Reporting HT stats to the Stake?

Discussions around using and interfacing with the Church MLS program.
rmaughan
New Member
Posts: 32
Joined: Mon Feb 05, 2007 10:47 am
Location: Colorado Springs

Reporting HT stats to the Stake?

#1

Post by rmaughan »

I did some searching on this topic, but did not find an answer to my question yet, so I'll ask it here.

I'm a Stake Clerk and I'd like to hear how other wards/stakes are rolling up their HT stats to the Stake leaders?

In years past, a member of the stake presidency has required each quorum to fill out an excel spreadsheet template and email it to him. Needless to say, we have had VERY inconsistant results with the quorums entering their HT stats into the ward MLS computer. There were a lot of complaints by the quorums of double entry and we even found that the numbers in the spreadsheet didn't match those entered in MLS.

Our new Stake Presidency would like to make some changes and make sure that each ward is consistently using MLS for reporting their HT. The problem is that there is very little information provided for each ward in the Stake MLS. All that is available is percentages without the ability to view any of the detailed numbers that were used to calculate them.

So, we are leaning towards asking each quorum/ward to print a report from MLS with their stats and submit that to the Stake. Unfortunately, it looks like the printed report only shows the percentages and not the household visit details (sigh).

I'm thinking that since we can't "print" the details of the HT stats, that we should have each quorum/ward cut-n-paste (CTRL+SHIFT+C) the contents of the HT statitics screen and paste it into a spreadsheet to print or email to the Stake. In addition, they could cut-n-paste details in the spreadsheet about the households that haven't been visited in X months or are unassigned -- depending on what is wanted by the Stake leaders.

Sorry for the long winded-ness, but I'd like to hear what others are doing. Thanks!
lajackson
Community Moderators
Posts: 11460
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:27 pm
Location: US

#2

Post by lajackson »

robm wrote:I'm thinking that since we can't "print" the details of the HT stats, that we should have each quorum/ward cut-n-paste (CTRL+SHIFT+C) the contents of the HT statitics screen and paste it into a spreadsheet to print or email to the Stake. In addition, they could cut-n-paste details in the spreadsheet about the households that haven't been visited in X months or are unassigned -- depending on what is wanted by the Stake leaders.
This is just me, but if the stake were to ask me to do this, I would probably respond by saying I would rather spend the time doing stewardship interviews with the home teachers, but that if they really wanted this information, I would be happy to arrange for them to get a login onto the ward computer.

As I said, this is just me. I would be sure to smile as I said it, of course.
User avatar
hpaulsen
Member
Posts: 112
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2007 12:53 pm
Location: Barstow, CA
Contact:

#3

Post by hpaulsen »

lajackson wrote:This is just me, but if the stake were to ask me to do this, I would probably respond by saying I would rather spend the time doing stewardship interviews with the home teachers, but that if they really wanted this information, I would be happy to arrange for them to get a login onto the ward computer.
I'm inclined to agree. What exactly does your stake presidency hope to get from this data? Will they actually use it? I'm also a stake clerk, and there are quite a few things that I would rather see the stake presidency doing than poring over the details of home teaching visits. In my opinion, the role of the stake leaders should be more to instruct and support than to oversee (though I could be wrong).

Here is what I suggest: during ward conference, the Elders quorum president, HP group leader, and executive secretary from the ward meet with the stake executive secretary and the high council representatives over the elders quorum and HP group. They should browse through the data looking for the specific things about which the stake presidency is concerned. When problems are found, they should offer training and assistance for fixing them. If the stake presidency wishes a more frequent oversight, then quarterly visits to each unit could be arranged in which this takes place. The stake representatives then report back to the stake presidency during MP Committee meeting. Aside from the management benefits for the stake presidency, this offers the opportunity for stake and ward leaders to learn and grow in fulfilling their divine responsibilities.
User avatar
aebrown
Community Administrator
Posts: 15153
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:48 pm
Location: Draper, Utah

#4

Post by aebrown »

robm wrote:I'm a Stake Clerk and I'd like to hear how other wards/stakes are rolling up their HT stats to the Stake leaders?

Our stake presidency takes an active interest in home teaching. As has been mentioned, MLS does not provide much detail at the stake level for home teaching, so our stake president has requested that each ward send him a home teaching report each month. The report is the standard HT Statistics Report, which shows the unassigned families, families not visited in the last n months (we use 3, which is really 2 since the current month is included), unassigned home teachers, and the basic percentages. Fortunately, we are blessed with ward clerks who have not complained about the extra 5 minutes it takes to print this report, once the data has been entered, which needs to happen anyway.

The stake executive secretary reviews the reports, noting items that he thinks should be brought to the stake presidency's attention. The counselor over MP also reviews it in detail. The stake president reviews each ward's report with the bishop in every PPI. Our stake president doesn't micro-manage the process, but these details are helpful as he counsels with bishops, and as the counselor over MP counsels with EQPs and HPGLs. This process has been in place for about 3 years, and it has led to improvements in home teaching in our stake, both quantitatively and qualitatively.
User avatar
daddy-o-p40
Member
Posts: 237
Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2007 1:22 pm
Location: USA
Contact:

#5

Post by daddy-o-p40 »

robm wrote:I did some searching on this topic, but did not find an answer to my question yet, so I'll ask it here.

I'm a Stake Clerk and I'd like to hear how other wards/stakes are rolling up their HT stats to the Stake leaders?

In years past, a member of the stake presidency has required each quorum to fill out an excel spreadsheet template and email it to him. Needless to say, we have had VERY inconsistant results with the quorums entering their HT stats into the ward MLS computer. There were a lot of complaints by the quorums of double entry and we even found that the numbers in the spreadsheet didn't match those entered in MLS.

