GiftQuest

GiftQuest generates a measure of the relative intensity of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit listed in Romans 12:5-8 for one or more individuals based on their responses to a series of questions in a GiftQuest Spiritual Gifts Inventory. The seven intensities for an individual comprise their Spiritual Gift Profile. Once the Inventory data for one or more individuals is entered in the program, a number of reports can be generated that are useful in helping individuals discover and understand their spiritual gifting or "spiritual personality." The program also generates two sets of aptitude measures based on Spiritual Gift Profiles: Gift-Aptitudes for Local Church Ministries and Gift-Aptitudes for Secular Vocations. These measures are useful in ministry placement of individuals in the local church as well as vocational placement based on spiritual gifting.

Once the Inventory data for most or all of the individuals in a local church or other organization, such as a home fellowship, are entered in a GiftQuest database, a number of congregational reports can be generated based on the Spiritual Gift Profiles and Gift-Aptitudes of the individuals in the organization. For example, a congregational report can be produced which lists the individuals in the organization in descending order by their Gift-Aptitude for any of approximately 150 typical local church ministries. This could be useful, for example, in selecting those in the organization most suited to serve in a particular ministry, such as Small Group Leader, based on their Spiritual Gift Profile. GiftQuest 2 can be adapted to the ministry names used in a local church or ministry by customizing ministry titles.

Program Modules

The GiftQuest program is actually comprised to three modules: (1) the Main Module (gqwin.exe), (2) the Database Module (gqdb.exe), and (3) the Print Module (gqprint.exe). Only the Main Module is designed to be executed directly by the user. The Database Module is invoked by the Main Module when the command "Run GiftQuest" is selected. The Print Module is in turn called by the Database Module when a report is requested (see Report Generation.)

GiftQuest Database

(see Using the Database Module - Database Module Overview)

The following is a step-by-step description of entering the data and generating a report for a person. It is assumed that you have started the program and are in the Main Module (window title "Run GiftQuest".) For an overview of GiftQuest 2, see Program Overview. For help on getting help in GiftQuest 2, see Getting Help.

1. To enter data for a person, click the "Run" button (or select File|Run from the menu.) The Database Module will run.

2. Click Add to add a new record and begin entering data. For a more detailed description of entering data, see Entering and Editing Data.

3. After you enter all the data for the person, you will be returned to the first screen for the record you just entered. If the data were entered correctly, you will be able to see the intensity percentages for each gift and the gift profile for the person in the lower part of the screen.

4. To generate a report for this person, select Report and Personal. Next, select the type of report you want to generate (Summary, Complete, New Member, Pastor). A window entitled "GiftQuest Report Setup" will appear momentarily. For more a more detailed description of report generation, see Report Generation.

5. In the GiftQuest Report Setup dialog, note the selected printer. This will be the default Windows printer. You may select another printer by clicking Setup. For a complete description of the Report Setup form, see Report Setup.

6. Click OK to preview the report. A Report Preview window will open. Maximize the window.

7. You may now preview the report by using the toolbar buttons to move from page to page. The tool bar also has zoom buttons, a print button and a close button. For a complete description of the Report Preview form, see Report Preview.

8. To print the report on the selected printer, click the print button. Another Report Setup dialog will open allowing selection of the number of copies and page ranges to print. It is also possible to enter a standard Print Setup dialog if necessary.

9. Click OK to send the report to the printer.

10. Close the Report Preview window before returning to the Database Module. It is necessary to exit Report Preview before another report can be generated.

Help is available within all three of the program modules. The Main and Print Modules use a standard Windows help system help file (what you're reading right now). You can access this help file by selecting Help|Contents from the Main Module menu or by pressing the F1 key while in one of these modules. Help text often contains "jumps" to other help topics. Jumps are green, underlined text strings. To go to a jump topic, click on the jump text. To return to where you were before the jump, select Back from the tool bar. For example, to jump to the Program Overview topic, click the following green, underlined text: Program Overview. To get back here, click Back in the Program Overview topic. Go ahead and try it!

