New World Scheduler includes a Secretary program that allows the Congregation Secretary, Group Overseers or other elders to record and view Publisher Record cards.
The Congregation Field Service Report will be generated based on the information entered in the Publisher Records. Various other reports also use this information, such as Congregation Summary.
Publisher Record only exists for Publishers and Unbaptised Publishers, and are retained for the current service year and for the previous service year (see Congregation Records Retention).
- Note: When a publisher is set as Inactive their last Publisher Record is saved, regardless of time. You can also edit this under Person Spiritual Information > Last Report
Publisher Records are found on Persons > Publisher Record

Edit Publisher Records
- Note: Publisher Records can also be entered on the Congregation Field Service Report view and via the NW Publisher app.
- Note: If you are using Congregation Sharing, User Access controls who can see and edit Publisher Reports.
- Click Persons
- Select the publisher to edit
- Click Publisher Record
- Select the Service Year
- Note: Service Years run from September to August
- Double-click a field to edit.
- E.G. Double click the June 19 Placements to enter the publishers placements for June 2019.
Hours
The amount of hours a publisher engaged in field service.
The hours figure is used to determine if a publisher is Active, Inactive or Irregular.
- For a NIL REPORT or NO REPORT (i.e. confirmed no service activity), set the Hours to 0. Do not leave blank.
- For less than 1 hour: Use decimal numbers to represent the hours. E.G. 15 minutes = 0.25, 30 minutes = 0.5, etc.
- For a publisher who would like to report less than 1 hour without specifying the time, please enter 0.1 hours.
- Note: If publishers are using the NW Publisher app, they can select Less than 1 hour when submitting their Field Service Report. This will be imported into New World Scheduler as 0.1 hours.
Credit
Enter any “credit hours” for pioneers (e.g. Bethel service, LDC, Construction, Theocratic Schools, etc)
- Important Note: You should also enter the reason for the credit in the Remarks field. Since different credit is counted differently (e.g. “approved assignments” can not exceed 75 hours per month, whereas “theocratic schools” credit has no limit, see sfl 9:13), New World Scheduler will not apply any limiting to the credit . It is up to the Service Committee to do this when checking Regular Pioneers hours.
Late
Tick this box if the publisher submitted this Field Service Report late (i.e. after the Congregation Field Service Report was already submitted). The figures will be automatically added to the current Unsubmitted Congregation Field Service Report.
If the publisher submits multiple Late reports at once, they will all be added to the current Unsubmitted Congregation Field Service Reports.
Remarks
These notes will appear when printing the S-21 Publisher Record Cards. This can be used for Hour credit, such as Bethel volunteer work or attending the Pioneer Service School.
Auxiliary Pioneers (AP)
Tick AP if the publisher was an Auxiliary Pioneer for the month. This will automatically add “AP” to the Remarks, which are visible when printing.
- Note: AP must be ticked for the Congregation Field Service Report (S-1) to accurately reflect the Auxiliary Pioneers records.
Continuous Auxiliary Pioneers
If a publisher is set under Person Spiritual as a Continuous Auxiliary Pioneer, then AP will be automatically ticked for all future months. If they stop serving as a Continuously Auxiliary Pioneer, AP will be automatically unticked for all future months.
However, if the person has been serving as a Continues Auxiliary Pioneer for a long time, or there are other data problems, future months may not be ticked as AP. To fix, under Person Spiritual please set the person’s Pioneer status to No, then back to Continuous Auxiliary Pioneer.
Congregation Records Retention
New World Scheduler strictly follows the branch Congregation Records Retention Policy. We must remain obedient to direction given.
Congregation’s Publisher Record (S-21) for an active publisher are retained for the current service year and for the previous service year only. (see sfla).
For your reference, the current service year starts in September and ends in August of the next year.
For example:
- On September 1st, 2022, the current service year is 2023 and runs from September 2022 – August 2023 and the previous service year is September 2021 – August 2022.
