AZ

mikengray wrote:Hi! I was just called as a WML ...
... the online church sponsored site: http://referrals.lds.org/

The referrals site is a way to get referrals (mostly media referrals) from CHQ to the mission field quickly. The stake presidency used to have to authorize access, and I do not know how that changed when missionary work moved to ward supervision.

I would ask the high councilor over missionary work or the mission office for the current method of gaining access.

I just did some more checking. Someone in your stake is an admin for the Referral site. He will be the one who can authorize you to access the site.

If the site was being used and your previous ward mission leader was authorized as an admin, he might also be able to add you to the site access list.

It is also possible that your stake is not using the site, and therefore no one has access. But I doubt that is the case.

I am a brand-new Ward Mission Leader in my current ward, I was a Ward Mission Leader in my singles branch years ago. I have been a web developer for several years, currently an active duty soldier in the Army but I occasionally freelance still. I have fifteen months left for my BS in Web Development and don't start my Java courses until the Spring, I know pretty much zero Java, but would still be interested in helping where I can...

tomw wrote:This web site is dedicated to technology projects so I thought I would share with you one of the projects that I have been working on and ask for your help with it. This program is designed to help ward mission leaders and ward missionaries conduct the missionary work within their wards. It will help them track those people being taught in the ward, track missionary exchanges and meals for the missionaries. It came out of a need I had as a ward mission leader to better organize and conduct the missionary efforts within my ward.

This was my very first big project in Java so I'm sure that there are a lot of things I could do better. I would value any feedback you may have. More importantly, I would value anyone willing to give me a hand to make it better.

You can find out about it here.

Tom

I am a brand-new Ward Mission Leader in my current ward, I was a Ward Mission Leader in my singles branch years ago. I have been a web developer for several years, currently an active duty soldier in the Army but I occasionally freelance still. I have fifteen months left for my BS in Web Development and don't start my Java courses until the Spring, I know pretty much zero Java, but would still be interested in helping where I can..

I downloaded the Ward Mission Program and started entering info but now it won't even open...AND I am now locked out of the program. Can u please help...Sister Kimberly

ktriplet wrote:I downloaded the Ward Mission Program and started entering info but now it won't even open...AND I am now locked out of the program. Can u please help...Sister Kimberly

Assuming you are talking about the program linked to from this post, I would note that that effort is over three years old and nothing has been done on it for a long time. It is simply the effort of one person, so the community here on the forum is unlikely to be able to help you. Your best hope would be to contact the author, Tom Welch.

This post does not exist.

http://discogenie.dyndns.org/areabook

Looks good. But as a WML there is a lot that would be useful but still missing. In the past two years, the amount of data that I am required to keep track of is growing and I've been looking for something to handle it. If I can't convince someone to write it, I'll write it myself.


Functionality, I would suggest:
1. LDS Tools Web services allows for easy download of unit data. Ability to update members lists, without manual entering all 700 members in my ward. Typically, we have around 50+ moves a quarter. So manually entering and deleting is out of the question. Photo storage capability is a plus. You can now download the members photos automatically.

2. Ability to track members. We are now required to track less active and new members. We have to track visits, concerns, lessons, sacrament meeting attendance. We have to know when a visit was made, by whom, what are deadlines for following up on the visit and suggested actions. Less-active attendance (automatically change a members status when they have/have not attended 3 times in the last 3 months). If a new members hasn't attended, we need to keep track of the person contacting the new member, what are the concerns, and plan of action. When you have a ward of 700 members and 500 are less active this is a daunting task. I see places for notes, but not for attendance records.
Automatic changes in members status depending on baptism date. We are required to keep track of the new members for two years, but after the two years they need to be automatically removed from the reports. As well as new members and less active members, we have a designation of Focus Family. We need to be able to designate these families and print weekly forms for these to get and give reports to the RS and priesthood leadership.

3. Ability to easily generate custom reports. The leadership love the reports. We need to be able to print out monthly reports indicating all the statistics from above and correlate that with our yearly goals.

4. Add more of the benchmarks, we need to keep track of.
Missionary Discussions, Commitments, and Concerns
New Members Lessons, Commitments and Concerns (Who taught them)
Baptisms for the Dead
Patriachal Blessing
Endowment
Sealing
...


5. Ability to send a members record via mail or email. Those members that are removed in the update to ward records should allow for print out or email of records to the new ward.


I'm sure I've forgotten something, since I don't have the reports in front of me.

Here one more. We have blitz 2 times a year. We need to generate a blitz report that we can hand to a member with all the relevent background information for the member being visited including a map. (google maps) The report for the member is then filled out and updated in the system.

plott wrote:Looks good. But as a WML there is a lot that would be useful but still missing. In the past two years, the amount of data that I am required to keep track of is growing and I've been looking for something to handle it. If I can't convince someone to write it, I'll write it myself.....

I would really wish that someone would blow the cobwebs off of this program and put it back into gear. Given the use of tablets nowadays, something like this would be a great assist to a WML (Moi, for example).

I like the concept. Is there any likelyhood of this being put out for testing/usage?

It appears the original links to the app being discussed in this post is no longer active. However, this topic is still a very important one I believe. Should a new topic be opened and this one retired? How can we solicit help from the volunteer tech group to actually develop a program like what is being discussed?

Is there anything that exists today that WML's are using?

Just trying to revive this conversation as a new WML myself...

I could not get that link to work in the original post