The Database Module has its own context-sensitive help system which can be invoked by selecting More|Help from the menu or by pressing the F1 key at any time while in that module. To see a list of help topics for the Database Module, select More|Help and a window will pop-up entitled "GiftQuest Database [Version]" then press F1. You can navigate this list using the Up and Down cursor keys. To go to the help text for a highlighted topic, press Enter.

A complete user's guide is available online from Start|Program by selecting "Online User's Guide" in the GiftQuest 2 program group.

A description of the Roman's 12 spiritual gifts, as used in GiftQuest, is also available online by selecting "Spiritual Gift Seminar" in the GiftQuest 2 program group.

This help file can only invoked from within the Main and Print Modules. However, this file also contains summary help for the Database Module. To access this help file while using the Database Module, access it from either the Main or Print Modules and leave it active before running or switching to the Database Module.

The Database Module is one of three program modules in GiftQuest 2. It is invoked by the Main Module when the command "Run GiftQuest" is selected. It is not intended to be run stand-alone. This module is the "heart" of GiftQuest which allows the entry and editing of data, analysis of data and creation of reports (see Report Generation.) The functionality of the Database Module is accessed through its menu system.

A GiftQuest database consists of a set of files in a directory referred to as a "database directory" or "database folder." A database stores the GiftQuest Inventory data for one or more people. GiftQuest is installed with two databases named "data" and "sample" which correspond to two directories. The default database is "data" residing in the directory:

"d:\[Application Directory]\data" where "d" is the installation drive and "[Application Directory]" is the directory GiftQuest 2 is installed in. In the case of a default installation, the database path is "c:\gq2\data" for GiftQuest 2 and "c:\gq\data" for an upgrade of GiftQuest 1.x to 2.x. Data is stored in the database as "records." Each record contains the data for one person.The default database contains one sample record. The sample database contains actual inventory data for several people (only their names have been changed.) The sample data, in the case of the default installation, is contained in "c:\gq2\sample."

The current database directory is displayed in the text box labeled "Current Database" in the Main program module. You can make another database current by selecting another database (click File|Select Database in the Main Module.)

Records in the current database can be ordered in a variety of ways in the Database Module to allow meaningful analyses of the gift intensities and Gift-Aptitudes of the individuals in the current database.

For help on maintaining and correcting problems in GiftQuest 2 databases, see Database Maintenance and refer to the help system in the Database Module.

A GiftQuest database consists of a set of files in a directory referred to as a "database directory" (see GiftQuest Database in Program Overview.) There are cases when it might be advantageous to have multiple databases.

To create a new database, first create a subdirectory with a valid MSDOS subdirectory name of 1 to 8 characters using Windows Explorer. It is suggested that you create new database directories under the main application directory. For example, a pastor may want to create a separate database for those he counsels who are not members of his congregation. To create such a database, select a valid MSDOS subdirectory name such as "counsel". Create a subdirectory named "counsel" under the application directory giving "c:\gq2\counsel" (assuming the application directory is c:\gq2).

Next, run GiftQuest. Select File|Select Database. The "Select Database Directory" dialog will open. Select the drive and new subdirectory you created above--in our example, the subdirectory "counsel" under the gq2 directory on drive c:. Click "OK". You will be given an opportunity to designate the new database as your default database the next time the program runs--click "Yes" to do so, or "No" to only use the new database during the current execution of the program. You will be returned to the "Run GiftQuest" window. Note that the path of your new database will appear under "Current Database." At this point there are still no actual database files in your new database directory. To create the new database files and begin entering data, click "Run." The GiftQuest Database module will run and will ask you to confirm that you want to create new database files. Press "Enter" to select "Yes." A new, empty database will be created. To enter the data for the first person, select "Add" to begin entering data (see Entering and Editing Data.)

To select another database (make another database "current",) you must be in the Main Module (window title "Run GiftQuest") and the Database Module must not be running. Select File|Select Database. The "Select Database Directory" dialog will open. Select the drive and subdirectory of the database you want to switch to. If there are GiftQuest database files in the directory you select the string "GiftQuest Database Files Found!" will under the directory tree box. If you are selecting a new database directory, that string will not appear. Click "OK". You will be given an opportunity to designate the database selected as your default database the next time the program runs--click "Yes" to do so, or "No" to only use the database during the current execution of the program. You will be returned to the "Run GiftQuest" window. Note that the path of database selected will appear under "Current Database."

