Tech Forum

One of the wards in our stake has a new bishop who was put in place following a recent set of ward boundary adjustments in our stake. His family was one of the families that was moved into this ward and he was called as the Bishop.

Ever since the move the ward clerk has not been able to enter any donations for him into the MLS software (3.1.4). They're getting around this little beauty by entering them using his wife's name.

The bishop shows in the membership section, but when you go to the financial section and click the drop-down selector to choose the member for the donation, his name doesn't appear.

Aside from calling MLS support does anyone have any ideas as to how to rectify this?

Techgy wrote:Ever since the move the ward clerk has not been able to enter any donations for him into the MLS software (3.1.4). They're getting around this little beauty by entering them using his wife's name.

The bishop shows in the membership section, but when you go to the financial section and click the drop-down selector to choose the member for the donation, his name doesn't appear.

This doesn't make much sense to me, or there must be more to the story. You can enter donations for anyone in the donor list. You can add a donor who is not even a member of the ward, so there can be no problem with adding a donor and recording donations for that donor.

As you are entering a donation into a donation batch, you select a donor. You can pick an existing donor from the dropdown list; if a person has not donated before, you can click the Add button and add a new donor. It's inconceivable (and yes, I know what that word means ) that you could not add a donor with the name of the bishop and record donations for that donor record. You didn't mention if you actually tried to add a new donor record for the bishop. Simply having a membership record for a person does not mean there is a donor record -- you have to create a donor record for each new donor, whether they are a member or not.

The only way there might be a problem is in associating a member record number with the donor. But this may not even be an issue; if you simply need to add a donor record, it may be that adding the record will solve the problem, and you can easily associate the member record with the donor record.

Alan_Brown wrote:As you are entering a donation into a donation batch, you select a donor. You can pick an existing donor from the dropdown list; if a person has not donated before, you can click the Add button and add a new donor..... You didn't mention if you actually tried to add a new donor record for the bishop.

The only way there might be a problem is in associating a member record number with the donor. But this may not even be an issue; if you simply need to add a donor record, it may be that adding the record will solve the problem, and you can easily associate the member record with the donor record.

I'm getting this 2nd hand, but as I understand it they've tried to add a donor record using the selection that the individual is a member of the ward and pulling the name from the drop-down list of members. He simply doesn't appear on the drop-down list of members.

Techgy wrote:I'm getting this 2nd hand, but as I understand it they've tried to add a donor record using the selection that the individual is a member of the ward and pulling the name from the drop-down list of members. He simply doesn't appear on the drop-down list of members.

Even if this is the case and somehow the membership record is not in the ward (in which case you'll have more difficult problems than this one), as Alan stated you can still create a donor record. You can simply go to the Add/Update Donors link and add him as a donor. You still do indicate he is a member of the ward, but you do not link a membership record. If you do it this way, you will get the "Urgent Message" that a donor needs their membership number recorded. This is the same method you use for people who move into the ward, but their records have not moved with them yet. When the membership record appears, then you link it and the urgent message disappears.

oregonmatt wrote:Even if this is the case and somehow the membership record is not in the ward (in which case you'll have more difficult problems than this one), as Alan stated you can still create a donor record. You can simply go to the Add/Update Donors link and add him as a donor. You still do indicate he is a member of the ward, but you do not link a membership record. If you do it this way, you will get the "Urgent Message" that a donor needs their membership number recorded. This is the same method you use for people who move into the ward, but their records have not moved with them yet. When the membership record appears, then you link it and the urgent message disappears.

I don't personally work with the ward finances, but I'll certainly pass everyone's ideas along. - Thanks

I hate to tell you this, but I had the same problem. I tried all the suggestion listed above with no success. After e-mailing MLS support for several weeks with no luck, I resorted to calling CHQ for help. The Sister I talked with was very nice and more than willing to help. She took my phone number and told me she would call me back, (told me to go home and do what I was doing) She called me back about 45 minutes later and asked for my e-mail address. She sent me a back up file that she had created, I took it over to the church and restored from that file and everything works just as it has and should. Don't wait just call SLC and talk to them, explain what is going on and they will take care of you.

I hope this helps
Newt

Newt wrote:I hate to tell you this, but I had the same problem. I tried all the suggestion listed above with no success. After e-mailing MLS support for several weeks with no luck, I resorted to calling CHQ for help. The Sister I talked with was very nice and more than willing to help. She took my phone number and told me she would call me back, (told me to go home and do what I was doing) She called me back about 45 minutes later and asked for my e-mail address. She sent me a back up file that she had created, I took it over to the church and restored from that file and everything works just as it has and should. Don't wait just call SLC and talk to them, explain what is going on and they will take care of you.

I hope this helps
Newt

It's taken a bit of a wait, but CHQ recently got back to me with a suggestion. Apparently there was an "Out Of Unit" record for the Bishop. According to CHQ that was the problem.