Publishers Database
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Learn more about Publishers Database by looking through the rest of this help topic. Or, as an alternative, click on the option you are interested in on the screenshot above.
Overview
The Publishers Database is at the very heart of Meeting Schedule Assistant. It was introduced in version 17.0.9. Up until then the personnel was managed from different locations within the application and in some instances you had to duplicate names so that they would show in all the required drop lists. In addition, extra information (like notes, dates not available or default exclusions) were all stored in external data files.
All of these various aspects of the application have now been brought together so they can be managed in one place. The database itself is a XML data file and is held in the user application data folder.
It is beyond the scope of this help topic to describe the syntax of the XML file. Do not manually alter the database unless you know what you are doing. Making such modifications outside of the application is done entirely at your own risk of data loss.
As already mentioned, the required information about all of the brothers and sisters was being held in lots of different places. During the upgrading process the application tries to pull all of this information together for you automatically. You are informed if the upgrade was successful. |
Please review the database to ensure everything is correct!
- Importing Publishers
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It reads the Public Talks Database and displays a list of all those who are not yet already in the Publisher Database:
From this list you can then decide on who to import them by setting the check box against their name. In addition, you can set up some of the basic information, like:
- Their gender
- If they are a publisher or serving in some capacity
- Or their availability
All other refinements (like assignments) would need to be made once they have been added to the publisher database.
- Exporting Publishers
Managing the Publisher Database
- Publisher List
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Please note that the publisher list and buttons are disabled if you are in the middle of editing an existing publisher.
- Publisher Details
Use the top part of the window to specify the publishers name. Then use the drop lists (these are self explanatory) to set their:
- Gender (Brother / Sister)
- Serving As (Unbaptised Publisher / Publisher / Regular Pioneer / Other)
- Appointed As (Not Appointed / Ministerial Servant / Elder)
Use the Notes area as you require.
- Publisher Assignments
The right column is for setting up exclusion defaults. There may be instances where a brother can be available for some assignments and not others on the same meeting. As an example, the Watchtower Conductor would not be available as the Reader or for Microphones etc. |
Please note that default exclusions are only applied when creating new schedules. You need to also be aware that they are only applied to the active schedule type (for most users, this will be the default schedule type).
- Publisher Availability
Unlike default exclusions, the publishers' availability takes affect no matter what the active schedule type is. These options determine which meetings that the selected brother will be available for. This will be applied across all assignments. These settings determine if his name will be available for a given meeting when creating a schedule.
Doing this will remove them from all assignments on the schedules you create that encompass the relevant dates. If appropriate, they will also be excluded from automatic assignments. As with the availability check options described above, this set of dates are applied across all assignments. There are times where you might want to adjust dates over several weeks at a time. To assist you with this there is the Date Range button. This opens a window which displays a calendar where you can select a range of dates from / to detailing when the volunteer is (or is not) unavailable. |
Please note that the dates displayed in the list will use the custom date format that is specified in the options dialogue (if set).
Publisher Availability - Order of PrecedenceAs you can see, there are several ways that you can indicate when a publisher is available. Each of them has their uses. However, they all come together to provide a composite overview of the publishers' availability for a given assignment. Thus, the application follows a strict order of precedence to decide if a publisher can be used:
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