Frequently Asked Questions

What are the benefits of CyclePRO over paper charting?

• CyclePRO will automatically calculate the fertile and infertile times of a woman's cycle based on the observations that are recorded. This is a great reinforcement of a couple's own calculations, especially when first learning the Sympto-Thermal Method.
• No more need for paper charts.
• Your NFP records are conveniently stored in your computer, right where you conduct many other aspects of your daily life (checking email, online banking, etc.).
• You can easily send charts to your Teaching Couple or NFP consultant if you have any questions.
• Pertinent information is automatically transferred forward to the next chart.
• An Estimated Date of Childbirth is automatically calculated by both the Prem Rule and the Naegele Rule each cycle, which helps with pregnancy discussions and plans.

Is CyclePRO easy to use?

CyclePRO is very easy to use if you have already received NFP instruction from CCL. Users must already know how to observe and record the fertility signs of cervical mucus, basal temperatures, and optionally changes in the cervix. If you have not already received instruction from CCL, either through a class series or the Home Study Course, you should do so before using CyclePRO. Information on NFP instruction through CCL can be found by clicking LEARN in the black navigation bar.

Can CyclePRO be used to learn the Sympto-Thermal Method of Natural Family Planning?

No. The software was developed to be an alternative to paper charting for those who already use CCL's method. Uses must already understand the basics of fertility awareness as taught by CCL. Others who attempt to use CyclePRO will not know how to properly enter observations.

Do I have to record temperatures and mucus observations each day of the cycle?

A computer interpretation of a chart is somewhat different than a human interpretation, and thus, there are some algorithms in CyclePRO that require mucus and temperature recordings on certain days. To ensure that CyclePRO has the data it needs to interpret, you should be sure to start recording fertility observations once the menstrual flow decreases through the start of Phase III. Missing data may hamper the software's ability to provide interpretations.

To illustrate one example, CyclePRO needs a certain number of uninterrupted days of mucus observations to properly identify Peak Day. If there are missing mucus recordings on even one of the required days leading up to an obvious Peak Day (via your human interpretation), CyclePRO will not be able to identify the Peak Day, and thus, will not be able to calculate a Sympto-Thermal Rule or Mucus-Only Rule in that cycle. It would only be able to provide a Temperature-Only Rule interpretation since that does not rely on the identification of Peak Day.

Will CyclePRO interpretations match my own?

In most cases, yes. However, based on the need for CyclePRO to assign specific algorithms to identify certain items (i.e., Peak Day, a thermal shift, etc.), in a few situations CyclePRO will not reach the same interpretation that you might be expecting based on what you learned in class. In these cases it will likely provide a more conservative interpretation or will not provide an interpretation for that specific rule.

Can I input my past cycles?

Yes. While inputting many charts may likely get cumbersome, users switching from paper charts may want to input their charts from the past year so that CyclePRO has the data it needs to automatically update things like "earliest first day of temperature rise," etc. Simply click through "File-Cycle-Create Past Cycle".

Can I print a copy of my chart?

Yes, either click the print icon at the top of the screen, or click through "File-Print".

Note: If your chart contains more than 35 days, you must switch the chart view in order to print the entire chart. To change the view from the 35-day "main chart view" to the 50-day "full chart view," click on the chart icon on the green panel.

Does my Teaching Couple need to have CyclePRO in order to review my files?

No. If your Teaching Couple does not have CyclePRO, click "File-Screen Capture" and you will be prompted to name and save a JPG picture of your chart on your hard drive, which you can then email to your Teaching Couple.

Does CyclePRO run on a PDA (personal digital assistant)?

Not at this time. CCL may provide a PDA version in the future depending on the volume of requests.

Frequently Asked Questions

… of a more technical nature

I installed CyclePRO, but everytime I try to run it I get a dialog box that tells me "Please reinstall CyclePRO."

On Windows, CyclePRO must be installed by a Windows user who has "administrative" privileges. Please un-install and re-install CyclePRO. After re-installing the software, please run the CyclePRO application (by a user with administrative privileges) and enter the license key.

Do you have a Linux version of CyclePRO?

CyclePRO was initially built to run on Windows and Mac with the idea that down the road we may add Linux support. In the future, if we get more than a handful of Linux requests from potential customers, and we see it is cost effective to add Linux support to a new version, we certainly will do so.

I can not open a file after I saved it; I included non-English characters in my data. Does CyclePRO support non-English characters?

No, at this time CyclePRO only supports standard "ASCII" characters and so non-English characters (e.g., ñ or ö) should not be used. In the event that you have saved a file containing these characters you can open a text editor (e.g., Notepad) and replace the non-English character with the closest English equivalent.

I have been requested by technical support to send in a log file off of my Mac. Where do I find this file?

Right-click (control-click) the application, and chose "Show Package Contents". There, the log file can be found.

I'm trying to start a new cycle, but the last week of the month is not visible on the Calendar. What do I do?

First, remember that you can also start a new cycle based on an existing cycle by right-clicking on the date and choosing "New cycle". Therefore, assuming that you have a cycle in CyclePRO that ends on Jan 27 and you would like to create a new cycle beginning on Jan 28, then you can add Jan 28 to the cycle and then right-click on the Jan 28 day and choose "New cycle". That should create a new cycle starting on Jan 28.

But if choosing "New cycle" is not an option in your situation, you can still work around this by choosing the latest date that you can select. For example, if the cycle should begin on Jan 28, 2009 but that date is not visible then choose the latest visible date for the month (ie, Jan 24, 2009). Then add all of the days up until Jan 28 on your chart. Then right-click on Jan 27 (the day before the actual start of your cycle) and choose the "Remove day(s)" option; choose to remove the days "Before".

Alternatively, you could choose the first date in the next month. So continuing with the example of Jan 28, choose Feb 1. Then right-click on the chart and choose "Add day to start of cycle" until you've added all the way back until Jan 28.