This week marks a pretty big week for WorshipPlanning.com. Early Monday morning version 3.5 graduated from beta release. This is the biggest update WP has undergone since we first went live in 2003. Feedback has been positive over the past few days, though there have been some usage questions by those familiar with the previous version. As we address these questions, we will make the them and their answers available in our new Support Center. Our goal is to make this transition to the new design as smooth and exciting (in a good way) as possible. But there are bound to be some small bumps and hiccups along the way.

To help make the update smooth, we encourage you to give us feedback. Our team is already working on the next minor update…and if you have an enhancement (or fix) you think we need, please let us know!. Just use the “Feedback” link on the page related to your feedback, or simply use support/contact page(s) to let us know. Of course, you can call us as well.

Version 3.5 includes many new features, and a pretty thorough list can be found in earlier blog entries. But we do want to hit on two that were added to version 3.5 just this week.

Key Transposing
If you have put the chords in with the lyrics in your song details, you can now transpose the chords to a new key with just a click. For the time-being, we have a place this tool on the “Lyrics Only” printout of the song details. So to get to it, click on the song (popping up the song details window), then click on the Lyrics Only link in the upper right side of the page. You do have to have the correct original key of the song for this tool to work correctly.

We plan on implement this feature in a more accessible way, but we want to hear your thoughts and suggestions on how.

Support Center
Though there is not much out there right now, the new Support Center will be a place for you to get your WP questions answered and issues resolved. We have plans for video tutorials, FAQ pages, a knowledge base, and a place for you to submit and track issues in the form of “tickets”. Ironically, this is a site we hope you never have to use. But we know that when you need help, the last thing you want is more frustrations trying to get it. Our Support Center will help get your issues resolved fast.

We have created a few additional print-friendly pages for you to check out. The new worship flow printout called “Clean” will display Extra Notes as their own columns, as opposed to placing the notes under the corresponding activity. Also, you can show/hide any of the columns (not just the extra notes) with the click of a link.

We also added a “Set List” printout that simply shows the songs being performed during the service.

To access these printout options, just click on the Printer icon of WP3.5, as you normally would. Instead of being taken to the original print-friendly page, you’ll be taking to a page where you can select the printout page to display.

After much anticipation, the new file upload features have been applied to the Beta version of WorshipPlanning.com 3.5. With this enhancement, churches are able to:

– Upload multiple files per song
– Specify that MP3 type files are “stream only” (and thus cannot be downloaded).
– Link files to Teams.
– Link files to Content Library items.
– Manage ALL their files (services, songs, teams) from a single page appearing as a new “Files” library tab.
– Upload many, many more files (see the next paragraph).

In addition, the way disk space usage is measured is changing. Currently, churches are given 3-30MB of disk space for service file attachments, and up to 10MB per song (in a single file – if subscribing to the Song Files feature). With this new enhancement, disk space usage will be based on files in your files library, regardless of whether they are service, song, or team files. For this beta phase, all churches will have 5GB of disk space. The exact amount of disk space available to you after the beta may vary.

There are a few important details you need to be aware of about this feature. If you have any questions about these, please let us know.

1. This feature will use a new technology required us to migrate the files currently uploaded to a new system. We successfully migrated 99.9% of the files. Most of the ones we were not able to migrate appeared to be uploaded with errors (strange characters in the file name, size of 0 bytes, etc.)
2. Files you upload in the Beta version of WP WILL NOT be available in the older version of WP, including the older version MyWP. Helpers can now access a Beta version of MyWP by logging in to the MyWP site and click on the “Beta” link on the right side.
3. Uploaded files WILL NOT be stored on the WP servers. To allow for larger disk quotas, we are using a third party service that is fast, reliable, and well established.
4. Files uploaded to the older version of WP will not be available immediately on the beta version. We have to run a manual migration process to get files from the old system to the new, which we plan to run every few days.
5. Files deleted from the older version of WP will not be remove from the beta version until we manual do a clean up process.
6. In some cases, the file names have been changed to accommodate requirements of our new system. For example, the # symbol has been replaced with “num”.
7. The largest file size that can be uploaded is 100MB (currently).

Other questions you’ll probably have…

Q: If I didn’t have “Song Files” before, will I have it now?
A: Yes. Now that we have increased disk space, we don’t care if you use that space for song files, services files, team files, or anything else.

Q: Our church paid for Song Files in the past. We will not need to any longer?
A: Yes and No. We will actually be changing our pricing plans in a way that should be simpler and cost effective for you. Rather than getting the extra features like Song Files and 360WP a la carte, there will be various “packages”, which will include a specific number of Planner accounts and disk space (ranging from 100MB to 20GB).

Q: Our church paid for extra disk space for service files that we obviously don’t need now. Can I get a refund?
A: We are still working out the details on how we plan to handle this. The short answer is: we have no desire to keep your money if you feel it can be spent better in other places. As we get closer to the full release of WP3.5, we will work with churches in this situation.

