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Sorting by address MLS and LDS tools

Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 1:38 am
by david.fox2
Idea: enable smarter sorting by address in LDS tools and MLS so that is can sort by street name not just number.

Backstory:
As a YSA ward clerk we have been entering in addresses using both the street1 (house number) and street2 (street name) fields in MLS so that we can sort by street name and end up a fairly well organized list for assigning FHE groups, visiting routes, etc.

This could be implemented by having a separate field in the lds tools for house number, aprt, street name, box, like they do for some postal and account information.

Additionally this seems to cause some problems for our stake clerk when they print off lists as they usually only include street1 (so he has to enable street2 just for our ward) And it apparently doesn't adhere to postal guidelines.

I have been told this isn't really done much in family wards, But I would love to hear some opinions as our ward finds it a quite useful setup.

Re: Sorting by address MLS and LDS tools

Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 2:42 am
by russellhltn
david.fox2 wrote:As a YSA ward clerk we have been entering in addresses using both the street1 (house number) and street2 (street name) fields in MLS so that we can sort by street name and end up a fairly well organized list for assigning FHE groups, visiting routes, etc.
Sounds like a job for Geo codes.

Re: Sorting by address MLS and LDS tools

Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 6:00 am
by aebrown
When I've done this, I've used a spreadsheet to do the sorting. That way I can leave the addresses properly formatted in MLS. I just export the address list from MLS (typically by doing a copy and paste from the MLS Abbreviated Directory report). Then I paste it into a spreadsheet and use the spreadsheet's functions to isolate the street name into a separate column, which I can easily sort on.

Once you've set up the spreadsheet, for future iterations you can just do a quick paste and sort in less than a minute when you want to update the list as people move in and out of the ward.

Re: Sorting by address MLS and LDS tools

Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 11:47 am
by Gary_Miller
I'm with russell Geo codes would work great for what your trying to do. depending on the area of the ward you could use the street names as the Geo Code.

Re: Sorting by address MLS and LDS tools

Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 11:50 am
by russellhltn
I didn't think about it at the time, but one weakness of Geo Codes may be in the reporting. I know it's the bane of custom fields.

Re: Sorting by address MLS and LDS tools

Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 12:54 pm
by showseason
aebrown wrote:Once you've set up the spreadsheet, for future iterations you can just do a quick paste and sort in less than a minute when you want to update the list as people move in and out of the ward.
I'm with aebrown on this. It's a pain to set up but once it is it is easily maintained. We also have added a column for comments and have some info on most families in the ward. The Bishop loves it.