Callings without People

Discussions around using and interfacing with the Church MLS program.
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froghunter
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Callings without People

#1

Post by froghunter »

I'm trying to come up with a report that's simply a list of callings that currently have no one called. This will allow the bishopric to decide if they want to remove that calling from active use or call someone to it. I note that unoccupied callings are a part of an organization's listing, but I see no way to create a list of just callings without people. Is there a way to do this?
jdlessley
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#2

Post by jdlessley »

There is no quick an easy way to do this. There are two types of positions in a unit, standard positions and custom positions. Merely using the callings by organization will only give positions that are filled or have been filled previously but not removed from the display list. A list of standard positions can be copied from MLS and then compared to positions that have been filled. You could do this manually in a spreadsheet or use a spreadsheet with macros to highlight the unfilled standard positions.

This leaves the custom positions. I know of no way to list all custom positions created in MLS other than manually going through each organization in Callings by Organization and clicking Add Position > Position:Select to see what custom positions have been created. The custom positions that are filled can be identified by using Organizations > Reports/Tools > Custom Position Review.

There is no criteria in a custom report to get unfilled positions.
JD Lessley
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aebrown
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#3

Post by aebrown »

froghunter wrote:I'm trying to come up with a report that's simply a list of callings that currently have no one called. This will allow the bishopric to decide if they want to remove that calling from active use or call someone to it. I note that unoccupied callings are a part of an organization's listing, but I see no way to create a list of just callings without people. Is there a way to do this?
The best way I know of to do this is to do an export of Organization data (File > Export). Then open the exported CSV file in a spreadsheet, and do some operations to remove the callings that are filled:
  1. Sort by column "Indiv Name"
  2. Remove the rows that have a value in that column
  3. Sort by "Org Seq" followed by "Pos Seq" to return the data to its original order.

You posted this question in the MLS forum, but there is a way to do this on lds.org; at least there is a report that is close to what you are asking for. Under Leader Resources, under Organizations, go to Callings by Organization. Then in the rightmost dropdown (initially "All Callings"), choose Unfilled Callings. The report will show callings from some built-in list that are not filled. That's not the list of MLS callings that don't have
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kisaac
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#4

Post by kisaac »

I also think the best way is to get your data into a spreadsheet for further manipulation, and try aebrown's suggestion. Also, remember that the "export" is one option, but not available to you if you don't have export access. If you don't have export access, and you canfind your data on a regular screen (or the mentioned report on LDS.org) use "copy and paste" using the windows clipboard, or "Save to file" or "clipboard" as well:

In MLS, try these keyboard shortcuts referenced in the wiki. I haven't tried them.
In most reports or screens in MLS that contain tabular data, the following keystrokes will work. Generally you need to click on a row of the report before you attempt to copy or save the data.
  • Ctrl+C: Copy the current row to the Windows clipboard.
  • Ctrl+Shift+C: Copy the entire report to the Windows clipboard.
  • Ctrl+Shift+S: Save the entire report to a file.
Paste or open the file (depending on your previous option) in your spreadsheet (I use openoffice-it's on the clerks computer) and format your data to your needs. You may need to play with the delimiter in your csv import dialog in your spreadsheet, to get it just like you want it, using tabs or comma's.
davesudweeks
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#5

Post by davesudweeks »

Maybe I am just in a odd mood today, but in reading these posts, this hit me:

MLS is set-up (under prophetic direction, we must assume) to prevent exporting of data by individuals who do not have specific rights to do so. Yet, in this forum, we publicly describe how those same individuals can effectively "export" the data that is forbidden by their MLS access rights. Are we all assuming that the MLS controls can be ignored or that they are incorrect bugs that have not been fixed yet?

Don't get me wrong, I stongly believe that much of this data is vital to ward and stake leaders to effectively perform their callings. It is just that, at the same time, we are taught to be law-abiding citizens; which would include abiding with policies in MLS as well.

I don't necessarily need a response, just something for us all to think about.
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aebrown
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#6

Post by aebrown »

davesudweeks wrote:In this forum, we publicly describe how those same individuals can effectively "export" the data that is forbidden by their MLS access rights. Are we all assuming that the MLS controls can be ignored or that they are incorrect bugs that have not been fixed yet?

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see anyone suggesting that people access data that is forbidden by their MLS access rights. I didn't mention access rights in my post, but I was talking about MLS exports, and it is clear in the documentation and plenty of other posts that exports require administrative access. I would not suggest that anyone without administrative access should try to do this, and I hope no one else will.

If someone is actually making such suggestions, please let me or another moderator/adminstrator know, since that would be contrary to the Code of Conduct, which prohibits posts that describe "Methods for circumventing Church policies or security mechanisms. "
Questions that can benefit the larger community should be asked in a public forum, not a private message.
eblood66
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#7

Post by eblood66 »

aebrown wrote:Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see anyone suggesting that people access data that is forbidden by their MLS access rights. I didn't mention access rights in my post, but I was talking about MLS exports, and it is clear in the documentation and plenty of other posts that exports require administrative access. I would not suggest that anyone without administrative access should try to do this, and I hope no one else will.
I think he means suggestions on how to extract data using Copy/Paste as alternative to using an export. However, I don't think that can be considered circumventing MLS access rights. MLS provides that functionality and it is automatically restricted to data the user has access to (because otherwise they couldn't view the data in the report). In addition, MLS blanks out sensitive information during copy/paste when present (i.e. MRNs and all financial data).
jdlessley
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#8

Post by jdlessley »

The MLS programmers are aware of the Windows keyboard shortcuts that can capture data. Quite some time ago they altered the output for financial data to replace the numbers with asterisks (*****). If they, or those providing programming direction, felt it was necessary they would have done the same for membership data.
JD Lessley
Have you tried finding your answer on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org Help Center or Tech Wiki?
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