Tech Forum

I brought this up under this thread, but thought I could open a new thread - Background here: https://tech.lds.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=20235

I suggest that the church rolls out its own cloud as an alternative to members using iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. Tie the folders and sharing system callings only - no personal files. Orphaned files would defaul back to the ward clerk or bishop) Bishop and/or ward clerk callings would also maintain admin privileges to all docs in the ward.

LDS Tools would be able to access and open the LDS cloud original docs via secure server and existing software/apps could open other format such as PDF and presentations. The church could set its own policies regarding use, sharing and content.

All proprietary documents and spreadsheets would be fully collaboration ready for multiple users to edit at once.

We have used Google Drive in the past, but maintaining privileges through calling changes is a pain in the rear.

If you haven't used these cloud platforms before, give it a try. We used ours for agendas, working out callings, tracking things like sacrament meeting speakers, talks and attendance, tithing settlement (sign up sheets ), coordinating weekly interviews (ward calendar never quite seemed as easy to use in our case), etc.

This is an old idea but a good one. The issue for me is that church policy indicates not to use these types of tools but doesn't provide any kind of alternate. There are several open source solutions that could be used, however, this is NOT easy neither will it be fixed. The history has shown that ICS is taxed critically and all it takes is revelation/inspiration/new direction to put projects on major hold that can last years (LCR as an example).

Completely understand. Good reply.

I did do a quick forum search to see if any discussion had occurred on this topic, because I knew I couldn't possibly be the first to want this kind of feature.

The inundation of various country laws and rules would make it near impossible to do, unless going with a platform like AWS, Azure or Google.

I think there's a bigger issue about what kind of information the church is willing to store. Right now that's pretty much limited to the membership record, if they've been HT/VT, and any formal discipline. It's one thing to discuss these issues, it's another to store it in a formal system.