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Necessary to keep membership update report printouts?

Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 12:56 pm
by fletch74
Hi, everyone.

One of my fellow clerks feels compelled to print out and retain all the membership record update printouts, shown when launching MLS (e.g., John's individual phone was updated, Jane's temple recommend information was updated, the Jones family records were moved to XYZ ward, etc.).

My conclusion is this is nice awareness information, which is unnecessary to even print, let alone retain because of a records retention policy.

1) Is it correct it's unnecessary to retain membership record update printouts?
2) Is this set of records specifically listed in any records retention policy, and if so, will you please point me to it?

Thanks.

Re: Necessary to keep membership update report printouts?

Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 1:56 pm
by russellhltn
One caution I'd have is with move-in records. That print-out is one of the few places you'd discover if the new move-in has any annotations on the record. Such as currently being under disciplinary action.

Re: Necessary to keep membership update report printouts?

Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 3:46 pm
by mfmohlma
russellhltn wrote:That print-out is one of the few places you'd discover if the new move-in has any annotations on the record.
That information is accessible enough on LCR to those who need it that I would consider the importance of the printout to be somewhat lesser now.

Re: Necessary to keep membership update report printouts?

Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 4:52 pm
by lajackson
fletch74 wrote:1) Is it correct it's unnecessary to retain membership record update printouts?
2) Is this set of records specifically listed in any records retention policy, and if so, will you please point me to it?
I am not aware of any requirement to keep them. We keep the printout of where the membership record moved to until the end of the year so we can send out financial printouts, although there is not a requirement to do that, either.

Re: Necessary to keep membership update report printouts?

Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 4:58 pm
by russellhltn
mfmohlma wrote:That information is accessible enough on LCR to those who need it that I would consider the importance of the printout to be somewhat lesser now.
How visible? It was in MLS as well, but the problem is that the bishop himself would have to log and run that specific report. Which I think in most wards is "not likely". As such, printing or at least previewing all move-ins was the best way to catch things.

Re: Necessary to keep membership update report printouts?

Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 5:10 pm
by lajackson
russellhltn wrote:
mfmohlma wrote:That information is accessible enough on LCR to those who need it that I would consider the importance of the printout to be somewhat lesser now.
How visible? It was in MLS as well, but the problem is that the bishop himself would have to log and run that specific report. Which I think in most wards is "not likely". As such, printing or at least previewing all move-ins was the best way to catch things.
The clerk can do it now as well as the bishop or president.

But that is not the subject of this topic. The OP was asking about the membership transaction record that lists the changes that were made to membership records, including move out information, not the MRs themselves.

Re: Necessary to keep membership update report printouts?

Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 5:31 pm
by mfmohlma
lajackson wrote:
russellhltn wrote:
mfmohlma wrote:That information is accessible enough on LCR to those who need it that I would consider the importance of the printout to be somewhat lesser now.
How visible? It was in MLS as well, but the problem is that the bishop himself would have to log and run that specific report. Which I think in most wards is "not likely". As such, printing or at least previewing all move-ins was the best way to catch things.
The clerk can do it now as well as the bishop or president.
Yes, the clerk can see the report as well: 2 clicks in LCR. That, and there is a red flag on the member information page alerting you to go check that report.
lajackson wrote:But that is not the subject of this topic. The OP was asking about the membership transaction record that lists the changes that were made to membership records, including move out information, not the MRs themselves.
Move out information is also available on a handy report in LCR for up to the last 12 months. The bigger issue with those topics covered are the "smaller" changes, like phone and email changes.

Re: Necessary to keep membership update report printouts?

Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 5:42 pm
by russellhltn
mfmohlma wrote:The bigger issue with those topics covered are the "smaller" changes, like phone and email changes.
It would be nice to know who, or at least where the change came from (MLS, Directory, etc.)

Not critical, but I'm sure sooner or later, someone is going to has "who changed that?" or at least "when did that change?". In that situation, the printouts could be useful.

Re: Necessary to keep membership update report printouts?

Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 11:33 pm
by fletch74
Thank you, brethren. Based on the above, I'm inferring/concluding the following. Please let me know if I'm misunderstanding the consensus:
  • It's not a requirement to retain membership record update printouts (i.e., it's not explicitly or implicitly required by record retention policies).
  • The membership record update printouts are not listed in any record retention policies.
  • The most critical information (related to this post) for a clerk/Bishop to have is for new move-ins and can alternatively be located via
    a) the "Confidential Member Information Report" (https://beta.lds.org/mls/mbr/ca/confide ... o?lang=eng) or
    b) the red flag on an individual member's "Member Information" page
Thanks, again.

Re: Necessary to keep membership update report printouts?

Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2016 5:16 pm
by cspinfo@telus.net
There seems to be references to 2 different reports in this thread:
Membership Update Report
Membership Transaction Report

I agree that the first is less useful since it isn't as detailed regarding the specifics of the change, simply that a change occurred.

However, I respectfully disagree that the 2nd report isn't very useful. We find it EXTREMELY useful to track change specifics for several reasons:

1. The specifics of any change are listed, including the data that's been added/changed. e.g. an address on a move-out, or the person who performed an ordinance (or their birthdate/MRN), or a correction of birthdate/place or marriage date/place.
2. The date & source of the change are listed.
3. We have encountered data loss/corruption in MLS in the past & have had to try & find evidence for the changes/additions to re-enter them in MLS. (e.g. baby blessings, children of record, baptisms, ordinations, etc., etc.) This critical data is READILY available if the Membership Transaction Report was printed & retained, at the time it was produced. If not, leaders can spend endless hours trying to find some other evidence/source for the missing/corrupt data.

So, despite the Membership Transaction Report being discontinued in MLS v3.8.5, it's loss is sorely missed in our unit! :cry:
Furthermore, we would GREATLY appreciate an equivalent being added to LCR, which doesn't currently exist. :D