I would like to put in an additional Stake Clerk's opinion. Everything that aebrown said in his post is EXTREMELY valid
There are some very good arguments for giving stake administrators ward-level permissions:
The Handbook gives the stake president specific authority over some of these areas (as kisaac documented) and general authority over all of them.
I whole-heartedly disagree with the response, while it is true the tool doesn't remove the authority, It only makes sense that access at the Stake level is implied.
Stake clerks are specifically responsible for training ward clerks; it's very difficult for them to learn what they need to know in order to provide that training with no access. This is an important issue that seems to be neglected in the current direction of the Church with its leader and clerk web applications. I know I'm going to be asked many questions by ward clerks and others about this new lesson schedule module and I will only have a vague idea how to help them. That's not good.
My Own comment here is that the church has sent out policies, and when you call leader, member and unit support a high priority is given to stake clerks, ward clerks are supposed to funnel up through a stake clerk, who is unable to view/help --> This is my own observation as well, the tools, priorities, seem to go against what I see as a mandate coming down. It makes Stake Clerk's lives very difficult. --> Here is a scenario... Ward Clerk calls Stake Clerk, asks for help, Stake Clerk replies, sorry, I don't have access, I can't see what you see, you'll have to call SLC... Ward Clerk calls SLC, waits on hold a long time because they are not a Stake Clerk, first question from helpdesk, did you talk to your Stake Clerk? Well, I called but he couldn't help me.... Helpdesk, we're need you to work with your Stake Clerk, if he isn't able to help you, please have him call us.
In the specific case of lesson schedules, a stake clerk could provide the first pass at creating priesthood and RS lesson schedules in a way that provides consistency across the stake, then turn over administration to the wards.
So if it's not a huge effort, please consider involving stake administrators in lesson schedules.
I would add additionally, there are stake-level courses that we offer in Family History, Marriage, through LDS Social Services, Know your religion, Institute, etc.. that would be administered at the Stake Level only.
We decided the additional complexity of stake administration was not necessary to give wards the ability to publish a lesson schedule, and so would not be a part of the 1.0 release.
I am personally very interested in who 'we' is, but I realize I'll probably never know. What I hope 'we' is is a collection of Ward and Stake Clerks, experts at MLS from wards and stakes in Utah, but also surrounding areas, maybe some with large boundaries with hours to drive end to end. The perspective would be refreshing I think. Maybe this already happens, but in my experience, a top-down, here's what I'm giving you approach, rather than a bottom-up, what would you like to see approach seems a better thing.
I doubt there is a Stake Clerk in the church that would say... ya... develop it so that only ward clerks have access.