To use the new database, click "Run" to start the Database Module. If the Database Module can find no GiftQuest database files in the selected directory, you will be given the opportunity to create a new database (see Creating a New Database.) You are now ready to use the newly selected database.

Spiritual Gift Inventory data is entered and edited in the GiftQuest Database Module which is invoked by either clicking the "Run" button or File|Run in the Main Module. The following is an overview of entering and editing data in the Database Module.

There are two ways to enter the data in the Database Module: (1) fill out a paper copy of the GiftQuest Spiritual Gifts Inventory and then enter the data from the paper inventory form into the program through the Form data entry option or, (2) enter data directly into the program using the Interactive data entry option.

Once data is entered for a person, it can be modified by navigating to the data record for that person and selecting Edit from the menu (see Database Menu System.)

To enter a new data record, select Add from the menu, which add a new blank record to the database and place you in Edit mode. There are three data entry forms or screens that must be completed. The directions for moving from screen to screen appear on a line at the bottom of the form. The screens are designed to be filled in sequentially and when the last field on a screen is completed, you will be automatically advanced to the next page.

On the first two screens, pressing the Tab or Enter key will advance the cursor to the next field. To back up to a previous field, either use the mouse or press Shift-Tab.

To enter data in the "Notes" field on screen 1, move the cursor to that field and press Ctrl-Home which will open up a window for entering free-form notes or remarks about the person. When you are finished entering your notes, press Ctrl-End to save and return to screen 1. Note that the word "memo" in the Notes field will appear in lower case if there is no text in the field and in upper case if note text has been entered. Also note that text in the Notes field is for documentation only and cannot be printed on reports.

When the last field is completed on Screen 2 or if Page Down (PgDn) is pressed on Screen 2, a dialog will appear allowing selection of the method of data entry to use in entering the data in Screen 3 (referred to as "ranking data"). The default data entry method, which will be selected by simply pressing the Enter key, is "Form" data entry. This is the method of choice for entering data from an inventory form. It is also the fastest method of entering the ranking data. The other method for entering ranking data is "Interactive," which is the method to use if you are entering data directly into the program without using an inventory form.

Please note that the form data entry method employs the use of the number keypad on your keyboard in a special way to allow the ranking data to be entered very quickly. Numlock must be turned on, if it is not on already, to use this feature. For help in using this feature, press F1 while in Form data entry mode.

For help while in the Database Module, select More|Help and F1 to select from a list of help topics or press F1 at any time for context-sensitive help (see Getting Help.)

For a more detailed explanation of entering ranking data, refer to the Online User's Guide.

The functionality of the Database Module is accessed through its menu system. The primary menu appears as a horizontal bar menu near the bottom of module's window. The bottom line in the module's window displays a brief description of the menu item currently selected.

Menu items can be selected by left-clicking the item with the mouse, moving the menu highlight to the item with the keyboard cursor keys and pressing Enter, or by pressing the highlighted letter in the menu item.

Additional menu items are contained in a secondary menu accessed by selecting More (see below.) The secondary menu appears at the top of the module's window.

The menu system is structured as follows:

Add- Add information for a new person

Edit- Modify information for the current person

Delete- Delete all information for the current person

Top- Go to first record in database based on current sort order

Bottom- Go to last record in database based on current sort order

Next- Go to next record based on current sort order

Previous- Go to previous record based on current sort order

Find- Find person by LASTNAME FIRSTNAME

Search- Search for record having search string in any field

View- Tabular view of database based on current sort order

Order - Pop-up menu to select order of records

Report

Personal

Summary - Generate Summary report for current individual

Complete - Generate Complete report for current individual

New Member - Generate New Member report for current individual

Pastor - Generate Pastor's report for current individual

Congregational - Generate tabular report for all individuals in database based on current order

More

File - Database Maintenance functions

Append - Append records from another GiftQuest database

Recalculate - Update gift intensities for all records in database

Rebuild Indexes - Re-indexes database

Pack - Remove records that are marked for deletion

Configure

Ministries - Customize ministry titles

Help - Access help

Quit - Exit Database Module

This section applies to the Database Module. The data in the current database can be ordered in a variety of ways by choosing Order on the menu. The order of the records in the database not only affects the order they are accessed while navigating through the database, but, more importantly, affects how the data appears in the View window (View on the menu) and in Congregational Reports (see Report Generation.)

