Graphing Program Update (v1.04)...

[R-Enemy-p40]

New update, you can get it here.

Added pie charts, here's an example:

[mkmurray]

It does look cool. However, I think that comparing the wards with in a stake like this gives a misleading representation of which ward actually has the best attendance. In my opinion a ward's attendance should really be compared to itself, based on what percentage that attendance number is of the actual ward membership. Then you could really see if Ward 2 is doing as good (or Ward 8 doing as bad) as it appears in this chart.

Nice work, though. It's just a personal opinion...

[R-Enemy-p40]

I think that comparing the wards with in a stake like this gives a misleading representation of which ward actually has the best attendance. In my opinion a ward's attendance should really be compared to itself, based on what percentage that attendance number is of the actual ward membership. Then you could really see if Ward 2 is doing as good (or Ward 8 doing as bad) as it appears in this chart.

Good call on this. For now this is to be viewed as a tool to see how the data splits across the stakes. This could be helpful in determining ward boundaries. I'll work on the ratios for the next release. In the mean time, I've updated the program once more because I was finally able to get into the office and get some screen shots on how to get the data out of MLS and into this program. You can get the new version here (v1.05).

[Mikerowaved]

A quarterly snapshot can be helpful, but my wish would be to see graphs showing long term trends of various stats.

[russellhltn]

This could be a bit difficult to do, but what I'd like to see is some tools that gives the user some context as to how significant some changes in stats may be. Some changes in stats is nothing but "noise". Others might represent a something they need to take notice of.

[R-Enemy-p40]

A quarterly snapshot can be helpful, but my wish would be to see graphs showing long term trends of various stats.

The program does this. The pie chart is the only snapshot graph. Here's an example:

[R-Enemy-p40]

This could be a bit difficult to do, but what I'd like to see is some tools that gives the user some context as to how significant some changes in stats may be. Some changes in stats is nothing but "noise". Others might represent a something they need to take notice of.

This is why I posted this application here, to get valid feedback about what people want. Graphing is just one aspect. If someone wanted to outline some crucial points, I could include them in the program. Having the quarterly data in a database makes it very easy to pull out whatever you want. Now it's just a matter of knowing what we want.

[opee]

Would it be possible to use the "Unit Statistics" numbers with your program? Maybe a Bishop wants to see the trend in "Families without MP in the home" over time... Maybe that could be another data set that could be used in your program.

[hpaulsen]

I LOVE the "import folder" option! Now if only MLS had an "export to folder" option to match....

[hpaulsen]

It would be nice to have a "Delete all" option in File->Delete Data.

Also, I seem to be having troubles with the data. My Avg. Sac. Mtg. attendance and Total Members lines are switched, as are PEs attending vs total PEs, and again for MP, YW, YM (sometimes), Total Women and Women Visisted by VTs, etc.

Finally, I'd still like to see an optional moving-average (not just smoothing), where each data point represents the average of the three previous quarters and itself. This really smooths out short-term trends well and is much more valuable for our stake, which has a lot of seasonal changes.

Oh - and one more thing: percentages for certain numbers would really be nice, too. I can't remember if I mentioned that before or not. Knowing how many sisters were visited is nice, but it's even nicer to know what percentage were!

By the way, thanks for doing this and putting out there for us to use!