Preparing for MLS 3.5

Discussions around using and interfacing with the Church MLS program.
atticusewig
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Preparing for MLS 3.5

#1

Post by atticusewig »

I received a MLS message saying that to prepare
for the changes in MLS 3.5 I should print out all
the Callings, and the class rolls for Sunday School
and Primary. It also mentions a website to download
the new version when it becomes available.

I understand from the instructions that the new version
will scramble our callings and classes, but wonder
what else will happen. (Sorry, but the last time I
was told to print things out prior to a version change
was for the CUBS transition...)

Questions:
1) Are any Stakes participating in a beta for MLS 3.5 ?
What effects have they experienced ?

2) Can we get a preview of the Release Notes ? I
would like to know what other fixes/changes come
with the new version.

3) Will the download be available from mls.lds.org,
or only from clerksupport.lds.org as the message
indicates ?
Also, if not on mls.lds.org and it is tied to a person's calling,
what callings will have access ? If it is limited only to tech
specialists, I anticipate some problems.

Thanks,
Atticus
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aebrown
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#2

Post by aebrown »

atticusewig wrote:I understand from the instructions that the new version will scramble our callings and classes

That's not what the message said. It said that classes would be reset (the exact same thing as what will happen right now if you chose the Reset Classes option) -- I'd hardly call that a "scramble." And regarding callings, some callings in the Other Callings section will be organized into new groups; that sounds like adding more organization, not less (as the word "scramble" would imply).
Questions that can benefit the larger community should be asked in a public forum, not a private message.
jonesrk
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#3

Post by jonesrk »

aebrown wrote:That's not what the message said. It said that classes would be reset (the exact same thing as what will happen right now if you chose the Reset Classes option) -- I'd hardly call that a "scramble." And regarding callings, some callings in the Other Callings section will be organized into new groups; that sounds like adding more organization, not less (as the word "scramble" would imply).
The 'scrambling' that 'will' happen, has already happening in CDOL. If you do a refresh in MLS you will see it. All it is, is moving all the teachers to one instance of the class too. The point of all this is that MLS 3.5 will actually start sending class information to CHQ so that members, callings assigned to classes will be at CHQ and can be displayed correctly in the various applications.
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johnshaw
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#4

Post by johnshaw »

Please, please, please tell me we can start tracking a history of individual and callings they've held.
“A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom.”
― Thomas Paine, Common Sense
atticusewig
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#5

Post by atticusewig »

I regret using the word "scramble". Of course the message didn't say that.
(The message for the CUBS transition didn't say there were going to be any
problems; But I'm sure callings aren't nearly as complicated, either.)

Regardless of my disturbing lack of faith, can anyone answer the three questions
I asked that could help people better prepare for MLS 3.5 ?
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Mikerowaved
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#6

Post by Mikerowaved »

I've not seen the letter, but I was planning on helping some clerks perform the Correcting duplicate or missing callings procedure to remove some old calling that appear to be "stuck". Now I see the Wiki has been updated to recommend NOT doing this until MLS 3.5 has been installed. Can someone elaborate a bit more on what to expect with that release?

BTW, the CDOL organization of callings appears to be much better than before. Kudos to the team!
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lajackson
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#7

Post by lajackson »

Mikerowaved wrote:Can someone elaborate a bit more on what to expect with that release?

BTW, the CDOL organization of callings appears to be much better than before. Kudos to the team!

Well one thing I expect from MLS 3.5 is that the MLS organization of callings will match the new CDOL organization. And I agree that this will be a good thing.
jonesrk
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#8

Post by jonesrk »

Mikerowaved wrote:Now I see the Wiki has been updated to recommend NOT doing this until MLS 3.5 has been installed. Can someone elaborate a bit more on what to expect with that release?
The reason to not follow this process with MLS 3.4.3 is that CDOL has been updated to work with MLS 3.5 and some of the refresh request functionality doesn't work quite right with MLS 3.4.3

MLS 3.5 will support the newer organizations that you are seeing in CDOL now. It will also synchronize the class assignments with CHQ.
Mikerowaved wrote: BTW, the CDOL organization of callings appears to be much better than before. Kudos to the team!
Thanks, and sorry for the rocky transition here. This has been quite the process trying to test all the moving parts and options.
giffordrb
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#9

Post by giffordrb »

My unit is on 3.5 as of this weekend. Here's what the upgrade/transition looks like:

* Pre-upgrade - all of our primary classes are split. CTR 4A, CTR 4B etc.
* Pre-upgrade - most of our Sunday School classes are merged. Course 14-15 etc.
* Pre-upgrade - We have two Elders Quorums

After pulling down the MLS patches and restarting MLS (which is running 3.5 code at this point), both Finance and Organization functionality is locked. Doing a send/receive then requests a finance sync file (differs from a refresh file), and a cdol refresh file. When those files are brought into MLS via another send/receive MLS will unlock finance and organization functionality. At this point MLS looks like the following compared to how it looked pre-upgrade:

* The primary classes are reset to the standard classes. The split classes no longer exist and the teachers that were assigned to the custom classes previously are now either assigned to the default class or have lost their class assignment.
* Sunday School has been reset just like primary
* I still have two Elders Quorums. Primary and Sunday School are the only orgs affected (reset)
* Custom organizations have been deleted and callings in those orgs are moved into Other Callings.

Now comes the fun part - re-splitting/merging the primary and sunday school classes. This is the reason those reports should be printed out before upgrading. Once this is done a send/receive will send the new classes to cdol and class assignments to cmis.

I realize this is high-level, and each unit is different - so let me know if you have any questions about any specific scenario.
Ryan Gifford
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aebrown
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#10

Post by aebrown »

giffordrb wrote:After pulling down the MLS patches and restarting MLS (which is running 3.5 code at this point), both Finance and Organization functionality is locked. Doing a send/receive then requests a finance and cdol refresh file. When those files are brought into MLS via another send/receive MLS will unlock finance and organization functionality.
...
let me know if you have any questions about any specific scenario.

Nothing in Sunday's MLS message on the topic of MLS 3.5 talked about Finance issues in regard to this upgrade (except for a vague reference to updated finance functions). And yet you just said that finances will be temporarily locked and that units will be getting a finance refresh file. That makes me a bit nervous, given some of the challenging experiences we had during the CUBS upgrade. Is there any chance that anything could go awry in processing the finance refresh file? Are there any financial reports we should be printing out before the upgrade, just in case?

Also, with the CUBS upgrade we were told specifically when it would happen for each unit, which was very helpful. We then knew when we needed to print out reports, and when we would be locked out. In the MLS 3.5 upgrade message, we were simply told that it would happen "in the next few weeks." As we get closer to the actual release date, will we receive more specific communications regarding the date of the upgrade? Some of those lists we are asked to print out will change over "the next few weeks," so it would be good to know when the upgrade is coming (once you know more specifically) so that we can print the reports just one time right before the upgrade.
Questions that can benefit the larger community should be asked in a public forum, not a private message.
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