BMLT Video Administration Guide -Editing Meetings

In order to start editing meetings, you need to first log into the root server.

When you were first made an administrator, the BMLT Server Administrator gave you three different things:

1. A URL to the Edit Server (the "root" server)
2. A login ID
3. A password

You use these to log into the server in order to make changes to the meeting list.

You begin by pointing your Web browser to the root server. Editing meetings is done at the root server, not the one on your local site (which is called a "satellite server").

Once there, you will be presented with a fairly standard-looking search
page, except the background will be dark, and there will be a link at the
top of the page that says "Log In." You will use this link to
log in. You have to log in every time you edit meetings. This is required
for good security. With browser caching, this isn’t such a big deal.

Once you’ve logged in, the search page will look almost the same, except that the choices at the top of the page will have changed. While you are logged in, your meeting searches will let you edit meetings in your Service Body.

Once logged in, you can do regular meeting searches in order
to find meetings. These work just like standard searches. In most
cases, you will probably want a list view of the results, as that
is more useful for adminstrators.

Notice how only three meetings in the search results allow the logged-in user to edit. Only meetings that you are allowed to edit will show up with the "Edit" links in the rightmost column.

The Advanced Search has a couple of additional options for logged-in administrators. These appear at the bottom of the page. They are a popup menu that allows you to filter for "unpublished" meetings, "published" meetings, or a combination of both, and a popup menu that allows you to download the search results as a Comma-Separated Values (CSV) file. This file format is useful for importing the results into most databases and software programs.

Meetings in the BMLT can be "published" or "unpublished." "Unpublished" meetings will not show up in searches by regular users of the site. They are hidden meetings. They will show up for you, once you have logged in. "Unpublished" meetings can be searched for, just like any other meeting. This makes them different from deleted meetings. They haven’t gone anywhere; they are just hidden.

You can edit a meeting two ways: One way is that, at the bottom of a meeting’s More Details window, there will be an "Edit" link. This only appears in meetings that you are cleared to edit. You can also click on the "Edit" link at the far right of the List View.

In many cases, you will know the name of the meeting, and will want to edit that meeting. The following video demonstrates how you may accomplish this with a basic text search.

It’s a good idea to put a meeting you are working on into the "unpublished" state before you start editing it. You do this by unchecking the "Meeting is Published" checkbox, and then clicking on the "Submit Changes" button.

This video shows how you might change the start time of a meeting that you are editing. Remember that the time is given in military (24-hour) time, so be careful to get the hour right.

The BMLT records every change made to each meeting, and
saves the last few (the default number is five edits). You can
go back and undo edits by reverting the meeting to the state it was in before
an edit. This is done using the Change History at the bottom of the Edit
window.

This video shows how you might change the duration of a meeting that you are editing.

Meeting locations are specified by the map coordinates of that meeting. this video shows how you use the map to locate the meeting exactly where you want. You can enter an address into the Google Bar at the bottom, left of the screen. However, the red matker is not the same as the meeting marker, which is blue. You can click around the red marker to put the blue marker there.

The video shows using the satellite view to place the marker exactly on the door to the church where you enter.

Most of the data about a meeting is kept in optional "Data Items." These include things like the meeting name and the address. Setting the map does not automatically create a text address. You need to do that separately.

This video shows how you create a new meeting, and add all the initial data. It then shows how that meeting appears in a search, then it shows you how to delete the meeting.

This is a fairly long video, but it shows you a lot about how to edit meetings. Note that new meetings are created "unpublished," and with no optional data items. Until a location has been selected, the data items have been added, and the meeting has been published, the meeting will not show up in searches.

Note that a new meeting is created in the database, once you have clicked on "Create New Meeting." If you decide that you don’t really want the new meeting, IT MUST BE DELETED.

One common problem is when meetings switch Service Bodies, or are created by the wrong Service Body. The solution for this issue is not to create new meetings in the proper Service Body, and delete them from the incorrect one. Instead, you should contact your Regional or Server Administrator, and ask them to switch the Service Body. It is much easier, and less prone to error.

This last item is fairly important. In many installations of the BMLT, users can contact the administrators responsible for meetings ("Contact Us About This Meeting" link in the More Details window for a meeting). It’s quite important that they have a valid, responsive email address that is checked fairly often. Many people will use this form to send "I need help!" messages; not just meeting questions and corrections. It’s important that the email address be checked often, and by Trusted Servants that can answer these properly.

You can also change the password here, but make sure that it is OK with your Service Body to do so. Also, PLEASE don’t pick insecure passords like "123456." In most modern browsers, it is possible to cache passwords (Form auto-fill). This is preferable to having an insecure password.