Q: Am I allowed to upload copyrighted files?
A: WorshipPlanning.com provides you a places to store files in the same way a network file-server or flash drive would. Since we do not have the resources to enforce copyright laws, we put the responsibility of “staying legal” on the church. There are several websites that specialize in helping churches with this copy right issue, because it goes well beyond sharing files in preparation for a service. One site worth checking out http://www.churchca.com/.

We have nearly completed the improved file management and increased disk space enhancements for version 3.5. This will include allowing multiple files per song and offering gigabytes (instead of megabytes) of disk space per church. Of course, churches are still responsible for ensuring only files that can be legally shared are uploaded.

Before you begin accessing the WP 3.5 beta, please read the following important information.

The term “beta” in the software industry means it is a version that is largely tested and stable, but may still have a few bugs. In addition, it often means that enhancements and features may still be forthcoming for the “full release” version. We are hoping you will play an important role in informing us of both bugs you encounter, and improvements you’d like to see as you use the site. Every page should have a “Feedback” link on the left side where you can easily give us your comments.

The data is real! Any changes you make to the beta site also affect the data in the older version. So just keep that in mind as you explore the new version. Of course, you are welcome (and even encouraged) to use the beta site for your regular service planning.

Support documentation is coming. If you need help with a feature, chances are we don’t yet have the support documentation on the site to help you out. You are more than welcome to contact us with questions (those questions will help us get the support documentation right). The feedback link is probably your best bet, or email us at beta-support@worshipplanning.com.

My.WorshipPlanning.com pages are not updated…yet. We will likely skip the public beta phase with the MyWP pages. They will be updated to look very similar to the 3.5 beta pages.

Okay. If you have read the above and are ready to get started, please use the link below to get to our new login page. You are welcome to explore (and provide feedback on, if you want) the new “exterior” pages also. If you wish to have others access the beta site, please point them to this blog entry.

http://beta.worshipplanning.com/login2/

For those still thirsty for information about the beta…

How long will beta last? That depends on how well it goes. We are hoping to graduate from beta in 4-8 weeks.

What features have been added?
– Improve look and feel (better colors, icons, etc).
– Drag and Drop service elements – Instead of using the arrow up and down icons, just drag the elements “move” icon to the desired location.
– Copy Worship Elements – You can now copy a worship activity/element to any other (unlinked) service. All the details and notes will be copied with it.
– Home Page – This is your default page when you login. It shows what services are coming up, your next assignments, your custom links (to external websites), and your teams.
– Role icons – assign a graphic icon to a role
– Virtual Stage – Drag and Drop the service roles to setup a virtual stage
– Rehearsal Scheduling – schedule rehearsals for your services (and email the team to notify)
– Teams – Organize people into teams and allow a team leader to schedule/manage them
– People Pictures – Upload a picture for each Planner and Helper
– Person Info Pop-up – Click on a person’s name and see the person’s picture, contact info, and a menu of possible account-related actions.
– Change assignment response of other people – If you have the security access, you can quickly respond to an assignment on behalf of that person.
– Change availability of other people – If you have the security access, you can quickly change the availability dates of other individuals.
– Greatly improved Template Management – Building a template is like building a service.
– Songs Library always one click away – The library pages are more efficient to navigate.
– More accessible admin page – Links to deeper admin pages have been added right on the admin page.
– Customize Quick Links – From the Home page, you can specify various quick links to other websites to appear on most pages in WP.
– Many more security, performance, and cosmetic enhancements.

Are you planning more features before the full release?
We are. The really big feature we are working on now is a great improvement of the file management. We expect to greatly increase the amount of disk space churches can use, and allow multiple files to be attached to songs, services, teams, and maybe other elements of WP.

Other features in development include an improved print-out page, song-key transposing, scheduling people with a multi-week view page, and more!

How can I help you guys, in addition to beta testing and feedback?
We’d be honored to have your prayers as we continue this ministry. These are exciting times.

The beta version should be ready for roll-out sometime this week or early next week. We have decided to not include any support documentation just yet. Our goal is to replace most typed support documentation with video. But we want to only tackle that task once we put the final touches on the pages.

Every page will have a “Feedback” link in the left hand gutter. Hopefully we’ll get lots of great comments and suggestions from everyone testing the site.

A complete Features List will be published (possibly on this blog) once the site goes live.

As part of the many enhancements you’ll soon see on WP3.5, we are beginning a blog to allow subscribers and potential subscribers a glimpse into what is going on behind the scenes at WP.

Currently, we are working like crazy to ready version 3.5 for deployment. It will first roll out as a beta version for existing subscribers to try and (hopefully) provide feedback. As we respond to feedback, we will be finalizing our support documentation (tutorials, FAQs, etc.).

So, keep your eyes peeled…