Tech Forum

This is increasingly becoming a frustration of mine as well. Several wards in my stake maintain a directory and organization information outside of MLS. While in the ward itself it doesn't affect much, at the stake level it is quite frustrating. The information we receive through MLS is inaccurate and out of date.

While short term it may be quicker and easier to maintain a list outside of MLS (don't have to schedule a time to get on the computer, mainly) in the long run it ends up driving people away from the tools the church has developed to properly and safely store and distribute this information. This to me is the biggest issue, not to mention the list of items Alan_Brown gave.

I would suggest first that, if you have the motivation and time to get MLS updated, talk to your Ward Clerk or Bishop and get Edit Membership privileges and get MLS updated w/ the current list. Create non-member records for those non-members who want to be included in the list. Then, circulate a printout of the MLS directory weekly. Make it so MLS is the more accurate and reliable source.

As a side note, most of the info from MLS populates the LUWS, but not all. Preferred name and email address, for example, can only be updated by the account holder personally.

crislapi wrote:As a side note, most of the info from MLS populates the LUWS, but not all. Preferred name and email address, for example, can only be updated by the account holder personally.

Correction, a LUWS admin can update/change the Preferred name. But they can't do anything about the email address.

coloradotechie wrote:In our ward the relief society spends a lot of time managing a relief society directory

If I were the assistant clerk assigned to membership in that ward, I would ask the Relief Society for a copy of the updates each week and then enter them onto the membership records in MLS, as far as the capability allows.

As a practical matter, the RS often seems to have better information. I always encouraged our clerks to take advantage of the information, no matter how it was received.

All, THANK YOU so much for your information on this topic. I know the tone of my original post probably contained a sense of frustration (I wrote it immediately after I couldn't find a member's phone number b/c it was wrong on the LUWS)... I hope I haven't offended anyone with my original tone.

Again, I appreciate all the suggestions. I spoke with the Bishop about it a little already (before I saw all the responses here). I'll probably drop him an email and include a few more suggestions from here (and offer more of my time to help get the info updated... I didn't know I could be given update permissions for contact info...)

I really like the idea of using Tithing Settlement to update a lot of the information: LUWS login, LUWS picture (we don't have any yet), and Personal Contact Info (we are already having members look over the IOS and update discrepancies).

Thanks again for all the help and suggestions!

coloradotechie wrote:AllI really like the idea of using Tithing Settlement to update a lot of the information: LUWS login, LUWS picture (we don't have any yet), and Personal Contact Info (we are already having members look over the IOS and update discrepancies).

MLS 3.1 is being pushed out automatically this weekend. So from now through the end of tithing settlement, the new personal email and phone contact fields will be on the IOS reports for review updating. (Sadly, the Preferred Name field does not appear there.)

I think you will find many changes need to be made. This will probably be the case with almost any family ward, including those with up-to-date contact records, because of the big changes in MLS 3.1.

We got MLS 3.1 this morning (I was at the church writing checks).

Question: is it normal for a finance clerk to be able to edit membership contact info? It seems that in MLS 3.1 there is no "Give Permission to update contact information and not all member information" option

Would this be something that the finance clerk would be given all membership permissions in the system but then the clerk would need to make sure that they don't update things they shouldn't be updating? (e.g. only update contact info)?

Thanks!

coloradotechie wrote:Question: is it normal for a finance clerk to be able to edit membership contact info? It seems that in MLS 3.1 there is no "Give Permission to update contact information and not all member information" option

Would this be something that the finance clerk would be given all membership permissions in the system but then the clerk would need to make sure that they don't update things they shouldn't be updating? (e.g. only update contact info)?!

Any version of MLS (this hasn't changed for 3.1) has separate permissions for Finance and Edit Membership. Having Finance permissions implies that you have View Membership permission, but no Edit Membership. So if a finance clerk is given only Finance permissions, and not the extra Edit Membership permission, he can't edit membership records in any way, even to update contact information.

A finance clerk can edit donor records, which contain a copy of the address (no phone number), but he can't edit the contact information on the membership record. If he can, it's only because an administrator gave him the extra Edit Membership permission.

coloradotechie wrote:Question: is it normal for a finance clerk to be able to edit membership contact info? It seems that in MLS 3.1 there is no "Give Permission to update contact information and not all member information" option

Would this be something that the finance clerk would be given all membership permissions in the system but then the clerk would need to make sure that they don't update things they shouldn't be updating? (e.g. only update contact info)?

Finance clerks typically only have finance privileges. However, there is nothing wrong with giving a finance clerk membership privileges, especially if there is not a membership clerk doing those responsibilities. In the end, you are an assistant clerk and can be assigned any roles/tasks the bishop/ward clerk designates. If that happens to be membership duties, that's fine. Basically, you could be an assistant ward clerk with responsibilities for both membership and finances.

Again, if you're motivated to do it, then in my opinion they'd be foolish not to take advantage of that.

Thanks everyone! They were happy to give me access to update contact info.