Effective forms to gather new member information

[Scottc32]

I have only found one (limited) form in this forum that was designed to gather information about new members in preparation to request records. Does someone have another form that they could share with the forum?

[aebrown]

On the wiki there are also some forms in the New move-ins article under Sample forms.

[Scottc32]

Thank you for the links. If there are other helpful forms I find, how can they be considered for additions to the forum/wiki so others have the as options?

[aebrown]

Thank you for the links. If there are other helpful forms I find, how can they be considered for additions to the forum/wiki so others have the as options?

You can go ahead and add them to the wiki yourself. Or if you would like discussion before posting them there (or if you aren't comfortable uploading files to the wiki), you can attach proposed files to a forum post (attachment options are under "Go Advanced") and we can discuss them here.

[Scottc32]

Attached is a form that can be used by ward leadership in helping ward clerks gather required information for membership updates. I am not experienced in modifying a wiki, but would like someone to review and possibly add this form to the New move-ins article under Sample forms. I have found it to be helpful and hope it can do the same for other wards.

Member Record Update Form v2.doc

(43.5 KiB) Downloaded 445 times

[jdlessley]

I like your form. It provides much of the same information in the sample form Membership Record Change Request in the list of sample forms. But it does have the additional areas for Aaronic Priesthood Ordination, Baptism/Confirmation, Birth/Baby Blessing, and Other Membre Record Updates not in the other Membership Record Change Request.

Before it is added I think we need some discussion on its merit and possible changes, if needed. It should probably be converted to PDF format before adding it to the list.

[aebrown]

But it does have the additional areas for Aaronic Priesthood Ordination, Baptism/Confirmation, Birth/Baby Blessing, and Other Membre Record Updates not in the other Membership Record Change Request.

Since there are official MLS form for all of these (except the Other Member Record Updates section), I don't see why they should be on this form. They just make the form unnecessarily crowded.

But other than that, it does seem to be laid out well. Since it isn't designed to be filled in, it should either be modified to be a Word document that can be filled in, or just converted to a PDF to be written on by hand.

[Scottc32]

Thanks for the feedback. I understand the concern with redundancy. The challenge I find is that bishopric and ward leaders often know of membership changes, but do not have the various MLS forms handy or know what information is minimally required (ie. move-ins need full name and bithdate). This ONE form allows for nearly all updates and helps them to focus on the most pertanent information that I need to quickly become aware of changes and also provides enough information to gather other details, or simply complete the changes in MLS.
After more testing within our ward leadership, I will likely make modifications before converting it to a PDF. If you have other layout/content recommendations, your input is welcome.

[aebrown]

Thanks for the feedback. I understand the concern with redundancy. The challenge I find is that bishopric and ward leaders often know of membership changes, but do not have the various MLS forms handy or know what information is minimally required (ie. move-ins need full name and bithdate). This ONE form allows for nearly all updates and helps them to focus on the most pertanent information that I need to quickly become aware of changes and also provides enough information to gather other details, or simply complete the changes in MLS.

One of the reasons I mentioned those official MLS forms is that those forms DO contain all the information that is required to record an ordination, whereas your form does not. But if your form works for you often enough, then that's great for you.

I would think that an executive secretary or ward clerk could easily make sure that the correct MLS forms are provided to the bishopric. But in the case of workflow for such procedures, it's definitely true that different wards have different preferences.