Difficulty updating MLS for boundary change

Discussions around using and interfacing with the Church MLS program.
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russellhltn
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Difficulty updating MLS for boundary change

#1

Post by russellhltn »

The following was forwarded by a user who wishes to remain anonymous so as not to give away what stake is involved.
Thank you very much for your prompt assistance to my questions. I really appreciate this website and service you and others provide. Below is an issue I have been really struggling with:

Here is what I'm trying to sort out:
- We are trying to adjust some boundaries and dissolve a ward, merging it into two other wards.
- Basically making two wards from three.
- We ran the numbers months ago in MLS using the boundary proposal tools and we found that post-merger, the two new wards would be too big.
- However, we really found that many of the current members listed on the wards in question have since moved on.
- Basically, we put the wards on a big effort to clean up their directories and ship out member records for those who have moved.

- The clerks have told me that they have updated their directories on MLS.
- However, when I run the models again, the numbers are still way too high.
- So I look in MLS, and one of the people that should have been moved out, is still listed in MLS.
- I checked several other names, and they are still listed in MLS, when I know they should have been moved out.

* Why is this so, when the clerks told me they updated their directories/membership records?

Since I am a stake clerk, I don't have a whole lot of experience or exposure to manipulating member records.
Appreciate any feedback or help.
thank you
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russellhltn
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#2

Post by russellhltn »

I think a quick "sanity check" is to go into LUWS and see if the members show up there. If so, then they probably haven't been moved out. If they're not in LUWS, then it's a stake data update issue.

I'm not sure how often the stake's data is synced. You could try a "refresh" operation as see if that fixes things. (Refresh, send/receive, wait a few hours, send/receive)

The others probably have a better grasp on how the updates work.
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KenRichins
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Check Assignments to members who have moved

#3

Post by KenRichins »

We have found that when a member is moved if they have an assignment in the unit the assignment stays and they are still counted in the number of members in the unit. I would have them make sure that the Assignments have been removed for those who where moved out of the unit.
russellhltn
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#4

Post by russellhltn »

KenRichins wrote:We have found that when a member is moved if they have an assignment in the unit the assignment stays and they are still counted in the number of members in the unit.
An assignment in the Ward MLS or Stake MLS?
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RossEvans
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#5

Post by RossEvans »

Thre may be a timing difference.

When a ward clerk initiates a transaction to move a household out of the unit, and does a send/receive, I don't believe that move happens immediately. All he has done at this point is to request the move. CHQ has to complete the move, and a subsequent batch send/receive typically will send back another transaction to actually remove the household members from the ward MLS database.

Updating stake MLS is a whole different matter, and how that operates remains something of a mystery to me.
lajackson
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#6

Post by lajackson »

KenRichins wrote:We have found that when a member is moved if they have an assignment in the unit the assignment stays and they are still counted in the number of members in the unit.

We have not run into this. For us, when a member is moved out, their information disappears from the callings area and the position is now blank.

If it is not working that way for you, perhaps there is a new glitch in the program.

That said, the actual statistical number will not go down until CHQ returns confirmation that the record has been moved out of the unit. Just because you sent out a bunch of records, the statistics do not change until the circle is complete.
lajackson
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#7

Post by lajackson »

boomerbubba wrote:When a ward clerk initiates a transaction to move a household out of the unit, and does a send/receive, I don't believe that move happens immediately. All he has done at this point is to request the move. CHQ has to complete the move, and a subsequent batch send/receive typically will send back another transaction to actually remove the household members from the ward MLS database.

Updating stake MLS is a whole different matter, and how that operates remains something of a mystery to me.

The last time I tried to demystify the stake side of things, it worked this way after the ward MLS received confirmation that the records were moved and the ward database was updated.

By default, the stake receives updates for each ward once a month. This usually occurs during the first transmission the stake makes in the new month, although I have seen it happen as late at the 10th of the month. After this Send/Receive, the stake records will reflect the latest information for the ward.

The stake can request a Member Refresh at any time (and the stake can specify individual unit(s), but we usually just do them all). Check the box(es) and do a Send/Receive. Wait until the top of the next hour passes (or a day), and then do another Send/Receive.

After that second S/R, the stake will have updated membership information for any of all of the units in the stake.

There is a third way the data transfers. The ward can request that a data update be sent to the stake and it will go without the stake requesting it. This comes in handy after a ward clerk has done a lot of membership cleanup and wants the stake to have it sooner than at the beginning of the following month.

And all of that said, I have heard, but never confirmed, that membership data transfers more often automatically than just once a month. But you could not prove it by me.

Russell is correct that you can also go to LUWS and see if the ward really moved out the records (and CHQ accepted the move). LUWS usually updates within two days. This doesn't help you at stake MLS, but it will give you a warm fuzzy that your ward clerks are on top of things.
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aebrown
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#8

Post by aebrown »

lajackson wrote:And all of that said, I have heard, but never confirmed, that membership data transfers more often automatically than just once a month. But you could not prove it by me.
But I can prove it. We get membership updates all the time. I do a Send/Receive in our stake MLS at least once a week, and generally 2 or more times per week. It's quite rare that we don't see a membership change come down from at least one of the wards.

As near as I can tell, that monthly update is a thing of the past -- MLS is much more responsive these days.
Questions that can benefit the larger community should be asked in a public forum, not a private message.
crislapi
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#9

Post by crislapi »

I've had some issues with some callings not showing up. I had the wards send their membership data to stake (option under file menu). That cleaned up some issues. I then did a membership refresh from the stake computer, and the missing callings showed up.

Kind of the reverse of your problem, but I imagine it should work both ways.
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