Individual contact information

Discussions around using and interfacing with the Church MLS program.
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aclawson
Senior Member
Posts: 760
Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2007 6:28 pm

Individual contact information

#1

Post by aclawson »

What is the designed/expected behavior of the enhanced individual contact information? One of the clerks showed that that if there is a phone number (land line, for example) in a household record when the head of household's cell number is entered it overwrites the household contact information.

If a house has:

1. Landline
2. Cell phone/email for husband
3. Cell phone/email for wife

How does one make sure that the landline is presented as the primary contact but still print the husband/wife numbers as custom fields?
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aebrown
Community Administrator
Posts: 15153
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:48 pm
Location: Draper, Utah

#2

Post by aebrown »

aclawson wrote:What is the designed/expected behavior of the enhanced individual contact information? One of the clerks showed that that if there is a phone number (land line, for example) in a household record when the head of household's cell number is entered it overwrites the household contact information.

That's not really what happens -- an individual cell number does not overwrite the household phone number. The household contact information (phone and e-mail) is still associated with the household. The individual contact information is associated with the individual (the head of household, in this case).

Household-oriented reports will always show the household contact information, regardless of what information may be associated with any individuals in that household. What I'm sure that clerk is reporting applies only to individual-oriented reports in MLS 3.1 and later. For such reports, there is a field for the contact information. If the individual has information in the individual contact info fields, then the individual info will be displayed; if the individual fields are blank, then the household info will be displayed.
aclawson wrote:How does one make sure that the landline is presented as the primary contact but still print the husband/wife numbers as custom fields?
When you create custom reports, you can access the Household Phone Number or the Individual Phone Number specifically, or there is a new field called Contact Phone Number, which works as I explained above. Email addresses work the same way.
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jameslanderson
New Member
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 3:26 pm
Location: Woodland, WA USA

#3

Post by jameslanderson »

Wow! I'm glad to see this subject already started. I've been very interested in the emerging capabilities in the area of adding "personal" contact information. After receiving the first information accompanying a recent MLS re-delivery, I immediately added both my own and my wifes personal email and cell-phone info. My native cautious nature caused me to do this to test function before offering to subject any other ward members to the new "feature". Seemed to work great.

But then yesterday, I chose to check to see if the later announced populating of local unit MLS databases with information from the (fairly) recent LDS web account actitivities had yet shown up on our desktop. I was immediately gratified to see numerous individuals in an RS roster with "new" personal contact information. I was slightly startled to note that all seemed to be either their husband's of a single family address. I quickly decided that in many cases, a family used only one email address and spouses signed onto LDS web sites under the "common" address. I share the concern expressed about including email addresses of minors so I decided to check further and looked at YW rolls. To my astonishment the same email addresses appeared.

This is too long. Finally, I worked my way down to pre-primary and found that a father's email address had been gratuitously added to his daughter's info even though she was born only LAST MAY! Somehow, I could not explain how she could have applied for access to an LDS website as she has no confirmation date!

I am curious. Is this the intended result of the recent software deliveries.
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jameslanderson
New Member
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 3:26 pm
Location: Woodland, WA USA

#4

Post by jameslanderson »

I love this but it is more complicated than I expected. (What isn't?)

I tried to add a query on this subject by way of the "quick reply" feature a couple of hours ago but apparently it didn't get through. Maybe I should stick to the "slow" way. Start over.

I was excited when informed of the new individual contact capabilities being added to MLS. I quickly added my wife's and my personal email addresses and cell-phone numbers so I could "push" the new feature in our ward without fear of glaring looks for months to come. Everything looked swell.

Then, in another of the flurry of recent re-deliveries, there was more big news. Those who had taken advantage of the recent surge in LDS website attractions would have their login process email addresses automatically added to their ward MLS databases, no extra charge. Yesterday, after catching up on much of my assigned work, I decided to look into what might have been posted since the announcement was made. First I looked on an RS roster. I saw a number of entries for individual email addresses that I knew had not been there before. However, I soon noticed that they seemed to be very like those of either their family or their husband's email! Well, I try take a generous attitude toward others so I assumed that these represented families where the both spouses shared one email address and the wife had used it to log into an LDS website.

Long story short: Being in full support of the concern about including personal contact info for minors without clearing with their parents, I worked my way down until I finally saw a father's/family e-address associated with a girl in pre-primary who was born last May! Now I try not to leap to conclusions but I cannot figure out how a child under one year of age could register on one of the LDS websites. Even if she were very precocious and could already use a computer keyboard, I do not understand how she could have registered without having a valid confirmation date!

Please tell me if this result was the intended one.
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