There are four ways to order the data:

Name Ascending alphabetical order by last and first names of persons whose data is in the database (this is the default order.)

Gift Descending order by the intensity of the spiritual gift of your choice.

Gift Profile Ascending alphabetical order by the 7-character string formed by the firstletters of the 7 gifts in descending order by gift intensity. For example, if the gift with the highest intensity is Giving, the next gift in intensity isServing, then Mercy, Exhortation, Teaching, Administration and last, Perception, the Gift Profile sort string would be GSMETAP. This ordering groups persons with similar gift profiles together.

Church Ministry Descending order by Gift-Aptitude for the church ministry of your choice.

Secular Vocation Descending order by Gift-Aptitude for the secular vocation of your choice.

Report generation is initiated in the Database Module by selecting Report from the menu. There are two types of reports: Personal and Congregational. Before any report can be generated, Spiritual Gift Inventory data for at least one person must be entered through the Database Module. A Personal Report presents an analysis of the Spiritual Gift Inventory data for the person whose data record is currently being viewed in the Database Module. There are four Personal Report types to choose from: Summary, Complete, New Member, and Pastor. For a description of each report type, refer to the User's Guide or simply generate and preview each report type for a person.

When a Personal Report is initiated, the Print Module runs and the GiftQuest Report Setup dialog opens (see Report Setup.) It is suggested that reports be previewed before being printed (see Report Preview.) This will allow you to verify that the report is what you desire before sending it to the printer.

Congregational Reports present comparative analyses of spiritual gift data for all persons represented in the current database. These reports reflect the current sort order of the records in the database (see Ordering Data.) For example, if the data is ordered by the Church Ministry "Chidren's Teacher," the Congregational Report will list all persons in the database in descending order by the Gift Aptitude for that ministry, which may be useful in selecting a potential Sunday School teacher.

This dialog opens when a report is initiated in the Database Module. It allows the selection of a printer, selection of whether the report is to be sent directly to the printer or previewed on the screen first, and selection of other print options. By default, GiftQuest will print on the default Windows printer. To change printers, set printer properties, change paper size, page orientation or tray selection, click the Setup button.

It is suggested that reports be previewed before being printed (see Report Preview.) This will allow you to verify that the report is what you desire before sending it to the printer.

Related topics:

Report Generation

Report Preview

This dialog allows a report to previewed on the screen before being sent to the printer. The following toolbar buttons are available (from left to right):

Zoom In

Zoom Out

Zoom Page Width

Zoom Whole Page

Previous Page

Next Page

Print

Done (exit)

The percent zoom and the page number can be typed in directly and are activited by pressing Enter.

To print the report, click the print button. Another Report Setup dialog will open allowing selection of the number of copies and page ranges to print. It is also possible to enter a standard Print Setup dialog to change the printer, printer properties, page orientation and paper size and source if necessary.

Click OK in the Report Setup dialog to send the report to the printer.

IMPORTANT: Close the Report Preview window after the report is printed. It is necessary to exit the Report Module before another report can be generated.

Related topics:

Report Generation

Report Setup

The Database Module allows you to rename the local church ministry titles to be consistent with the "language" of your local church.

From the main menu in the Database Module, select More|Configure|Ministries. A dialogue box with an alphabetical listing of the church ministries will open. Note that each local church ministry field contains the ministry title and its corresponding ministry identification number in parentheses. While ministry titles can be changed, ministry identification numbers cannot be changed. Internally, the program only uses the identification number for determining Gift-Aptitude values for ministries. Therefore, a ministry title should only be changed to a name has the same meaning from a spiritual gift viewpoint. For example, it would be appropriate to change "Children's Church Director" to "Children's Church Leader" because "leader" has the same or a similar meaning to "director" from a spiritual gifts viewpoint.

You can navigate among the local church ministry titles by one of three ways.