- On August 30th, 2022, the current service year is 2022 and runs from September 2021 – August 2022 and the previous service year is September 2020 – August 2021.
When a publisher is set as Inactive their last Publisher Record is saved, regardless of time.
Averages
Averages are calculated based on how many months of the service year have already passed, as well as the Person Spiritual > First Report field.
NW Publisher app
If you have enabled the NW Publisher app, publishers can submit their Field Service Reports directly via the App. Alternately, Group Overseers can be set as Delegates to enter Publisher Reports.
See NW Publisher app Help for more information
Common Questions and Problems
Please carefully re-read the Averages section above.
Averages are calculated based on how many months of the service year have already passed, as well as the Person Spiritual > First Report field.
Please ensure the First Report field is accurate. This should be the date the publisher first started preaching, i.e. became an Unbaptised Publisher. This date MUST be before their Baptism date, and there should be no Publisher Reports before that date.
New World Scheduler strictly follows the branch Congregation Records Retention Policy. We must remain obedient to direction given.
Congregation’s Publisher Record (S-21) for an active publisher are retained for the current service year and for the previous service year only. (see sfla). Obsolete data is removed on January 1.
For your reference, the current service year starts in September and ends in August of the next year.
For example:
- On September 1st, 2022, the current service year is September 2022 – August 2023 and the previous service year is September 2021 – August 2022.
- On August 30th, 2022, the current service year is September 2021 – August 2022 and the previous service year is September 2020 – August 2021.
When a publisher is set as Inactive their last Publisher Record is saved, regardless of time.
There are many ways to do this, depending on your preference:
In New World Scheduler
- In New World Scheduler, the congregation Secretary or his assistant can enter field service reports. They can use either the Congregation Field Service Report > Publishers or Persons > Publisher Records views.
- In New World Scheduler and after enabling Congregation Sharing, each Group Overseer or Assistant can enter their group field service reports. They can use either the Congregation Field Service Report > Publishers or Persons > Publisher Records views.
- In New World Scheduler, the congregation Secretary or his assistant can click the Send Field Service Collection to Group Overseers Quick Step.
- In New World Scheduler, the congregation Secretary or his assistant can Print or Email the Send Field Service Collection to Group Overseers report to Group Overseers.
Using the NW Publisher app
- Using the NW Publisher app, each publisher can submit their own field service report. The Congregation Secretary or Group Overseer can then Import this into New World Scheduler
- Using the NW Publisher app, a Group Overseer can be set as a Delegate for other publishers, and then submit field service reports for these publishers.
A reactivated publisher is any publisher who has not reported any hours for 6 months or more, and then reports more than 0 hours of field service.
There is nothing special you need to do with reactivated publishers.
As is the same with all publishers, if it is known they did not report any time for a month, the hours should be set at 0, and not left blank. Blank means the report is missing.
A Service Year runs from September to August.
For example, the 2023 Service Year runs from September 2022 to August 2023.
Use the Credit field for any “credit hours” for pioneers (e.g. Bethel service, LDC, Construction, Theocratic Schools, etc)
- Important Note: You should also enter the reason for the credit in the Remarks field. Since different credit is counted differently (e.g. “approved assignments” can not exceed 75 hours per month, whereas “theocratic schools” credit has no limit, see sfl 9:13), New World Scheduler will not apply any limiting to the credit . It is up to the Service Committee to do this when checking Regular Pioneers hours.
For publishers who would like to report less than 1 hour without specifying the number of minutes, please enter 0.1 hours.
- Note: If publishers are using NW Publisher app, they can select Less than 1 hour when submitting their Field Service Report. This will be imported into New World Scheduler as 0.1 hours.
Additional Help
- Persons Help
- Person Information
- Person Emergency Contacts
- Person Away Periods (holiday)
- Spiritual Information
- Assign privileges, roles and duties to Persons
- Person Publisher Records
- Publishers check their own Contact and Emergency Contact details
- Import Persons
- Transfer or Export Persons
- Move In, Move Out or Delete Persons
- User Access