Mls 2.9

Discussions around using and interfacing with the Church MLS program.
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lajackson
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#11

Post by lajackson »

Alan_Brown wrote:Actually, the way I read the quote is the way it actually works -- everyone in the ward should be associated with a record number, but the Stake Administrator is not.
Two notes. We were not sharing a stake login. We were using individual logins, so we would know who was actually doing the work if there was a problem. I guess the new procedure is that there will be a Stake Administrator login and several folks will need to know that password and share it.

The other challenge we will have is with the unit that has NO membership records for those who use MLS. This is a correctional unit. All of the records are for incarcerated members. All of the leaders come from other units in the stake, and their membership records remain in their home wards.

With MLS 2.9, it appears that we will now be in the position of having one login for the leadership of the unit, which will have to also be the Stake Administrator login, since there is not way to associate a leader's login with a membership in MLS.

Is there an alternative that the Urgent Task to link the logins with membership records may just be ignored? I would in principle discourage such an action, but I am not sure the alternative is any better for this particular unit.

I understand the desire and need for security, but the issue does arise (once again) that a new idea was not thoroughly vetted in the real world. I will post separately on the other two issues that have arisen.
lajackson
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#12

Post by lajackson »

mkmurray wrote:The reminder feature for setting the ward block meeting time and the Sacrament Meeting time at the beginning of a year are really helpful. However, please be advised that the default date for the reminder is set in the past (Jan. 1, 2008). Be sure to change that to 2009 so that you get reminded next year!
I gather from this comment that the date of the reminder can be set. Is this correct? This would be helpful for those units who change meeting times in August or September, along with activity days, according to local school calendars.
lajackson
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#13

Post by lajackson »

RussellHltn wrote:Some Bishops aren't all that computer literate and prefer that others run the reports for them. Being this restrictive could end up encouraging the bishop to share his MLS login with someone else.
What login? Many of our bishops do not have a login at all. Will the Confidential Information Report not be accessible in these units?

I can think of a workaround, but it is not pretty, and I would hate to do it each time the bishop needed his clerk or executive secretary to print this report for the bishop.

Same for the stake president and his report. Since these leaders rarely use the computer at all, will they be able to designate someone to access these confidential reports for them without giving away their logins and passwords?

Or, perhaps these things have actually been considered, and we are still in the "find it out for yourself" phase of this pending update. (We spoke about hope in sacrament meeting today. [grin] )
skiptaylor
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#14

Post by skiptaylor »

pete_arnett wrote:New Features and Changes in MLS 2.9

General Changes
  • The stake administrator should enter his password in each ward's copy of MLS. On Urgent Tasks, he should click Some users need to be associated with a member, then click Yes. He should select Stake Administrator and fill in his password. This will allow him to access each computer to provide technical support when needed.
Why can't this password be entered on the Stake computer and have it forwarded to each unit's computer during a send/receive? Traveling all over the Stake and spending a fortune in gas to put in a password makes little sense to me or my wallet.

Any hope of this ever happening?
Skip Taylor :eek:
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aebrown
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#15

Post by aebrown »

avskip wrote:Why can't this password be entered on the Stake computer and have it forwarded to each unit's computer during a send/receive? Traveling all over the Stake and spending a fortune in gas to put in a password makes little sense to me or my wallet.

Any hope of this ever happening?

I don't see any reason why you would need to travel all over the stake just to create the account, so don't do it.

The Stake Administrator account is only useful when it is needed. It's only needed if you are there. The first time you need it, make sure the ward administrator is there to get you access. This is required whether you make a special trip just to create the account, or create the account the first time you need it.
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mkmurray
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#16

Post by mkmurray »

lajackson wrote:I gather from this comment that the date of the reminder can be set. Is this correct? This would be helpful for those units who change meeting times in August or September, along with activity days, according to local school calendars.
Correct; in fact there is an urgent task that says you need to set your meeting times and reminder date. It is configurable to whatever you want. It really is a great feature, especially for units that change times mid-year, as you mentioned.

It's just interesting that the default came up as Jan. 1, 2008. That date won't help anyone in any unit of the Church! :rolleyes:
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mkmurray
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#17

Post by mkmurray »

boomerbubba wrote:How are betas treated in this context? I know developers who would tend to say defensively, "There is nothing wrong with the beta. The .csv file output was dropped by design, so by definition there is no bug. Issue closed." Or is the design decision itself open to reconsideration?
As far as I can tell, there is no special treatment in being on the Beta list of units. There is no extra feedback form to submit, no special number to call when we find issues, etc. It seems to me that the only difference is that we get the download a few days to a few weeks early.

I've harped on communication from CHQ in other threads today. This is one of those situations where there needs to be more clear and frequent communication (both ways), especially to those that are on this Beta list. Otherwise, what good does it do to send it out early?
jenkinsja-p40
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#18

Post by jenkinsja-p40 »

lajackson wrote:What login? Many of our bishops do not have a login at all. Will the Confidential Information Report not be accessible in these units?

If I understand correctly, the developers of MLS have taken a report that was previously only available to the bishop (twice a year through an insecure USPS) and now made it available only to the bishop (through a hopefully more secure MLS) whenever they want it. As before, the report is extremely confidential, and should only be viewed by the bishop. The only way to guarantee that, is to limit the privileges of those who can view it, so that only the user who is associated with the calling of Bishop will be able to see it. I would venture to guess that no Bishop should so casually gives out his login information for MLS to get someone else to print a highly confidential report for him. This may warrant a few individuals learning some new technology, but the tradeoff in availability of the report, and cost savings to the Church in postage should more than make up for that slight learning curve. As such, it is important for the Bishop of the ward to have a login to MLS, which is only used by him in order to view this report, and that the report will not be viewable otherwise.
jenkinsja-p40
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#19

Post by jenkinsja-p40 »

lajackson wrote:The other challenge we will have is with the unit that has NO membership records for those who use MLS. This is a correctional unit. All of the records are for incarcerated members. All of the leaders come from other units in the stake, and their membership records remain in their home wards.

With MLS 2.9, it appears that we will now be in the position of having one login for the leadership of the unit, which will have to also be the Stake Administrator login, since there is not way to associate a leader's login with a membership in MLS.

Is there an alternative that the Urgent Task to link the logins with membership records may just be ignored? I would in principle discourage such an action, but I am not sure the alternative is any better for this particular unit.

I understand the desire and need for security, but the issue does arise (once again) that a new idea was not thoroughly vetted in the real world. I will post separately on the other two issues that have arisen.

Have you attempted to create out of unit records for the leadership in the unit? These records can also be associated with usernames. This is how my friends, who are called into leadership in BYU Student wards handle this issue.
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childsdj
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#20

Post by childsdj »

This is an area that will be changed for that and a few other issues (you can put in incorrect times and and that can affect other issues.).
mkmurray wrote:By the way, as a note to all clerks and to the developers of MLS...

The reminder feature for setting the ward block meeting time and the Sacrament Meeting time at the beginning of a year are really helpful. However, please be advised that the default date for the reminder is set in the past (Jan. 1, 2008). Be sure to change that to 2009 so that you get reminded next year!
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