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Automatic Update of Callings in Organizations to Callings on Member's record

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2011 11:23 am
by captainBDSC
I am a Ward Clerk and just had a meeting with my Stake Clerk. He says that when someone gets a calling it should be recorded in both the callings screens and on the personal record of the individual. I had no idea that a calling needed to be, or even could be, applied right on an a individual record. He says the wards in my stake need to do this so that when the Stake Pres. asks him if so and so has a calling he doesn't have to search through all the different organizations to find out; he just has to search for the member's name.
Anyway, why couldn't MLS be coded to just update both fields automatically? Furthermore, could it be possible to make MLS prompt you to remove the newly called member from a previously held position?

Just a few ideas.
-Brent

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2011 11:46 am
by RossEvans
captainBDSC wrote:I am a Ward Clerk and just had a meeting with my Stake Clerk. He says that when someone gets a calling it should be recorded in both the callings screens and on the personal record of the individual. I had no idea that a calling needed to be, or even could be, applied right on an a individual record. He says the wards in my stake need to do this so that when the Stake Pres. asks him if so and so has a calling he doesn't have to search through all the different organizations to find out; he just has to search for the member's name.
Anyway, why couldn't MLS be coded to just update both fields automatically? Furthermore, could it be possible to make MLS prompt you to remove the newly called member from a previously held position?


I can't imagine what your stake clerk is talking about, although I am not privy to what reports are available in stake MLS. AFAIK, the calling is only recorded once in ward MLS, and it does affect reports that show callings by member or callings by organization.

There used to be a problem with the "classic" website, which required leadership callings to be entered there in addition to MLS. (That shortcoming is becoming moot as that website is phased out.) Perhaps that is the source of confusion.

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2011 12:28 pm
by eblood66
captainBDSC wrote:I am a Ward Clerk and just had a meeting with my Stake Clerk. He says that when someone gets a calling it should be recorded in both the callings screens and on the personal record of the individual. I had no idea that a calling needed to be, or even could be, applied right on an a individual record. He says the wards in my stake need to do this so that when the Stake Pres. asks him if so and so has a calling he doesn't have to search through all the different organizations to find out; he just has to search for the member's name.
Anyway, why couldn't MLS be coded to just update both fields automatically? Furthermore, could it be possible to make MLS prompt you to remove the newly called member from a previously held position?

Just a few ideas.
-Brent

I've certainly never seen any way to enter a calling directly on the individual's record and I'm sure it isn't necessary even if there is some obscure way. On the ward level it's easy to see what callings someone has using the Callings by Member report. I'm not very familiar with the how the Stake MLS works but based on the test data installation it doesn't look like that report is available. I can see how that would make it hard to see what callings someone has in MLS.

Fortunately, there are now two online tools that make it easy to do. The Leader Portal has a member lookup ability that shows the entire membership record online including all callings the member has. The stake could also use CDOL. Positions in CDOL aren't organized by member but you can expand all organizations and use the browser search function to search for specific members.

You may want to point your stake clerk to those resources. I'm pretty sure there is no way to do what he's asking.

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2011 12:46 pm
by aebrown
captainBDSC wrote:He says that when someone gets a calling it should be recorded in both the callings screens and on the personal record of the individual.

As previous responses indicate, there is no way to update the callings on an individual membership record. But callings are indeed shown on an individual record -- they appear on the first tab ("Individual") in the third section of the tab. However, you still have to enter the callings in the usual way (under Organizations) and then the callings will appear there on the individual record.

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2011 12:56 pm
by eblood66
aebrown wrote:As previous responses indicate, there is no way to update the callings on an individual membership record. But callings are indeed shown on an individual record -- they appear on the first tab ("Individual") in the third section of the tab. However, you still have to enter the callings in the usual way (under Organizations) and then the callings will appear there on the individual record.

Ahhh...that's where it shows on an individual record. I was looking for a separate tab (like in the Leader Portal) and didn't look at the first tab in detail. So it should be very easy to look at in stake MLS as well.

Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 11:12 am
by mahgig
It should also show member callings on their individual online profile page in addition to MLS.

Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 11:59 am
by jdlessley
mahgig wrote:It should also show member callings on their individual online profile page in addition to MLS.
Have you provided this request through the feedback link at the website? Requests made in these forums cannot be assured of reaching the developers/programmers. Using the feedback link is the best communication method we have to give input to the development teams.

Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 1:41 am
by captainBDSC
Thanks to all who have replied!

I have printed your replies and will share them with my Stake Clerk...

Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 2:46 pm
by kisaac
captainBDSC wrote:when the Stake Pres. asks him if so and so has a calling he doesn't have to search through all the different organizations to find out; he just has to search for the member's name.
aebrown wrote:But callings are indeed shown on an individual record -- they appear on the first tab ("Individual") in the third section of the tab. However, you still have to enter the callings in the usual way (under Organizations) and then the callings will appear there on the individual record.
It seems that perhaps the stake leader can get what he needs already. I wonder if some of your wards do not have accurate MLS listings, and that is what he was referring to, but using the wrong words to describe it? Some may also not be familiar with the new directory:

[INDENT] A recent stake leader contacted each ward in our area to ask them to ask their ward clerk for a list of names and phone numbers of all the workers in primary callings, and email it back to her.

When my wife got the request, she instead forwarded her a link to the lds.org "directory," and the stake leader responded that it is exactly what she needed, and she hadn't been aware that she had access to all the wards directories of callings from her computer!
[/INDENT]
Some wards may not have reliable MLS callings listings, depending on their past practices, and this MUST change!

Some people may still be looking at "classic" website lists, not realizing in many areas these are no longer updated by clerks that know about the new directory. In our ward, we've "blanked out" our classic directory to avoid this confusion.

Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 2:57 pm
by aebrown
jdlessley wrote:
mahgig wrote:It should also show member callings on their individual online profile page in addition to MLS.
Have you provided this request through the feedback link at the website? Requests made in these forums cannot be assured of reaching the developers/programmers. Using the feedback link is the best communication method we have to give input to the development teams.
I think what mahgig was saying is that it does already show the callings on the individual online profile in the Member Lookup of the Leader & Clerk Resources on lds.org, for those leaders and clerks who have access to that (assuming, of course, that the callings were properly entered in MLS).

It seems most likely to me that "individual online profile page" refers to the Leader Tools, since the Member Lookup there could reasonably be described that way. It seems far less likely to be referring to the Directory, since there is no individual page on the Directory at this point.