HT/VT Reporting Website Overview

[rmrichesjr]

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Now, does your system not allow traditional password/logins or is this just a way not to require them? Because as it seems now, the teacher must wait for their email for the link to get in. That may not sit well with some users who would rather be able to go to a easy to memorize URL (saved to their favorites) and log in.
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A question about this email message the user must wait for: Does the user trigger the email to be sent by attempting to access the site (instead of the more common username and password entry), or is this message coming from elsewhere to tell the user to go to the site and report the visits? If the former, the user may find that delays of several minutes (or longer) would be very problematic. Some ISP mail servers can delay messages by quite a few minutes. Myself, I use fetchmail on a five minute cycle.

[thedqs]

In response to Russell's and Robert's questions about email latency. The SAW program as demonstrated seems to operate quite quickly, especially if you have the SAW toolbar. Demonstrations showed that going to the login part of the site (saw toolbar then says that you can log into the site) and clicking the button has the email sent to your account and the saw toolbar logs in and you are in very quickly. Of course you can disable the auto-email-login so maintain computer security if you have multiple users on the single account.

I am assuming that both were talking about SAW.

[brado426]

I think that would be a good idea. Keep in mind that some families share the computer, so stuff sent via a link are not secure from other family members or house residents (think student dorms).

Now, does your system not allow traditional password/logins or is this just a way not to require them? Because as it seems now, the teacher must wait for their email for the link to get in. That may not sit well with some users who would rather be able to go to a easy to memorize URL (saved to their favorites) and log in.

The system does not currently support username/password logins at all. It is all link-based. If the link makes it to your e-mail address, you can get in and report. This is why I think that at least the Presidency Members should probably be allowed to set up username/passwords to gain access. The system needs to send e-mails to the teacher to ask them to report anyway, so they will be guaranteed to get a link for the new month to report with. The frequency that the report request e-mails are sent depends on how the Presidency has configured the system.

And speaking of favorites ....... A URL that changes routinely is likely to create problems on that front as well. My suggestion there is if a invalid URL is found, that they are routed to the login screen. That way a saved favorite will always take them to the login screen.

The url for a given month never changes. So when the e-mail link for July is sent, it will work any time for reporting July's results. After the 15th of the next month (for example, August in this case), the link will expire.

[brado426]

A question about this email message the user must wait for: Does the user trigger the email to be sent by attempting to access the site (instead of the more common username and password entry), or is this message coming from elsewhere to tell the user to go to the site and report the visits? If the former, the user may find that delays of several minutes (or longer) would be very problematic. Some ISP mail servers can delay messages by quite a few minutes. Myself, I use fetchmail on a five minute cycle.

The e-mails that request the teacher to report are scheduled by the Presidency. The Presidency can have it send requests one, two, or three times per month. There are pre-set schedules that can easily be selected. For example, one schedule is for report request e-mails to be sent on the 8th, 18th, and 2 days before the last day of the month.

The e-mails for the 8th and the 18th are considered "Preliminary Report Requests." The last request of the month is considered the "Final Report Request."

If the Presidency wants teachers to be able to report early in the month, the system can be configured to send links to the teachers on the 8th. If a teacher marks all his or her assigned families/sisters as Visited/Contacted, the system will not send any additional e-mails to the teacher.

Nothing in the process requires a teacher to wait for an e-mail to be sent. The e-mail just shows up in their inbox.

Brad O.

[brado426]

You guys got me thinking. I'm going to make a change so that if someone tries to pull up the same url with the wrong code too many times in a 5 minute period (maybe 3 times), it won't let them back into the system for 5 or 10 minutes. This should make it nearly impossible to hack the user access code even if the algorithm that checks the url is compromised.

Brad O.

[russellhltn]

I'm going to make a change so that if someone tries to pull up the same url with the wrong code too many times in a 5 minute period (maybe 3 times), it won't let them back into the system for 5 or 10 minutes.

That's a good idea. We can't be sure of what someone might try. Perhaps it's a anti-Mormon group that simply wants the names and addresses of someone to target. They don't care what teacher they get in as and they'll assign a random number generator until they get in.

[jerbarb-p40]

I want to remind everyone that the Church has a policy about exporting information from MLS or LUWS and importing that same data into a server not officially sponsored and supported by the Church. You can use the data on your own "controlled" and "secure" PC's, laptops, and PDA's. However you are not allowed to host sites for your ward that would utilize this exported information.

This project is a "prototype" of what should or could be done. It is an excellent project and we have people at the Church watching this. We are looking at ways to either use this code or use the concepts of this code to make something more official. However this process takes time as we have to code secure ways for us to allow access to key data. We are looking at alternatives to speed up the process but nothing is definitive yet.

Don't shoot the messenger.

Tom

Tom,

I know that approval and Churchwide distribution of this extremely valuable tool will understandably take time. However, the true value can be best demonstrated by live testing. What is the possibility of you obtaining authorization for Brad to do live testing with a handful of stakes? It is the logical next step.

Jerry

[WelchTC]

Tom,

I know that approval and Churchwide distribution of this extremely valuable tool will understandably take time. However, the true value can be best demonstrated by live testing. What is the possibility of you obtaining authorization for Brad to do live testing with a handful of stakes? It is the logical next step.

Jerry

I've talked with Brad about some options and I can't promise anything but I am working on some shorter term alternatives.

Tom

[daddy-o-p40]

I've talked with Brad about some options and I can't promise anything but I am working on some shorter term alternatives.

Tom

Tom-

This is a terrible loss. Let us know what we need to do to save this site. Our wards Home Teaching improved by 28% as a result of this tool and two families have been reactivated as a direct result of these improvements.

This is an irreplaceable tool for those of us living in the mission field.

[thedqs]

Enrique, are you saying that your ward or stake is currently actively using the site with real data? (Or was using since it seems that it stopped)