Why Forums? Some practical examples

forum_admin — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 13:57:20 GMT

Welcome to the ParishSOFT Forums!

The question has been asked: What is the purpose of the ParishSoft User Forum? In addition, a few procedural questions were asked about the forums. I thought all may benefit from the answers.

What is the purpose of a forum?

The term 'forum' is Latin and refers to the town square or marketplace. Like today, a forum is where the free exchange of ideas occurs. With technology available to us via the internet, forum discussions can take place with groups of people from diverse locations. For the ParishSoft user community, our common mission and business is what draws us together; and the forum is intended to be the place where those ideas are exchanged.

Can you give a practical example?

Yes. Ryan from St. Peter's parish in Springfield wonders why his system performance seems to have suddenly dropped off. He wonders if it might be ParishSoft related and if others are experiencing the same problem. So, he posts the question to the forum community. Shortly thereafter, Erin from Los Angeles posts that she too is experiencing the same slow down. Others post their insight and on the 4th posting, Janet from Our Lady of Hope in Attica shares that an update from Symantec was discovered as the source of the slowdown and provides steps to the community for how to adjust Symantec to stop the slowdown while still keeping the proper level of system security.

Must a posting be only about ParishSoft software?

No. Another example may help here: Sarah from St. Isidore in Kalamazoo asks "can anyone give some insights on how to reduce the inconsistancies we are finding in our offertory counting? We seem to have an undercount everyweek." Dcn. Larry from Tucson notes that they had a similar issue and they spent considerable time defining and enforcing the whole money-handling process from collection to bank-deposit; then he posts the process and some of the things they discovered while enforcing it. It turned out that one of the counters was lacking in the skills needed, they only served twice a month, and thus it explained the pattern. That person was given a different ministry, which is working out well, and their counts can now be reconciled properly. Such a process, noted Dcn. Larry, can also be effective in avoiding fraud or the temptation for wrongdoing. Later, two other parishes post adjustments and insights to the process based on their particular diocese's regulations, along with insights on why the particulars are in place. In reading the postings, many parishes gained valuable knowledge and were able to save money and close administratvie loopholes thanks to the sharing of information via the ParishSoft forums.

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Why Forums? Some practical examples