The Secretary Software Brief Introduction and Screenshots Those who have been a congregation secretary for a number of years know that end-of-the-month tasks, keeping up with address changes, updating publisher cards, preparation for a CO visit or a quarterly meeting, can be tedious. In addition, information that can’t be readily found becomes critically important at the most inconvenient times. An organized information retrieval and reporting system makes the assignment of the congregation secretary a much easier task. Another challenge assigned the congregation secretary is to keep all body members informed of current publishers’ local and emergency contact information. This is not always easy because of how frequently email and phone numbers change nowadays. In addition to this is the monthly routine of summarizing and reporting publishers’ ministry activity to congregation and branch responsibilities. The Secretary is a full featured software system designed to give much appreciated help with all of these events. Design The Secretary software is a relational database software system written in Microsoft’s Access 2007 software development product. It is designed in a logical manner having the capability of storing information essential to producing a large variety of reports concerning publisher ministry and contact information, plus keeping track of other important items of interest such as publisher card information, field service records, out of the area disaster contacts, DPA’s on file, publisher participation in congregation, LDC, HLC, and appointment dates of regular pioneers, elders, and ministerial servants, etc. A feature added in early 2012 permitted transferring publisher contact info to an Android Smartphone. The Secretary’s design is based on a secretarial package written during the late 90’s that used DataFlex, a DOS programming language. Its basic design flow was followed and then greatly expanded in a Windows database language beginning in 2008. We Do Not Compete! It’s understood there are several software systems available for congregation secretaries written by other brothers over the years. The Secretary is not
Aug 8, 2015 meant to compete – as a matter of fact, other software is not reviewed as an attempt to learn what features they offer. The reports and features within The Secretary were created either by request or to fill a need. Keep in mind that not all the features or reports need to be used. Several years ago, a paragraph written in help file #3 pretty well sums up how we feel. It says, “Some of you may be using a word processor, spreadsheet, or a different software product to keep track of the many details necessary. If what you’re now using is working for you, my advice is that you keep using it.” The Secretary Software is “Freeware” The Secretary and the other software products developed by JwSoftworks are offered to the brotherhood for use free of charge. Not only free to download, but free to use, and free help via email! Over the years some have offered to support the work with a monetary contribution. In each case, I’ve politely declined these offers because I’m not in need of financial support – I’m adequately taken care of. Screen Displays and Printed Reports The usefulness of any software product is measured not so much how easily data can be entered into it, although this is important, but how data can be gotten from it in the form of useful screen displays and printed reports. The Secretary has grown significantly since its first release in August 2008. There are now over 200 forms and over 200 printed reports (some are sub forms or sub reports); over 150 menu selections and over 55 help files. Many reports were specially requested by users – more than likely, you will not have need for all of them. Thousands of users are located in the USA, many others in Canada and the UK, and still others in Australia and South Africa. Date, Phone & Postal Formats Introduced in the August 2009 release was the ability to handle any of the three date formats popular in various parts of the world.
(Numbers under screenshots are the sequence of menu buttons pressed to select them)
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Other Languages Sorry, there are no plans to offer this software program in any language other than English. There isn’t enough time, energy, resources, or talent to accomplish that. Registration Registering was required in the past but no longer is. Keeping the mailing list up-to-date became overly tedious and, in addition, many email servers increased their security screening and routinely rejected bulk mailings and certain types of attached files. Support Software Required Windows: XP thru 10 except for 8.1 RT. Access: 2007 thru 2013 (full or runtime). Application Software Installation Download the application software from the JwSoftworks.com website to your hard drive. It is an “exe” file. Double click it and it will create folders and install the software on your hard drive.
Main Menu
Support and Program Updates JwSoftworks programs and email support are both free. Updates are released as needed. JwSoftworks Website Now that the website named below has progressed to a point of being useful, please check it periodically for update or other information. Please Share This Promo Please feel free to forward this document to any other congregation secretary that might enjoy reviewing The Secretary software program.
Member’s Master Record (1)
Jay Witt Dallas/Fort Worth, TX USA http://www.jwsoftworks.com
[email protected]
Selected screenshots that follow are only a portion of all those in the system and are presented in no particular order: (Use your PDF viewer’s capability to expand the screenshots that follow for a better view). The description under each image briefly explains what the report is and how to find it (the numbers that follow the description, i.e., (12-3) are the menu selections required to access the program or report.
Member Contact Information Mini-Menu (2)
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Monthly Service Activity Entry Screen (16) Service Year’s Activity Report (19-1-NonPio)
Emailing and Texting from Master Record Publisher’s Activity Report Mini Menu (20)
Create & Send Group Email (12-1)
Historical Summary Report Selection (19-1)
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(1)
Batch Print or Batch Create PDF Reports (11-5)
Month-End Summary Sent to Jw.Org (17-4)
Monthly Service Time Entry Screen (16)
Create & Send Group Phone Text (12-2) Month-End Reg Pio Pace Rpt (22-2)
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Last Six Month Summary – Page 1 (22-7)
Last Six Month Activity Analysis
(21-1)
Batch Print or Create PDF Selection Matrix (11-5)
Last Six Month Summary – Page 2 (22-7)
(Numbers under screenshots are the sequence of menu buttons pressed to select them)
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Last Six Month Avgs for Elders and Minis (20-3)
(Numbers under screenshots are the sequence of menu buttons pressed to select them)
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