Tech Forum

It would be nice to be able to assign a custom report to a user or calling. For example, our High Priest Group Leader and Relief Society President need access to a report: Single women that are head of household, with name, number, address, have children, HT/VT.

It would be nice to assign that to the calling or member to be able to print off for themselves.

bretpalsson wrote:It would be nice to be able to assign a custom report to a user or calling. For example, our High Priest Group Leader and Relief Society President need access to a report: Single women that are head of household, with name, number, address, have children, HT/VT.

It would be nice to assign that to the calling or member to be able to print off for themselves.

Why can't they print the custom report for themselves? What is keeping them from doing that? I don't see any added benefit to assigning a custion report to a user or a calling. If the purpose is to give access to data they would not have access to with the permissions they have been given then perhaps their permissions need to be reconsidered. But looking at the criteria for the custom report described, there should be no problem for a high priest group leader or the relief society president from accessing such a custom report and then printing it. I was able to create a report with the criteria described and then print it as a user with only Organization user rights.

bretpalsson wrote:It would be nice to be able to assign a custom report to a user or calling. For example, our High Priest Group Leader and Relief Society President need access to a report: Single women that are head of household, with name, number, address, have children, HT/VT.

It would be nice to assign that to the calling or member to be able to print off for themselves.

jdlessley wrote:Why can't they print the custom report for themselves? What is keeping them from doing that?

I agree with jdlessley. Your ward clerk is tasked with training the organizations how to do this so they can use the computer to its full potential...and it isn't. Give them a username, time on the computer or a key to the door, and a detailed paper showing them where to go for the report (that you probably create, and name it for them: I.E. "RS Single sisters report") Or, you could "print it" to Cutepdf writer and email it to them in about 45 seconds each month if any of the aforementioned steps prove insurmountable.

I can see a great benefit here, maybe there is a person in the ward who has a calling that needs a specific report. Maybe this person has the responsibility to keep in touch with the YSA's in a ward. They need a list, but the MLS report isn't as detailed as a custom report might be. This person could go online to clerk resources, and select Custom Reports, and based on their position, they have access to a report built-in I can see great value. At the Stake Level, I have reports that show all YM, ALL YW, ALL YM/YW - All Beehive/Deacon - All Teacher/MiaMaid - etc.... I could grant access to the secretaries in the stake YM and YW to pull these reports online, rather than me providing them each month, or as asked for etc... I think it a great idea that could save some clerk time out there.

I name my reports starting with the Organization they were created for. For example: "RS_Sisters with HT/VT History"

That way, I train the organizations to sort the list and look for their organization name to print their reports. Most do not, and I gladly provide what reports they request (as I have time), but also tell them that if they want reports on their schedule they will have to print their own.

In my personal experience, organizations all want to get on the computer at the same time, so to me, again, personally, I'd prefer a way to provide these reports, away from the clerk MLS computer.

JohnShaw wrote:I can see a great benefit here, maybe there is a person in the ward who has a calling that needs a specific report. Maybe this person has the responsibility to keep in touch with the YSA's in a ward. They need a list, but the MLS report isn't as detailed as a custom report might be. This person could go online to clerk resources, and select Custom Reports....

You're proposing a new idea here. This thread is in the MLS forum, so the question and responses dealt with the desktop application MLS. In that context, I think the responses were accurate.

However, your suggestion to broaden the question to include Leader and Clerk Resources certainly has merit. There's no question that more and more of the functionality of MLS is moving to Leader and Clerk Resources on lds.org. I would hope that at some point custom reports would be available there, and that more people than just bishoprics, stake presidencies, clerks, and executive secretaries would have access. Before your suggestion could be implemented, there's a fair amount of infrastructure that still has to be put in place. But I'm sure it's coming eventually....

JohnShaw wrote:I could grant access to the secretaries in the stake YM and YW to pull these reports online, rather than me providing them each month, or as asked for etc...

That doesn't seem to be the way permissions are granted for most restricted areas of lds.org. Except for the new Calendar, there is no way for a clerk or leader to grant access for a particular person to do anything. Rather, access is granted purely on the basis of official standard callings.