One of the things we were asked to look at during our recent churchwarden networking events was the possibility of making available a list of readers and clergy PtOs who would be willing to be contacted to help cover services for those churches in vacancy or in emergencies.

On the face of it, this sounds a fairly straightforward request, and it is one that we have been working on – but the modern world we live in has made this something of a challenge.

The introduction of GDPR (General Data Protection Rules) has meant that we now must not only be careful of whose data we share with whom, but also how we share it – providing printed / printable lists of names and contact details from the data the diocese holds is no longer an option, particularly as lists like that can very quickly become out of date and therefore contravene the GDPR guidance.

This is also why we no longer produce a printed diocesan directory.

So we have had to come up with a long-term, digital solution – one that makes the information available but also keeps the data safe as defined by GDPR.

The only way we can do this is using the diocesan Contact Management System (CMS) and we have been testing it to ensure that we have come up with a solution that works technically.

This is how it will work:

• Each licensed churchwarden can request access to the CMS online (this can take a number of days to process so don’t leave it until the last minute!) Instructions for this are in the attached guide to using the CMS.
• Once logged in to the system, you will be able to search for readers and (soon) Clergy PtOs who are available to be contacted to cover services. You will be able to see where they are based and a small amount of information about how far they might be willing to travel, general availability (eg ‘Only available on Sundays’) etc
• To protect the integrity of the system, you will not be able to export or copy lists from the system
• At the moment, a limited number of readers are included in this search, but we anticipate this growing as the system becomes more widely used. Clergy PtOs are not yet included but we hope to be able to add them soon.

The advantage to readers and PtOs is that they can ask to be added / removed to this search facility with ease, and their information can be updated as is necessary.

The advantage to churchwardens is that you will only see those who wish to make themselves available and that you won’t be working from an out-of-date list.

The advantage to area deans and deanery administrators is that you will no longer need to ask them to help find cover.

The advantage to the diocese is that it means we keep within the law!

Using the CMS – access for churchwardens

► Download this CMS guide as a PDF

Registering for access

First, you need to register for access to the CMS.

This can take a number of days so please don’t leave it till the last minute! You must have your own access – you are NOT allowed to share login details with anyone else.

If you would like to request access to the CMS for this purpose, please:Go to: https://cofeportal.org/ and click on the ‘Register for an account’ link and enter your details, remembering to choose a password that conforms to their requirements, ie it must have eight characters including one capital letter and one number.

Once you have done this, an activation code will be sent to your email address and the email you receive will tell you how to activate your account.

Next, you will need to return to https://cofeportal.org/ and sign in using your email address and password.

Then you should see the following buttons:

Click on the button that says CMS and you will be asked to select your diocese – choose Derby.

Click on the button that says CMS and you will be asked to select your diocese – choose Derby.

The system will now alert our CMS administrator who will check that you are a bona-fide churchwarden and entitled to view the system before granting you access (this is the bit that can take a few days depending on the administrator’s availability).

You should receive an email confirmation when you have been given access.

You will only need to complete this registration process once.

How to search for cover on CMS – step-by-step guide

Once you have been granted access, go to https://cofeportal.org/login

and sign in with your email address and password.

1. Click CMS – Derby

2. On the left, click ‘Diocesan saved searches’

3.Scroll down to 'On-call Readers' (near the bottom of the list) and click the ‘Load’ button.

4. The screen will then show you a list of ALL the on-call readers.

5. If you want to refine the search by deanery, you can ‘remove’ the unwanted deaneries by clicking the ‘x’ next to the deanery/ies you want to omit from the search.

6. There may be more than one page in the list, so click the page numbers to move to other pages.

7. When you have found a reader you would like to see more about, click the ‘open contact’ button next to their details.

8. The screen will then show you that reader’s basic details – but there may be moreinformation for you. So,…

9. Click the tab that says ‘Post history’

10. Find the row that says ‘On-call reader’ and click the ‘Open post’ button associated with it.

You can now see the on-call reader’s specific details (if they have given any) in the ‘Further details’ area.

If you want to look at other on-call readers, DON’T use your browser’s ‘back’ button, but close the two tabs shown so that only the ‘Contact Search’ tab remains.