Sign-off and amendments
Everyone — especially Parish, Provincial and Regional Pastors and the Continental Overseer
How a monthly report is reviewed and signed off in turn by the Parish Pastor, the Provincial Pastor, the Regional Pastor and the Continental Overseer, what is locked at each stage, and how to get a signed-off report amended.
Why reports are signed off
To protect the integrity of the church's figures, every monthly report is reviewed and signed off in turn. Once a person has signed off, they can no longer change the numbers. Only the next person in the chain can unlock the report, and every step is recorded in the report's history.
The sign-off chain
| Stage | Who | What they do |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Parish Pastor or Parish Treasurer | Enter the figures and save. The Parish Treasurer clicks Save and ask the Parish Pastor to sign off. (A parish with no Parish Pastor email goes to the Provincial Pastor instead.) |
| 1. Parish Pastor | The pastor of the parish | Reviews the figures and clicks Sign off as Parish Pastor. The report is then locked for the parish. |
| 2. Provincial Pastor | The pastor of the Province | Reviews the parish's report — and may correct it — then signs off. The report is then locked for the Province. |
| 3. Regional Pastor | The pastor of the Region | Reviews — and may correct — then signs off. The report is then locked for the Region. |
| 4. Continental Overseer | The CO | Reviews — and may correct — then gives the final sign-off. After that, nobody in the chain can change it. |
Youth Province: its Regional, Provincial and parish pastor are the same person, so a Youth parish's report goes straight from the Parish Pastor to the Continental Overseer, who reviews and gives the final sign-off.
Area and Zone pastors can see the reports for their parishes and can help enter figures while a report is a draft, but they are not part of the sign-off chain.
Seeing the sign-off level
The sign-off level is shown to everyone who can see the report:
- Draft — not yet signed off by the Parish Pastor
- Parish ✓ — signed off by the Parish Pastor
- Province ✓ — signed off by the Provincial Pastor
- Region ✓ — signed off by the Regional Pastor
- CO ✓ final — final sign-off by the Continental Overseer
You will find it on Submissions (with counts for each level, the next step for each parish and a Your sign-off marker on reports waiting for you), on Enter report, on the Dashboard's Parishes table, beside every parish in the Regional / Province report, on each page of the Parish report (with who signed off and when), and in the Excel downloads.
At the top of every report, the Sign-off panel shows the whole chain with the names of the people who hold sign-off authority at each level, who has signed and when, and what you can do.
Signing off
- Open the report (Submissions › Review & sign off, or Enter report).
- Check the figures. If you are the Provincial Pastor, the Regional Pastor or the CO you may correct them first, then Save changes.
- Click Sign off as … and confirm.
The next person in the chain is emailed that the report is ready for their sign-off. The Parish Pastor's sign-off also needs every statistic to be filled in (0 when there is nothing to report).
What is locked for whom
| Report is at… | Who can change the figures | Who can unlock it (return for amendment) |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Anyone with Submit access to the parish (Parish Pastor, Parish Treasurer, Area/Zone/Provincial pastors) | — |
| Parish ✓ | The Provincial Pastor (while reviewing) | Provincial, Regional Pastor, CO |
| Province ✓ | The Regional Pastor (while reviewing) | Regional Pastor, CO |
| Region ✓ | The CO (while reviewing) | CO |
| CO ✓ final | Nobody in the chain | The Continent administrator |
Asking for an amendment
If a report is locked for you and something needs to change:
- Open the report. In the Sign-off panel, open Request amendment.
- Describe what needs to change and why, then click Send request.
The request is emailed to the next person up — after a Parish sign-off, the Provincial Pastor; after a Province sign-off, the Regional Pastor; after a Region sign-off, the Continental Overseer. After the CO's final sign-off it goes to the Continent administrator, who can unlock it. The request is recorded in the report's history.
Returning a report for amendment
If you can unlock a report (see the table above), open Return for amendment in the Sign-off panel:
- Choose Return to — the level that should correct it (for example Parish — draft).
- Give the reason.
- Click Return for amendment.
The sign-offs above the level you chose are cleared, the people at that level are emailed with your reason, and they correct the report and sign it off again.
The history
Every report keeps a History (in the Sign-off panel): each sign-off, request, return and any change made after a sign-off, with who did it, when, and the reason.
The Continent administrator
The Continent administrator (treasurer) is not part of the chain, but works in the background when the need arises: they can sign off on behalf of any level — for example on behalf of the Continental Overseer — and unlock any report (return it for amendment). Every such action is recorded in the history, and a sign-off on someone's behalf is marked as such.
Once a report has been signed off, its figures are only ever changed through the chain: the next person up corrects them before signing off, or the report is returned to the level that should correct it. The administrator does not change signed-off figures directly.
Who has sign-off authority
- The Parish Pastor recorded for each parish in the Parish Register, the Provincial Pastor of each Province, the Regional Pastor of each Region and the Continental Overseer receive sign-off authority automatically.
- When the administrator creates a parish, Province or Region under Admin › Maintenance with its pastor, that pastor receives it too.
- Only the administrator can give or remove sign-off authority (Admin › Users › Submit, view & sign off). It cannot be given through Invite users.
- Whether a Region's reports go straight to the CO (as for the Youth Province) is set on the Region's page under Admin › Maintenance.
- A parish with no Parish Pastor email (or nobody holding Parish Pastor sign-off authority) goes straight to its Provincial Pastor, who reviews and signs off first; the Parish Pastor step is shown as not required. When the parish's pastor is given an email and access, the Parish Pastor step returns.
My account › My sign-off authority shows your own authority, with who signs off below you and who is above you.