Tech Forum

Our ward currently has all of the callings on a white board in the Bishop's office in organizational categories: Bishop, 1st Counselor and 2nd counselor. When a person is released/called, we move their "magnet name" from the board,etc. This allows us in Bishopric to easily see who has what callings and which callings are vacant and the names of individuals need callings.

Does anyone know if there is an easy electronic database (other than MLS) that they have used to easily track this info? An iphone app would be great. I can create an excel spreadsheet, but I am looking for something very convenient.

I currently use MLSTOOLS for the iphone, but it would be great to have the ward calling chart format. I am looking for something else other than the MLS format. Any suggestions?

you can use the iward iphone app or the istake app is what I use the most because it lets you see everyone in every ward in the stake. it costs to download it but well worth the $7.99 if your stake is using the church's website to the fullest extent.
If your ward or stake does not keep up on the callings then it is useless.
You will need to be a registered user on the stake or ward website because it uses that login to download the information to your iphone.

One way to do it on a PC might be to mirror the layout in the 'Chart of Calls' in the CHI Book 1. Then add the needed fields, can be done in Word or Open Office. That way you get all the standard calls, then you can mark any that are not needed such as a young womens group in a BYU singles ward, and have something that the bishopric can easily go back and forth with the handbook.

This only really pertains to the layout, not the actual database, I think it could prove helpful.

Does the iWard application support a similar type of database setup and can you customize the database layout so that if desired it could match the order of the calls in the CHI chart?

I've heard that at the stake level, MLS had some modeling tools to help work out boundary realignments and such.

I think what would be needed for ward callings, is some wort of ward reorganization modeling tools, either as part of MLS or independent of it. One sticky point for such a tool would be how free-form versus constrained it should be in allowing multiple callings per individual. While this practice is discouraged, it is necessary to do under certain circumstances. Finding the right balance would be tricky.

Another problem is that although your ward uses a particular format for its "ward callings chart," that format might not work well for other units. Trying to create something that works well for most units and is flexible enough and user-friendly enough is ... well ... an intimidating set of requirements to implement. Also trying to transcribe any whiteboard and magnet layout to a user-friendly electronic format is a daunting task.

But the need for such a tool is definitely there.

I need a graph chart showing the latest callings of a WARD organization
Judy A. Gill