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Problem Updating Callings

Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 12:44 pm
by mwthomson-p40
I've been tasked with updating the callings in our ward to correctly reflect the organization or our ward. The job hasn't been done for quite some time, and our list is very out of date. The problem I'm having is that I can't add associate a member to a calling without inputting the date sustained. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, since I update MLS when members are sustained, but for people who have been in their callings quite some time, that date is not known. How should I proceed? Is there any problem with entering the current date as the date sustained if the date sustained is not known?

Thanks,
Marc

Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 3:43 pm
by lajackson
mwthomson wrote:I've been tasked with updating the callings in our ward to correctly reflect the organization or our ward. The job hasn't been done for quite some time, and our list is very out of date. The problem I'm having is that I can't add associate a member to a calling without inputting the date sustained. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, since I update MLS when members are sustained, but for people who have been in their callings quite some time, that date is not known. How should I proceed? Is there any problem with entering the current date as the date sustained if the date sustained is not known?
Counsel with your priesthood leaders. Personally, I would think an estimate closer to reality would be better. If that is not possible, I think I would pick a date several years ago, such as January 1st, 2005, that would generally be understood to mean that the sustaining date was not known.

Whatever you do, do not put the wrong date in for any of the bishopric.

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2010 8:50 pm
by jbh001
lajackson wrote:Counsel with your priesthood leaders. Personally, I would think an estimate closer to reality would be better. If that is not possible, I think I would pick a date several years ago, such as January 1st, 2005, that would generally be understood to mean that the sustaining date was not known.
MLS currently only requires the month and the year for the sustaining dates. While a complete date is preferred, if you end up estimating dates, month and year are currently sufficient.

Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 1:06 pm
by crisa
I have found that as I have used the month / year estimation that MLS will change the month / year I put in to the last day of the month previous. For example, if I put in Jan 09, it will change it to 31 Dec 08. My recommendation would be to choose a date that you will know when you see it that it is an unknown date. Since I noticed that it changes my month / year, I began using 1 Jan 2000 because I know that no one has had a calling for that long in our ward.

Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 2:05 pm
by nutterb
A somewhat trivial and obnoxious remedy would be to sustain them again and use the new sustaining date. If you go this route, however, I'd ask their permission first and then make it clear that it is an administrative formality.

other things to watch for...

Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 2:07 pm
by kisaac
mwthomson wrote:I've been tasked with updating the callings in our ward to correctly reflect the organization or our ward. The job hasn't been done for quite some time, and our list is very out of date.
While the other responses I feel are correct to your thread question, just a few other items I learned doing a similar task.

1) use the standard positions as much as possible. These positions are the ones that show on the CDOL and the "beta" of the new directory for a future LUWS. I used the old 'custom positions' that were already entered at first, and am trying to conform all that I can now to standard positions, after the fact.

2) Print out "callings by organization" lists to give to ward leaders, and ask them to make corrections / additions and fill in approximate called dates, and "set apart" info. I think I called it our ward "organization callings audit" on a little cover sheet explaining what we need and why this was important. If you do this at ward council, often they will mark them up and give them back to you at the end of the meeting. Don't forget the youth class presidencies!

Enter all your callings based on these, then do it again the next month to catch any mistakes. Good luck.

Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 2:38 pm
by aebrown
mwthomson wrote:I've been tasked with updating the callings in our ward to correctly reflect the organization or our ward. The job hasn't been done for quite some time, and our list is very out of date. The problem I'm having is that I can't add associate a member to a calling without inputting the date sustained. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, since I update MLS when members are sustained, but for people who have been in their callings quite some time, that date is not known. How should I proceed? Is there any problem with entering the current date as the date sustained if the date sustained is not known?
One other possible source of information is the ward website on lds.org. The Leadership Directory on the ward website has a field for each calling where the sustaining date (month/year) can be entered. In some wards, the website administrator was more diligent in entering callings and sustaining dates than was the clerk in charge of entering the same information in MLS.

So if you're lucky, there might be some sustaining dates there that you can get from the ward website administrator.