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Quarterly Rpt: When during the last month of the quarter does MLS insert information?

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 1:31 pm
by ulupoi
The Quarterly Report form generated by MLS includes several automatically inserted statistics (total members, total families, total women, etc.). I assume that these are not averages across the entire reporting month because several of the numbers are backed up by lists of people. (If you had 20 young men at the beginning of the month and 10 at the end of the month, if MLS inserted an average into the Quarterly Report, which 15 names would it choose?) Thus, I figure that it probably uses data from some particular day in the reporting month (e.g. 1st day, the 15th, the last day of the month). Anyone know what day that is?

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 1:58 pm
by aebrown
ulupoi wrote:The Quarterly Report form generated by MLS includes several automatically inserted statistics (total members, total families, total women, etc.). I assume that these are not averages across the entire reporting month because several of the numbers are backed up by lists of people. (If you had 20 young men at the beginning of the month and 10 at the end of the month, if MLS inserted an average into the Quarterly Report, which 15 names would it choose?) Thus, I figure that it probably uses data from some particular day in the reporting month (e.g. 1st day, the 15th, the last day of the month). Anyone know what day that is?
All the automatically generated statistics are as of the last day of the month.

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 2:24 pm
by ulupoi
Thank you very much!

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 4:36 pm
by crislapi
aebrown wrote:All the automatically generated statistics are as of the last day of the month.
Not all, although the only exception I know of is the number of YSAs. See this post.

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 6:18 pm
by aebrown
crislapi wrote:Not all, although the only exception I know of is the number of YSAs. See this post.
That post deals with a different question -- the calculation of the Budget Allowance. I can't say one way or the other, but it's certainly possible (likely, in my opinion) that the financial calculations are not done on precisely the same day as the membership calculations.

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 7:05 pm
by crislapi
The post discusses trying to determine how CHQ calculates the number of YSAs - a number reported automatically in the quarterly report. It is at some self-appointed time - generally near the first day of the month of a disbursement but not necessarily, as quoted in the linked post.

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 9:15 pm
by aebrown
crislapi wrote:The post discusses trying to determine how CHQ calculates the number of YSAs - a number reported automatically in the quarterly report. It is at some self-appointed time - generally near the first day of the month of a disbursement but not necessarily, as quoted in the linked post.
Well, I reviewed the whole thread, and that's not how I read it. The response from LUS in the linked post specifically responded to the question of how the YSA component of the quarterly Budget Allocation is calculated -- it said nothing about membership numbers on the quarterly report. The fact that the YSA budget allocation is based on a date which is near the first day of the month fits perfectly with the theory that the membership numbers are calculated on the last day of the month, and the fact that the membership numbers are often slightly off from the financial numbers. A difference of a day or two or three could easily explain that discrepancy, especially in a ward or stake with YSAs moving in or out frequently.

It's not like "CHQ" is one entity; the membership department has different procedures from the finance department, and although they both base their calculations of the same membership database for the question at hand, I think it's pretty clear that they extract their reporting information at different times, which leads to different numbers.

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 9:16 pm
by russellhltn
I can't tell if we agree or disagree:
crislapi wrote:The post discusses trying to determine how CHQ calculates the number of YSAs - a number reported automatically in the quarterly report.

The first post of that thread states:
My observation is that the number of YSA used in the Local Unit Budget Allowance Allocation (LUBAA) report does not match the numbers reported in the Quarterly Report.
The question in this thread is not where the number for the budget comes from, but where the number in the Quarterly Report comes from.

I'd think it's more likely that the Quarterly Report is created from the MLS data rather then some "run" at CHQ.

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 9:32 pm
by crislapi
I found my error and it is indeed related to the budgeting and not the QR. YSA numbers appear on the QR but the finance department (or whatever aebrown wants to call them) uses its own calculation to determine the number of YSAs to allocate for. It is often NOT the same number as reported on the QR.

Sorry for taking this thread on a tangent with my replies. Since they only muddy the discussion, feel free to delete them.

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 11:01 pm
by ulupoi
crislapi wrote:YSA numbers appear on the QR but the finance department...uses its own calculation to determine the number of YSAs to allocate for. It is often NOT the same number as reported on the QR.
Sometimes I think those folks take that "let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth" stuff literally.

crislapi wrote:Sorry for taking this thread on a tangent with my replies. Since they only muddy the discussion, feel free to delete them.

The tangent was good. I learned the answer to a question that I did not even think to ask. Bonus!