researching ward missionary finance issue

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coloradotechie-p40
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Location: Colorado, USA

researching ward missionary finance issue

#1

Post by coloradotechie-p40 »

So, I'm doing some research into the Ward Missionary account and something just isn't making sense...

To help me solve this problem, I would really like to go back to our March 1st backup and see exactly what the reports say so I can wrap my mind around this.

What would be the best way to do this? I have the .bak file... but on March 1st 2009 we didn't have MLS 3.1, we just had MLS 3 (not sure of the exact version).

I'm EXTREMELY nervous about messing up the MLS install on the church computer and I was wondering if I should do something else... e.g. install MLS 3.1 in a separate directory on the same computer and use the secondary install as a test bed for my March 1 backup...

Is that even possible?

Or should I just do the following
  1. Log in to MLS
  2. Create a backup
  3. Restore the March 1st backup
  4. Print my reports
  5. Restore to the backup created in step 2
Is that safe? Is it hard? I suppose I can test the backup, restore, print, restore process on my home computer with the test data... maybe I'll give that a go and see if it works (note: TEST data only...)

Thanks~!
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aebrown
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Location: Draper, Utah

#2

Post by aebrown »

coloradotechie wrote:I'm EXTREMELY nervous about messing up the MLS install on the church computer and I was wondering if I should do something else... e.g. install MLS 3.1 in a separate directory on the same computer and use the secondary install as a test bed for my March 1 backup...

Is that even possible?!
No, that is not possible. MLS has to be installed in the default (C:\Program FIles\LDS Church\MLS) to work properly.
coloradotechie wrote:Or should I just do the following
  1. Log in to MLS
  2. Create a backup
  3. Restore the March 1st backup
  4. Print my reports
  5. Restore to the backup created in step 2
Is that safe? Is it hard?!
That's indeed the recommended process. It should be safe, and it's not very hard. If you want an extra measure of safety, before you do any of that, copy the entire MLS folder to somewhere else on the hard drive. If anything goes wrong, you can copy it back. The MLS folder contains the program, as well as the folders containing the database, so it has everything.
coloradotechie wrote:I suppose I can test the backup, restore, print, restore process on my home computer with the test data... maybe I'll give that a go and see if it works (note: TEST data only...)
!

That would give you some comfort with the process if you haven't been through it before.
coloradotechie-p40
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Posts: 91
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2009 8:50 am
Location: Colorado, USA

#3

Post by coloradotechie-p40 »

Well, I ran the process on my home machine with test data and it was easy.

However, I didn't have to do the restore at all! (Yay!)

I just changed the date drop down on the income and expense summary screens to be the dates I wanted and then I was able to print the reports exactly as the looked on March 1, 2009.

Yay!
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aebrown
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Location: Draper, Utah

#4

Post by aebrown »

coloradotechie wrote:Well, I ran the process on my home machine with test data and it was easy.

However, I didn't have to do the restore at all! (Yay!)

I just changed the date drop down on the income and expense summary screens to be the dates I wanted and then I was able to print the reports exactly as the looked on March 1, 2009.
I should have mentioned that possibility at first. I thought that you were concerned about transactions that someone might have added in the meantime, dated in the past. That can happen with adjustments, transfers, and voided checks. But as long as that hasn't happened, or you are aware of those issues and can compensate for them, you're certainly right that you can specify any date range and run an Income and Expense Summary Report for whatever categories you are interested in.
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