jgraham

Here's a nice getting started video that they just posted: YouTube - ReturnAndReport.org - Getting Started

Yes, we are still using ReturnAndReport.org and it continues to be an absolute life-saver. I cannot imagine going back to the old way of collecting home/visiting teaching data. The system requires the person's name and Email address. The rest of the requested information is completely optional (phone numbers, addresses, etc). I would highly recommend ReturnAndReport.org to anyone. John

ReturnAndReport.org does not store any official Church data. Nor does it enocurage or require that data from Church systems be stored within the ReturnAndReport.org system. JG

I've talked to him about that. The problem is that the data needs to be secured. Even though the site only accepts public record information, someone responsible who understands data security needs to maintain the site. If the application were allowed to just be installed anywhere, there would be no control over the security of the data. You might have peope doing things like bringing up the site without SSL or not doing backups, etc... This way, there is a centralized solution that can be managed securely and reliably. By the way, I talked with him about globalization, too. RAR is already globalized... they are just looking for people who will volunteer to do the translations. JG

Exit plans? Why would an exit plan be necessary? If the site went away, we would be forced to go back to the old way of doing things. I pray that this never happens though because it would be tough to go back. Using the ReturnAndReport.org site does not change any Church-imposed procedures. You still enter the data into MLS at the end of the month as you always have. I have spoken to the site operator at great lengths, and he has no plans to discontinue the site until the Church has a comparable tool. JG

hahaha... I'll make that recommendation to the developer.

I've been asked by several members of this community to give you my experience with the ReturnAndReport.org tool. Setup Our group found it very easy to set everything up. I simply went the the returnandreport.org site, clicked on the "Sign Up Now" link and filled out the form. The site Emailed me a temporary password that I used to login. The hardest part was getting the assignments files correct to upload to the site. I used the HT Helper application (available for Windows, OSX, or Linux) to generate my assignments files. Then, I uploaded the assignments files to the returnandreport site. Next, I simply entered my teacher's Email addresses. Since then, the site has been completely automatic. I login when I want to view reports or manually change results. It is as simple as that. Functionality Reporting This tool automatically Emails my teachers and requests that they report their results. The cool thing is that teachers to not need a username and password to login and report. They just need to enter the first part of their Email address after clicking on an encrypted link. After they do this, our Presidency simply needs to fill in the blanks. The teachers also have the ability to enter a comment for us (the presidency) and we receive it in our email. This has drastically increased the communication between the Presidency and our EQ members. The difference we have seen is absolutely miraculous. Our Presidency does a better job of working together to gather the statistics as well as identifying those families who have needs that need to be accomodated. Phone, Maps, and Addresses While editing Home Teaching results, there is a phone icon and a globe icon. Hovering over the phone icon allows you to quickly view a teacher or "being taught's" phone number. Hovering over the globe displays the "being taught's" address. The best part is that clicking on the globe displays a map utilizing Microsoft Bing maps. Custom Contact Types This tool allows us to customize the contact types. So when teachers report, they have the ability to select Visited / Not Visited in addition to "Family Moved" and "Need Presidency Visit." Everything is nicely charted on a pie chart to help us to understand the needs of the families in our ward. Event Scheduler Since we started using the returnandreport site, many great features have been added to it. We now use it for scheduling all our EQ assignments and activities. All I have to do is create an event and then add time slots to that event. I can even specify how many group members are needed for each time slot. Then I can blast an Email to everyone notifying them of the event by clicking a button. The members of my EQ can sign up for the event by clicking on a link and I know instantly how many teachers will be in attendance. It will also automatically email me when someone signs up for an event and it will email all the event attendees when I change an event. This feature is fantastic! File Storage We used to use Google to store files that I want to share with my EQ. Now, we use returnandreport. I can upload files and my teachers can download them when they login to report. Cost The cost is $20 per year, which I think is totally reasonable. I pay for the site personally because the money is not supposed to be taken from any church budget. Trust me... the $20 per year is well worth the convenience and overall benefit that this tool provides to our EQ. Visiting Teaching Yes, the tool also supports Visiting Teaching. In fact, my ward's relief society has gained an even greater advantage in using this tool than our EQ or HP Group have. They love it! Support The site operator is an active Church member and is EXTREMELY dedicated to supporting this tool. In fact, there are several features that I have requested and found that they were added within weeks!! I have the utmost confidence is the intentions and dedication of the site operator. If anyone has any further questions about what ReturnAndReport.org is all about, I'd be happy to help answer them. JG

