Ward Area Book

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topherreynoso
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Re: Ward Area Book

#51

Post by topherreynoso »

That's a good suggestion, I did it really to make it easier to confirm whether or not the ward area book you were requesting access to was the correct one. I guess I could create a "Contact Admin" button and set up a form to send the administrator an email from ldsareabook.org with the user's question and contact info for a reply. I'll get into it tonight and check out the error after deleting a ward. Thanks, everyone!
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Re: Ward Area Book

#52

Post by marmat »

Topher, One other idea would be to allow a description field for the Ward name, where maybe in small text under the Ward name it would say the description. Or alternatively you could have a field for Stake. This could replace the description idea and show as small light text under the ward name. This would also help prevent issues where there might be two wards with similar names, such as Two Rivers Ward etc. Thanks!
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Re: Ward Area Book

#53

Post by topherreynoso »

Ok, sorry for the delay on this one, it's been a long week. I looked into the issue with deleting wards and found the culprit, that bug has been fixed, thanks for bringing it to my attention. I have also removed admin email addresses from the area book list and instead there is a "Contact Admin" button that takes the user to a form to send an email to the admin. The admin is provided with the user's name and email address along with their message and can decide how to respond on their own. I also made it so that an email notification is sent to all admins of an area book any time a user requests access to the area book and an email is sent to a user anytime an admin changes their permission status (accepting or denying a request for access). Thanks for the suggestions and help in making it better!
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Re: Ward Area Book

#54

Post by marmat »

Great new updates!

There were some full-time missionaries that checked this out and thought something like this would be awesome. They won't use it now without approval, however, this is headed in a good direction.

I wonder if there is a possibility of this being merged with an official effort from the church potentially?
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Re: Ward Area Book

#55

Post by topherreynoso »

Glad you liked the updates, I look forward to getting more feedback. Our missionaries already utilize the app but they got permission from their President so maybe just ask them to do the same. I would definitely be open to having collaborators on the github project who are rails skilled and would like to contribute. Contact me directly, if anyone is interested in that.

I would happily merge this into an official church effort in the future but, thus far, I have not heard anything along those lines from anyone at the church. Maybe if enough Ward Councils utilize it, help me fine-tune it, and like it, then there would be more of an interest.
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Re: Ward Area Book

#56

Post by marmat »

That is awesome. Its great that you are developing it in an open manner. That can only benefit the overall app. If I had rails skills, I'd contribute! ;-)

Anyways, I think that is the next step, they are going to share it with the President, as it would be very beneficial for us to all collaborate.

What if they have security concerns about the data in a 3rd party non-official database, have any advice on how to calm minds?

Thanks!
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Re: Ward Area Book

#57

Post by topherreynoso »

Security of data has been the number one concern, both in building it and as a topic in this forum. There are several layers of security built in to make sure that data is secure:

First, all interactions with the site are done over SSL.
Second, each area book administrator has to approve any user before they have access to the area book.
Third, each area book has a password that the administrator sets and controls and only shares with individuals who they want to grant access to the area book. This password is used to encrypt all imported member info and the password is never stored on the server so even someone with server access has nothing but encrypted gibberish without each individual area book's password.

Finally, the site has been seen by an area authority and I have been in contact with the Church's Risk team and no violation of any Church policy has been indicated to me. Not an endorsement by the Church, but just in case they are wondering, it's not like I'm trying to fly under any radar or anything. The Church knows it's there and hasn't expressed any concern.
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Re: Ward Area Book

#58

Post by dfchamplain »

I am not sure how this does not violate Church policy. In the Presiding Bishopric's training on information security, it clearly states to not upload confidential information to 3rd party servers. To me, any data that is exported out of MLS or LDS.org should be considered confidential & sensitive. It is interesting that the Church's Risk department did not mention this.
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Re: Ward Area Book

#59

Post by topherreynoso »

dfchamplain,

Welcome to the forum. This topic has been covered ad nauseum. Please read through this forum for a thorough discussion and links to the current posted policy regarding ward and stake directory info as well as a discussion of feedback from the Risk department regarding this app (I can't speak for other apps or how it will be handled in other scenarios, only what I have heard from the Church regarding what I have built).

Best,
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Re: Ward Area Book

#60

Post by dfchamplain »

I went back through the previous posts in this forum and could not find any links to the Presiding Bishopric's training nor any previous mention of it. I also saw the feedback from the Risk department, but again, it does not appear that anyone has made mention of the training which I posted about. If I have missed this and it does appear, I do apologize. Please point me to the relevant post so I can further review.
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