Our new Stake Presidency would like to make some changes and make sure that each ward is consistently using MLS for reporting their HT. The problem is that there is very little information provided for each ward in the Stake MLS. All that is available is percentages without the ability to view any of the detailed numbers that were used to calculate them.

So, we are leaning towards asking each quorum/ward to print a report from MLS with their stats and submit that to the Stake. Unfortunately, it looks like the printed report only shows the percentages and not the household visit details (sigh).

I'm thinking that since we can't "print" the details of the HT stats, that we should have each quorum/ward cut-n-paste (CTRL+SHIFT+C) the contents of the HT statitics screen and paste it into a spreadsheet to print or email to the Stake. In addition, they could cut-n-paste details in the spreadsheet about the households that haven't been visited in X months or are unassigned -- depending on what is wanted by the Stake leaders.

Sorry for the long winded-ness, but I'd like to hear what others are doing. Thanks!
Try getting them to use http://www.returnandreport.org

This will add some of that visibility.
"What have I done for someone today?" Thomas Monson
User avatar
daddy-o-p40
Member
Posts: 237
Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2007 1:22 pm
Location: USA
Contact:

#6

Post by daddy-o-p40 »

Alan_Brown wrote:Our stake presidency takes an active interest in home teaching. As has been mentioned, MLS does not provide much detail at the stake level for home teaching, so our stake president has requested that each ward send him a home teaching report each month. The report is the standard HT Statistics Report, which shows the unassigned families, families not visited in the last n months (we use 3, which is really 2 since the current month is included), unassigned home teachers, and the basic percentages. Fortunately, we are blessed with ward clerks who have not complained about the extra 5 minutes it takes to print this report, once the data has been entered, which needs to happen anyway.

The stake executive secretary reviews the reports, noting items that he thinks should be brought to the stake presidency's attention. The counselor over MP also reviews it in detail. The stake president reviews each ward's report with the bishop in every PPI. Our stake president doesn't micro-manage the process, but these details are helpful as he counsels with bishops, and as the counselor over MP counsels with EQPs and HPGLs. This process has been in place for about 3 years, and it has led to improvements in home teaching in our stake, both quantitatively and qualitatively.
Alan this is a great way to improve our Home and Visit Teaching efforts. Stakes can also use http://www.returnandreport.org to achieve this and it would give them some additional gee wiz reporting too.
"What have I done for someone today?" Thomas Monson
pbhanney
Member
Posts: 51
Joined: Sun May 22, 2011 7:07 pm
Location: Lehi, Utah, USA

#7

Post by pbhanney »

Our Stake also has us do a Quarterly report like the monthly report described by Alan Brown above. I as the ward clerk am in charge of putting the report together, but I get the information from the quorums and groups in our ward. This is used in our Bishop's PPI with the stake president. I also have to put a copy of the whole report in a notebook for the Bishop so when he goes for his PPI he knows what is there.

These reports usually have us submit:
  • A printout of the quarterly report that was submitted to the CHQ
  • The ward Unit Statistics (detailed option)
  • Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching Statistics (All Sections option)
  • Ward New Member Report
  • YSA Adult Activity Report (one created by our Stake)
  • Prospective Elders & YSA Reactivation Report (another one created by the Stake)
  • Home Teaching Interview and PPI's Report (Stake created again)
  • Ward Leadership Report (Stake created)
  • A Bishop's letter to the Stake President (ceated by our Stake)
I am in the process of creating monthly reports that ask the same things of the groups, quorums, and auxiliaries. That way they get used to doing the reports monthly and then when the quarter is done I can fill out most of the quarterly report on my own.

One thing I want to work on in the monthly reports is to have more names than numbers. These monthly reports would be more for the Bishop to look at while he has his PPIs with the leaders.

This quarterly report to the Stake does take some time for me to do, but I believe that it is worth it so that not only does the Stake know what is going on, but there is also accountability on the local level as well. Without follow-up I don't think anything would get done.
User avatar
brado426
Member
Posts: 313
Joined: Sun Feb 11, 2007 9:50 pm
Location: Foothill Ranch, CA
Contact:

HT/VT Group Summary

#8

Post by brado426 »

daddy-o wrote:Alan this is a great way to improve our Home and Visit Teaching efforts. Stakes can also use www.returnandreport.org to achieve this and it would give them some additional gee wiz reporting too.

With RAR, the Stake Presidency gets a summary report for all the wards in their Stake that looks similar to the below report and they have the ability to filter by group type (RS/EQ/HP). They even have the option to view the detailed reports for each ward's group if they want to.

Image
RossEvans
Senior Member
Posts: 1345
Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2008 9:52 pm
Location: Austin TX
Contact:

#9

Post by RossEvans »

One aspect of RAR that I don't understand is how does the data in this external application get synchronised with the official stats in MLS, which are generated from what is keyed in there. Is the process that the quorum or RS teachers and supervisors would report via this medium, then the secretary would take a printout from RAR to input the visits into MLS??

And what about the reverse? How are the districts and companionships populated in RAR -- by manual entry or import from MLS?
User avatar
brado426
Member
Posts: 313
Joined: Sun Feb 11, 2007 9:50 pm
Location: Foothill Ranch, CA
Contact:

#10

Post by brado426 »

boomerbubba wrote:One aspect of RAR that I don't understand is how does the data in this external application get synchronised with the official stats in MLS, which are generated from what is keyed in there. Is the process that the quorum or RS teachers and supervisors would report via this medium, then the secretary would take a printout from RAR to input the visits into MLS?

You are correct. RAR does not attempt to change any existing Church processes or policy. Its purpose is two-fold: To assist the Presidency with the monthly Home or Visiting Teaching reporting requirement and provide leaders with information to help them make more educated decisions when making changes to HT/VT assignments.
Locked

Return to “MLS Support, Help, and Feedback”