Do you love Lutheran Service Builder? Are you excited about new features, changes, and looking forward to the “next big thing” for Lutheran Service Builder? Do you use Lutheran Service Builder often? If so, please read on.

We are currently in the process of selecting congregations to serve as beta testers for Lutheran Service Builder version 2, which is tentatively scheduled for release near the end of this year. To this end, we would like to invite those congregations who are interested to submit an “application” to be considered for the beta testing period. Please read this entire post and follow the instructions carefully to be considered for this opportunity.

What’s a “beta test,” anyway?

A beta test is like a shakedown cruise for a computer program. In a beta period, we distribute partially-completed versions of a program to users who are willing to try it out, and collect feedback from those people to assist our development process. It is very important that users participating in a beta program be interested in the product, able to write descriptions of problems when things go bad, and be willing to accept minor setbacks from time to time when working with unfinished or (potentially) unstable code.

It is one of the more critical stages in the development life of a product. Beta testers should take their responsibility seriously and be interested in making a better product.

What do I need to do?

Here’s what we’re looking for in beta users: we need congregations who use Builder on a regular basis, or who would use it more often if a few pet features were added or problems fixed. Beta congregations should be willing to use the program as their primary version of Builder throughout the testing period. We also need people who are going to file regular reports, complaints, or suggestions throughout the beta period.

The beta will take place in two stages, each lasting three months. In the first three months, we will be working on extending core functionality and adding features to Builder that make sense and are within our design document. Some stuff will make it. A bunch of stuff likely won’t. It’ll be your job to check and see what’s working and give us feedback on how we’re doing.

The second three months will be devoted to bugfixes only. This is perhaps the more important phase of testing. You will be expected to be using Builder on a regular basis and reporting to us when you encounter a problem. We will not be adding new features to Builder during this phase; we will only be fixing stuff that’s broken and cleaning house to make sure that the experience for the rest of our customers is 100% awesome.

You will need a computer running either XP or Vista (Windows 2000 will *not* be supported by Lutheran Service Builder 2). You will also need to have some other software installed, but we’ll help take care of that. You will see and/or hear some things that shouldn’t be talked about in an open forum, so we’ll expect you to not talk about Builder 2 in a public forum until after a specific date. You will also need to have a high-speed Internet connection or access to one for the initial downloads, as they may be quite large. Keep in mind that we’ll be updating Builder as often as once per week during the beta test.

We will leave your existing Builder installation intact, so if you run into problems with 2.0, you’ll be able to go back to 1.X and get your services done – if it comes to that.

So how do I get in on this? I want to help!

Send us an e-mail to lsbsupport@cph.org with the subject “2.0 Beta Application.” In the e-mail, please give us the congregation’s name and mailing address, as well as e-mail and phone contact information and the names of the people who will be using the product.

Please also give us a short, one-paragraph explanation of how you currently use Lutheran Service Builder – then give us another short paragraph on the kinds of things you’d like to see in Lutheran Service Builder in the future.

We’ll take each application into consideration and let you know soon if you’re going to be part of the beta group. Users will be added in “batches,” as we seek to expand the number of congregations using it and offering their feedback.

You’ll get to see what’s coming far in advance and get used to the new version ahead of time. You’ll also get access to some exciting new features before everyone else – but remember that there’s some responsibility in this project.

We look forward to beginning a new development cycle with some fresh faces and new outlooks on the future direction of a revolutionary product.