1. You may navigate among the titles, one title at a time, by moving the selection bar with your keyboard cursor keys. Press [Enter] to select the specific title you wish to change.

2. You may also navigate among the titles by pressing [End] to go to the bottom of the listing, by pressing [Home] to go to the top of the listing, by pressing [PgDn] to go down the listing one screen at a time and by pressing [PgUp] to go up the listing one screen at a time.

3. You may navigate alphabetically by pressing the first letter of the ministry title you are wanting to find. Pressing [t] would move the selection bar to the first ministry title starting with the letter (T).

Example: If you wished to rename "Administrative Board Chairman" to "Trustee Board Chairman" proceed as follows.

Navigate to and select "Administrative Board Chairman." Press [Enter]. A second dialogue box will open listing the current ministry name (From) and the modified church ministry name (To). The cursor will be in the field following (To). Type in the new name ("Trustee Board Chairman") and delete any remaining letters from the previous name.

Press [Enter] to save the change and you will be returned to the Configure menu.

To verify that your change was made, select Configure|Ministries again and navigate to "Trustee Board Chairman." Note the ministry identification number has not changed. This number will remain constant, regardless of how many name changes are performed to this specific ministry. Appendix I of the online User's Guide contains a listing of the default local church ministry titles and ministry explanations. The ministry identification number will allow you to find the original ministry title and description of the ministry.

When you have completed renaming, press [Escape] 3X to return to the main menu.

GiftQuest databases are maintained in the Database Module (see "GiftQuest Database" in Program Overview.) The Database Module provides four database maintenance functions under the File menu. The File menu is accessed by More on the main menu. The functions are:

Append Merge records from another GiftQuest database into the current database. Enter the path of the database you wish to select records from followed by "GQ".

Example: The records you want to append are in the counseling database located in C:\GQ2\COUNSEL.

Type: C:\GQ2\COUNSEL\GQ

Note: The program will check the validity of the path and, if the path is valid, open a dialogue box listing the records in the from database by Lastname, First Name.

Note that the records are not listed alphabetically, but in the order that they were added into the table. The last (bottom) records in the list are the most recent additions. Mark the individual records you wish to append by pressing [Spacebar] for each one. An arrowhead symbol will appear to the left of each record marked. You may unmark a record by pressing [Spacebar] again for the record.

Press [Enter] when finished marking records to complete the Append. GiftQuest will import the selected records and reindex the database.

Recalculate Updates the gift intensities and profiles for all of the records in the current database. This function is included so that existing databases can be synchronized with future GiftQuest revisions and will not be needed until that time. When this menu item is chosen, a status bar appears to chart the progress of the recalculation. If the database has many records, this function will take some time to complete.

Rebuild Indexes Rebuild the indexes of the current database. This function should only be necessary if index files become corrupted. Corrupt indexes are indicated when the Find and Sort options do not work correctly or generate errors or in records appearing to be missing. A series of status box windows will appear to track this process.

If Rebuild Indexes does not appear to correct database problems, a more drastic measure can be taken.

Warning: this action should only be taken by someone who knows how to copy and delete files using the Windows Explorer--failure to do this correctly could result in the permanent loss of all your data. Proceed at your own risk!

Be sure GiftQuest is not running. Open the current GiftQuest database folder in Windows Explorer (default: c:\gq2\data). On the menu for the folder, click View|Details. If you cannot see the file extensions, click View|Folder Options for the folder, then click the View tab and uncheck "Hide file extensions for known file types." Backup the files gq.dbf and gq.dbt to another location on your hard drive, or removeable media that has adequate capacity, in case you accidentally delete them. These two files contain all the data in the database stored in the folder. Delete all of the files in the folder that have an extension of "ind". Verify that gq.dbf and gq.dbt are still there. Close Windows Explorer. Run GiftQuest and click "Run". The database indexes will automatically be rebuilt.

Pack Removes all records marked for deletion from the database. Records that have been deleted in the Database Module are actually only marked for deletion. A record marked for deletion can be unmarked by deleting it again. Records on not permanently removed from the database until the database is Packed. Selecting Pack will result in a screen dialogue box appearing that verifies your selection. Press [Y] to proceed.