Home teaching data compromised?

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kisaac
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Home teaching data compromised?

#1

Post by kisaac »

Has anyone recently seen any anomalies in their MLS home teaching data?

When I checked our Home teaching statistics, the Elders showed 100% for March. This would be a 50% increase in their usual numbers! I called both the secretary and president, and both said they had not entered any numbers yet for home teaching for March, and their figure was around 50%.

What should i do to investigate this? Should I suspect a data entry error, or perhaps something else?
JamesAnderson
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#2

Post by JamesAnderson »

If indeed the presidents or their secretaries had not entered the data for March at all, the figure should be 0% and rise as data is input when they actually enter it.

Anyone who remembers MIS will know that at one time you had to put something in to get a percentage, then they had you put a 'V' in if they were visited and the percentage would be based on that.

So which is it now? That might be the real question, something that happened in an update that we didn't quite know of or for some reason they forgot to tell us of.
kisaac
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Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2007 6:04 am
Location: Utah, united states

My investigative plan...

#3

Post by kisaac »

JamesAnderson wrote:If indeed the presidents or their secretaries had not entered the data for March at all, the figure should be 0% and rise as data is input when they actually enter it.
Thanks for your response, and I'll have to check that it remains as you stated: A "positive" mark must be made for a visit to be counted. A blank, or "no data" entered should remain a "no visit." My investigative plan:

Is it a:
1) Mistake in data entry at our meetinghouse computer by a ward member
2) Purposeful entry of wrong data at our meetinghouse computer
3) Error or corruption of data in our computer or at stake/church HQ level
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4) Manipulation of our home teaching data by mistake or on purpose by stake clerks? Is this possible?
5) update or change in the way a visit is counted by MLS? is this possible?

What other options miught there be? I guess I'll start with Number one and work down. I'll start by seeing if there is an easy way, with just a few keystrokes, for somebody to accidentally mark the whole quorum as making their visits.
JamesAnderson wrote: Anyone who remembers MIS....
I got my clerk door key just after the big switch from MIS to MLS :)
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aebrown
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Location: Draper, Utah

#4

Post by aebrown »

kisaac wrote:1) Mistake in data entry at our meetinghouse computer by a ward member
... I'll start by seeing if there is an easy way, with just a few keystrokes, for somebody to accidentally mark the whole quorum as making their visits.
Note that it is possible to change the statistics without entering every visit. Just go to the HT statistics screen and click on the blue link for the appropriate month name; then you can enter statistics. So I would check out that possibility as well as looking into the individual visit check marks.
kisaac wrote:4) Manipulation of our home teaching data by mistake or on purpose by stake clerks? Is this possible?
At least one stake clerk should have the ability to login to MLS as a Stake Administrator. So I suppose it's conceivable. Along these lines, it would also be possible for another ward clerk or executive secretary or bishopric member or Relief Society secretary to make the change. Basically, entering Home Teaching visits requires only the lowest level of MLS access -- Organizational permission -- and so anyone at all who can login could have done it.

However, whoever did it would have to go into the area where you enter HT statistics or individual visits and make the change. That would require a lot of nerve, or bold ignorance.
kisaac wrote:5) update or change in the way a visit is counted by MLS? is this possible?
Since the February statistics would have been captured with MLS 3.1.5, just like you are doing for March statistics, I really doubt that an MLS change could be the culprit.
Questions that can benefit the larger community should be asked in a public forum, not a private message.
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