Ward Computer Standard Build

[thedqs]

Do all systems have this setup (Desktop 5.5) or is this just for the new computers that are released (installed)?

[russellhltn]

Do all systems have this setup (Desktop 5.5) or is this just for the new computers that are released (installed)?

If it's not there yet, I think it's going to be there soon. At least that seems to be the sound I hear from the unofficial list. The most telling indicator is that with Desktop 5.5, the hard drive is partitioned into C and D.

[thedqs]

I was just remembering that the stake computers had Windows 2000 and Office 2000. Of course those might be on an entirely different system.

[russellhltn]

I was just remembering that the stake computers had Windows 2000 and Office 2000. Of course those might be on an entirely different system.

They'll have WinXP when this is done. But then if they had Win2000, the machines may be too old for this update and they are waiting for replacements.

[thedqs]

I won't know if they do upgrade, since it was in my old stake. I am pretty sure that computer was not too old. Anyway thanks for the info.

[JasonG-p40]

OO was included in the new re-image that we had on our computer this week.

We don't use it all that often, really. Probably because I'm one of a small handful that ever uses a computer very often. The spreadsheet is really the only one I have ever seen used. That isn't saying a whole lot considering I've only been the ward clerk for about a year and a half, but that's the only one I've seen used, and only by two members of our bishopric.

[thedqs]

I know at for the stake computer the tech specialist used the word processing program (MS Word at the time) to print the labels for the recorded videos/dvds.

[bhofmann]

Our Ward is making use of the word processor and spreadsheet as well. Though it's not used often, I'd still list it as essential. If OO was pulled, then we'd need something else.

I agree. We don't use the office software very often but we do use it from time to time. We've written letters, printed labels, and created spreadsheets. It allows us to do things right away rather than taking it home and bringing it back next week. OO seems to be great and we have not run into limitations while using it. Since people don't use it very much but would like to have something, the price seems great.

[WirthlinPD]

Can you shed any light on why? I was surprised to see that as I've never heard of any ward or stake that use their machines for any photo-related tasks. Is this a preview of something to come?

Also, the instructions that came with the desktop need correction. We were given Flash Player, not Flash Professional.

Single Adult wards have used them in making directories. Instead of having each ward do that, we pre-installed some software. I don't think this is a "preview of something to come"; it just made sense to make it available.

i will make sure the documentation is corrected. Thanks.

[jeffszone]

Can you shed any light on why? I was surprised to see that as I've never heard of any ward or stake that use their machines for any photo-related tasks. Is this a preview of something to come?

I have no idea where it came from, but we found a legit copy of Publisher 97 laying around. Might be old, but still does the job. We use it on occasion to print banners or flyers, and were kicking the idea around of starting a branch newsletter. Photos come in from USB flash drives and people's digital cameras, so an imaging editor being handy isn't that much of a stretch.

We were using the database feature in Open Office to keep track of our member-missionary door knocking efforts. We'd take little booklets out with us to note which address numbers we attempted on each street, and abbreviations for the results (NH=not home, CB=come back later, NI=not interested, PI=potential investigator, etc.) When we return to the building we then key this all into a database so later we can run a report for the neighborhood that shows the last several visit attempts on each street. You can also run a report of just those in the neighborhood that showed some degree of interest so you don't waste your time coming back to the people who repeatedly said they are completely uninterested.

We added a comments field where we can add in a couple words that caught our attention. Often people will say they already attend some other church, so we ask them which write it down as we're walking to the next house. When that shows up on the report next time as we're approaching the door, sometimes it is helpful in striking up a conversation as you can begin to ask them about their specific beliefs in reference to something or other their denomination teaches. If you can get someone to really start thinking for themselves whether something is true or not, then they are much more likely to desire to hear our views of the topic.

When someone is found through these quorum efforts that indicates a desire to have us come back and teach them, their name & address gets keyed into the Referral Manager website (referrals.lds.org) with the name of the member that found them specified as the "missionary" that referred them. We do it as a missionary referral instead of a member referral so we can distinguish the stats & reports between referrals of people our members are aquainted with, verses those we found simply going out into the community knocking on doors.

-Jeff