You don't have to enter the data multiple times and our group has required zero maintenance since it was initially set up. It is possible to stay compliant with Church policy without duplicating any data entry. Like I said before.... try it before you make assumptions and criticize it. JG

You know, it is really funny how people are so eager to say, "it is a waste of time" or make some other negative comment without even trying it out and finding out for themselves. Try using the site as I have.... then make your comments based on facts and real-world experience. The beauty of ReturnAndReport.org is that not every group member has to use it in order for it to be helpful. Those who do not want to report online can do it the old-fashioned way. But anyone who has a computer will find it extremely easy to report online. JG

MarginOfError, While that information was accurate at one time, recently I have learned that the Church has no plans to duplicate the functionality of returnandreport.org. Therefore, it looks as though it will not be going away any time in the foreseeable future. The project the Church is working on is nothing more than an MLS-Rewrite and will not contain any functionality beyond that. Because of this, it seems that most of the community members have lost interest and abandoned the project altogether. These are very discouraging and frustrating developments and it is a real shame, but luckily we have the unofficial returnandreport site to fall back on. JG

I understand your concerns about Church policy. I think it is important to secure Church data, but you have to look at the big picture. How is Home Teaching/Visiting Teaching being handled now? A great percentage of it is being handled through Email. Email is by far the least secure way to transfer anything across the Internet. I guarantee you that more confidential stuff than HT/VT Results are also being handled by Email. I think it is awesome that we now have a far more secure way of handling HT/VT via the Internet. Leaders should absolutely get the consent of their quorum or group ahead of time. I will suggest that some wording be added to the RAR website to encourage this. JG

This is in no way affiliated with the Church. As with any other website, anyone who asks for their name to be removed from the site will be removed. JG

This is not against Church policy. Special efforts have been put forth to ensure that RAR complies with existing Church policy. It is against Church policy to export data from Church systems and upload to a website. The RAR system does not encourage or require anyone to do this and it clearly states that. Only Presidency Members can see the entire list. Those set to an access level of "Teacher" can only see their own assignments. Furthermore, only those who are excited about and feel they would benefit from the RAR system are encouraged to use it. Anyone (Presidency or Teacher) who does not want to use it are encouraged to remove their information from the system and continue to report the old-fashioned way. The last thing the site operator wants is for anyone to be "forced" to use the tool. Rather than speculate as to what could be wrong with the system, I'd encourage anyone to try it out for themselves. If you don't like it, don't use it. JG

You can enter as much or as little information you want to. The minimum information you need is: Teacher Name, Household or Sister Name, Teacher Email Address. You also have the ability to enter phone numbers and home addresses as an option. Some areas seem to be more liberal than others when determining what data they prefer to store. JG

I know the person who maintains the ReturnAndReport.org site and the EQIdeaExchange sites. The only reason they look similar to Church sites is that they were designed hoping that they could become official Church sites. No one is trying to trick anyone. Both sites are unofficial and not related to the Church in any way... except for the fact that people use them to magnify their Church callings. This fact is clearly stated on both sites and no one is trying to get away with anything. Finally, you are not allowed to use your Church budget for ReturnAndReport.org. These sites are optional tools to help magnify your calling if you wish. This is no different than purchasing a "talk on CD" from Deseret Book to use in your class. Hope that helps. We have been using ReturnAndReport.org for 2 years now. It is absolutely awesome and continues to get better as time goes on. I wish the Church would get serious about developing a similar solution that could be official, but they currently have no plans to do so. JG

The site is fantastic. I sure wish I had a great resource like this when I was in the EQ Presidency. JG

I found this preview for returnandreport.org if anyone is interested: Home Teaching Reporting - ReturnAndReport.org (EQ Idea Exchange)

Awesome... thanks for the info. That makes a lot of sense. prockwell: Have you tried returnandreport.org yet? I'm just wondering if your results were as amazing as ours. Our Home Teaching actually increased by 20% - 30%.

I don't think asking about a free service constitutes SPAM. I've been using returnandreport.org for quite some time. I can best describe it as "totally awesome." My only complaint is that we used to be able to upload data from MLS to save us a lot of data-entry time, however the Church apparently has a policy against exporting and uploading data to websites, so we now have to manually enter it. Either way, it still helps us significantly with our Home Teaching duties. Our Relief Society has been using it also with overwhelming success. John