Reboot-09: Reporting and Statistics

Reporting and Statistics

The Reboot Series - Part 9 of 20; 28 May 2010

Reporting

Reporting will now be conducted fully online, via a new report form that is greatly simplified and pared down from the former TRF.

Noteworthy points regarding the reporting site:

• The beta version1 of the new reporting site (http://members.tfionline.com) will be launched in English on June 10, and in Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese shortly thereafter. It may be translated into other languages in the future.
• Reporting monthly continues to be a requirement for all members, as explained in “Membership.” However, there will be flexibility to report at any time during the month (rather than on a fixed monthly reporting day).
• Members will be able to report either individually or collectively (as a group or home) via this new reporting site.
• All members must have a TFI member account in order to report. You may report collectively by having a point person report for you, but only after you have personally signed up for an account.
• If you haven’t yet created your member account, please do so right away by going to http://members.tfionline.com/signup and following the instructions. (This account not only gives you access to the reporting site, but to all other members-only websites and online services.) Creating an account is a simple process that should only take a few minutes. The sign-up process can be done from any computer, even a public computer such as in an Internet café, if necessary (just please remember to sign out after you’re done). You will need to have a personal email address to create an account. Any email address will work, including those created at free services such as Gmail or Yahoo, etc.

You should personally sign up for your member account (rather than someone else doing it for you), so that you can personally read through and agree to the site’s privacy statement.

• It’s very important that you remember your member account’s login name, password, email address and the answer to your secret question. Choose something that you’ll be able to easily remember and/or save your info in a secure place. If you forget your password, you’ll be able to recover it using your secret question and answer. However, if you forget your password, the answer to your secret question, and/or your email address, your account will be lost and cannot be retrieved even by the site administrators (this is to protect your account).
• While we encourage you to begin using the beta version of the reporting site as soon as it’s launched, you will also have the option to continue using the TeleTRF or WebTRF (previously available for FM use only) for three additional months (June through August 2010) should you prefer to. After the August reporting period, the other reporting methods will be discontinued, and reporting will be conducted solely via this new reporting site. (Please note that your June 2010 report will be the first report that you can file on the new reporting site, as you will have already submitted your May 2010 TRF when the reporting site goes live on June 10.)
• You can find further details and instructions on how to use the reporting site and the various features it contains in the “support” section of the site (http://members.tfionline.com/support).
• Present-day AMs (and GMs who choose to be part of the new Family membership) can sign up for a member’s account after September 1, 2010. Prior to that date, instructions will be posted on how to help them to sign up for their account. (Details concerning the timing of AMs signing up will be posted soon.) In the meantime, Active members can continue to access the AM site (am.thefamily.org), with its current login system.

As a side point, if you continue to use the TeleTRF during this interim period and you report AMs, the TeleTRF will continue to add the AM membership fee to your report. Since this fee no longer applies, you can deduct the AM fee amount from your tithe/gifts total that you send in.

Statistics

A new user-friendly method is being set up for reporting and recording witnessing stats. It will be fully online, and its features will include real-time statistical analysis of yours, others’, and TFI’s combined witnessing achievements. This site (http://stats.tfionline.com) will tentatively be launched in July 2010, and will be easily accessible from the monthly reporting site and the portal.

Noteworthy points regarding the stats site:

• The site is being designed to assist Family members in more easily keeping records of mission-related statistics and tracking their progress.
• There will be flexibility to input stats at any time (rather than on a fixed monthly reporting day).
• There are fewer requested statistic fields, in an effort to simplify the reporting process.
• Any TFI member will be able to see a running tally of his or her stats in real time. Members will also be able to edit their stats for the current quarter.
• As with the reporting site, you can log your stats individually or collectively (as a group or a home).
• Recording stats is now optional, and no longer required as part of the monthly reporting process, as it has been thus far. However, we believe it will be helpful to you as an individual or team, and helpful to the Family overall, to continue to have statistics of our witnessing achievements recorded, in order to chart your (and TFI’s overall) progress. So please do continue to report your stats. Thank you.

(Note: By default you will automatically be redirected to the stats site after your monthly report has been submitted; however, this is a setting that you can adjust to suit your preference.)

• The new reporting site is available starting June 10, but the stats site won’t be ready for a few weeks more. So we ask that you please keep record of your stats by whatever means is feasible for you; then when the site is up, you can enter your stats from this interim time.
• Once the stats site is launched, you will be able to find further details and instructions on how to use the site in the “Support” section (http://stats.tfionline.com/support).

Copyright © 2010 by The Family International