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Generated fictional lists in MLS

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:57 am
by AronSchuh
Hello
Iam from Germany.
Is there a possibility to generated fictional lists in MLS.
For example i need a seperate list for the bishop with lessactive YSA. Create a new list with a new name...
Sorry if this Question was already asked...
Aron

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 7:25 am
by kisaac
AronSchuh wrote:Is there a possibility to generated fictional lists in MLS.
For example i need a seperate list for the bishop with lessactive YSA. Create a new list with a new name...
Welcome to the forum!

I'm not sure what you mean by generating a "fictional list" in MLS. Do you mean a report that is not one of the standard reports in MLS? You can generate a "custom report"(follow this link for more details) from MLS, which would allow you to generate additional lists that are not standard from the members in your unit, and can be designed for specific uses. It is limited to the criteria MLS can track, however.

It may be easier to do what you need the "old fashioned" way. Have your bishop request a monthly roll be taken in Sunday School, RS and Priesthood, and have the secretaries of the organizations provide to your bishopric at ward council the names of any YSA's NOT ATTENDING for the previous month, and the previous three months. Having this discussion every month in ward council will give you a great picture of your YSA's. While the quarterly report only requires attendance be taken on the last month of the quarter, your bishop certainly can require additional reports from ward leaders that he deems important.

If you wish to proceed with a custom report, for your example, you can easily create a list of your current YSA members, but the difficulty is finding the way to "qualify" an individual as "less active" via MLS. Because MLS does not allow entering attendance data, it cannot provide you a list of those who are, or are not attending. While attendance may be the one thing you DO want, there are other "filters" (or criteria) that MLS DOES track that you could put in a custom report to help you automate a custom report. Some ideas that would help to identify the participation level may be:
  • Endowed WITHOUT a current recommend
  • Returned missionary (using mission language field) WITHOUT a current recommend
  • Priesthood
  • NOT assigned as a home or visiting teacher
  • NOT assigned a calling
  • NOT Assigned a Home / Visiting Teacher
Some find "custom reports" tricky to work with, but they are powerful. You can combine them with "custom member fields" for even more power.

Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 10:34 am
by greggo
If your ward is similar to mine, a MLS report of YSA would not be very accurate, as a good number of those listed as single are actually married. Inactive members don't typically report when their marriage status changes (this is also the case when they get divorced - the record says married, but they're actually single).