Tech Forum

I need help, I just created a free android application that can be used to organize Home teaching and visiting teaching in the different organizations, this application can also receive data from MLS

In my app y am giving a path for users to import this data from MLS, but I need to confirm if my path is correct (specially in Spanish )

my path is :

(SPANISH)
Pasos para importar desde MLS:
1. En MLS, da clic en el menú de “Organizaciones”.
2. Selecciona “Organización de Maestros Orientadores”(O Maestras Visitantes).
3. Selecciona “Compañerismos”.
4. Da Clic en Editar y elije “Copiar a Archivo”
5. Envía por correo electrónico a una cuenta que puedas usar,


(ENGLISH)
(1) In MLS, click on the "Organizations" menu.
(2) Select the "HT Organization" (or "VT Organization") submenu.
(3) Select the "HT Companionships" (or "VT Companionships") submenu.
(4) Click the Edit menu, and choose "Copy to file".
(5) Email the resulting file to yourself, then copy it to the "Downloads" folder on your Android device.

you can see and download the app here : https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... yrum&hl=en

Rafael Ramos
rramosr@go.byuh.edu

There are two issues. First, I believe to be able to export the data from MLS, one must have Administrator rights in MLS. Your typical EQ or RS President won't have that.

Secondly, a new Meetinghouse Technology Policy came out just recently. It contains "4.8.3 The use of MLS data and membership information in third party software is prohibited." Some people suggest that the document's scope limits it to just meetinghouses, and not to personal software, but I'm not so sure.

russellhltn wrote:There are two issues. First, I believe to be able to export the data from MLS, one must have Administrator rights in MLS. Your typical EQ or RS President won't have that.

Secondly, a new Meetinghouse Technology Policy came out just recently. It contains "4.8.3 The use of MLS data and membership information in third party software is prohibited." Some people suggest that the document's scope limits it to just meetinghouses, and not to personal software, but I'm not so sure.

On the first, an EQP or HPGL probably would not have a problem getting the HomeTeaching.csv export file from the clerk with the bishop's blessing. (Admin permissions are required for this.) But there are other ways -- at least for the time being -- to export data from MLS that don't require Admin rights. I don't think the author's suggested path does -- for now, at least.

On the second, there is no language in the Meetinghouse policy that covers this.

But I think the more relevant policy, for which I can't find a link at the moment, is already in place and has been since 2012. It applies specifically to smartphones and similar "portable devices," and prohibits storing membership data on them except for use in LDS Tools or other church apps. There already was a popular app called Ward Tools, populated from MLS export files, that included HT/VT data -- unlike LDS Tools, which still lacks this content today. (The Android version of Ward Tools supported Spanish, too.) But the church asked that all such privately written apps be discontinued. See this forum link from August 2012.

russellhltn wrote:There are two issues. First, I believe to be able to export the data from MLS, one must have Administrator rights in MLS. Your typical EQ or RS President won't have that.

Putting aside any policy issues, the original poster is using the Copy To File option when viewing the HT Companionship report. That option does not require Administrator rights and can be accessed by anyone with Organization rights. It only provides the information in that specific report.

As a followup, I think the policy general statement I was recalling about smartphone use was actually this bullet point from a Presiding Bishopric training presentation from 2011 or 2012, which actually referenced "confidential information":

Never save copies of confidential information to mobile devices.

(Since then, the definition of "confidential information" seems to have become more restrictive, if anything.)

And the 2012 request from the church to developers of LDS membership mobile apps (including even simple ward-directory apps) came in a "To Whom it May Concern" letter to them from a church official. It asked that they cease distribution of such apps in app stores, etc. I don't recall a published version of that letter.

RossEvans wrote: And the 2012 request from the church to developers of LDS membership mobile apps (including even simple ward-directory apps) came in a "To Whom it May Concern" letter to them from a church official. It asked that they cease distribution of such apps in app stores, etc. I don't recall a published version of that letter.

Further digging reveals that what I recalled as a letter was really an email. If you PM me, rafaelisaacholkan, I would be glad to give you the originating name and email address of the author, whose title was Information Security & Risk Manager.