Tech Forum

I am the ward clerk and I hear a rumor that there was going to be a new quarterly report starting Q1 2014. Is this true? If so when can we have the new format?

I give my ward council a blank copy to fill out several weeks before the quarter ends. I would like to be able to do this for 2014 Q1 but I don't want to surprise them after the quarter has ended with new information they need to collect.

Thank you

Ben

bensperry wrote:I am the ward clerk and I hear a rumor that there was going to be a new quarterly report starting Q1 2014. Is this true?

It was announced in the First Presidency letter, 15 December 2013: Conversion and Church Growth. That letter stated more information about the revised reports will soon be available. I have not checked MLS for any messages on this topic recently but I suspect that would be where we can expect to get the information.

bensperry wrote:If so when can we have the new format?

A new MLS release will be out some time within the next few weeks as announced by message in MLS. I suspect any changes to the report format will be in that release.

jdlessley wrote:A new MLS release will be out some time within the next few weeks as announced by message in MLS. I suspect any changes to the report format will be in that release.

The new MLS release adds support for the new quarterly report format, but you won't see anything until the end of the first quarter. I'm guessing that there will be more information coming by letter before the end of Q1, but you won't see anything different in MLS until April.

This comment is not meant to be critical of bensperry.

I am interested in his remark about a "rumor" of a new quarterly report. Although I would not expect ward clerks to peruse the official communication library at letters.lds.org regularly, I would expect the bishops to check their incoming mail, and promptly pass such official letters on to their ward clerks. Such letters should be at least discussed in bishopric meeting, if not also filed for future reference.

drepouille wrote:I would expect the bishops to check their incoming mail, and promptly pass such official letters on to their ward clerks. Such letters should be at least discussed in bishopric meeting, if not also filed for future reference.

Some are better at this than others. We had a ward where the ward clerk checked the Official Communication Library and passed any official letters on to the bishop. The bishop never checked his email. Things really improved once the stake figured out the communication path in that particular ward.

Communication is always a challenge. I, too, am anxious to see what the new quarterly report format brings. I waffle between wanting to know a change is coming but having no information about it, and having a change arrive by surprise.

lajackson wrote:I, too, am anxious to see what the new quarterly report format brings. I waffle between wanting to know a change is coming but having no information about it, and having a change arrive by surprise.

While reading this, I realized that there will probably be at least one creative soul who gets the new version of MLS and decides to try the following sequence of steps:

• Backup
• Set the date forward to see what the quarterly report looks like
• Restore from backup

To save you the trouble, there is nothing to see here -- move along. The baseline numbers are handled differently, so you have to send/receive and get some data from headquarters before you can get into the report.

scgallafent wrote:The baseline numbers are handled differently

So the data collection and compilation is unchanged? Good to know.

scgallafent wrote:I realized that there will probably be at least one creative soul . . .

To save you the trouble, there is nothing to see here -- move along. The baseline numbers are handled differently, so you have to send/receive and get some data from headquarters before you can get into the report.

I trust you are saying that this will not work, which will save me the obligatory post most emphatically warning that to mess with the date and MLS in the same time-space continuum is a certain recipe for disaster, tragedy, and disappointment.

Hopefully, administrative computers are still locked down so that the time and date cannot easily be changed. Time travel? Why, we would not even attempt

lajackson wrote:

drepouille wrote:...I would expect the bishops to check their incoming mail, and promptly pass such official letters on to their ward clerks. Such letters should be at least discussed in bishopric meeting, if not also filed for future reference.

...Communication is always a challenge...

For what it's worth, our ward just received the "printed" announcement letter via US Mail this past week, although it was dated December 15th. I hope specific instructions arrive before the Last-Month-of-the-Quarter begins, so I know what information we are expected to gather.

That's right! Thanks for reminding me! When the stake president handed me the mail, I nearly accused him of hoarding it at his home over the holidays. I could not believe it took that long for the printed copy to be sent out.