New Date for HT/VT on LCR

[lajackson]

And by the way, as I have read the comments here at the Forum, even after this function becomes available at LCR, the stake will need to decide when to make the jump, because everyone in the stake has to do it at the same time.

This post indicates the transition is a per unit decision.

Two posts later and it's unclear if the decision is by the ward or the stake.

I see what you mean. It may be that individual units may make the switch, but I can see where all may not have to. It probably depends on the source of the stake report. If MLS does not care whether ward/branch information comes from MLS or LCR, I can see where units might make individual decisions.

If there is more involved in the change, i.e., the stake needs to have all of its units providing reporting information in the same way, I can see where the stake may need to make the decision.

I suppose when LCR becomes capable they will explain the new process to us and tell us what we need to do. That's when I will start holding my breath. [smile]

[russellhltn]

Just thinking out loud here - if MLS isn't updated with HT/VT, then I doubt if the stake can get it's quarterly reports via MLS - they'd have to do them on-line even if only one unit switched. So perhaps it will be a case where the stake decides if the wards can do it and then the individual wards can make their decision.

But my impression is that those details hadn't been worked out yet. So we'll have to wait and see what the instructions are.

But bottom line, it appears that when it becomes available that some local decisions will have to be made before any quorum or auxiliary will be able to switch. Some old saying about counting chickens seems to apply here.

[cathryn8]

It's been a week or so since anyone posted pining for release info, so I figured it was an opportune time to throw my hat in the ring. Just a very frustrated RS president here, trying to decide if it's worth it to kill myself creating another digital copy of our route revisions this go-round in Google Sheets or if I want to just fight the good fight with MLS printouts for another cycle and wait for the LCR release. Decisions, decisions...

[aebrown]

It's been a week or so since anyone posted pining for release info, so I figured it was an opportune time to throw my hat in the ring.

Those who somehow thought that the new HT/VT capabilities on LCR would be released in January were totally jumping to conclusions based on zero evidence. The only official communication we've received is that it would be in "first quarter 2015" (which doesn't end until 31 March 2015, which is over two months from now).

Other posts from Church employees give hints that this new release involves many moving parts, with interaction between MLS, LCR, CDOL, and multiple backend services. Some of that is underway, but I would think that the full process will still take a while. And because it is complex, I'm not surprised that there is no specific announced release date.

So you'll just have to be patient for the new release. If I were in your position, I would move forward with the tools you have right now. Nothing you do in MLS will be lost -- all the information will migrate to the new system.

[russellhltn]

The only official communication we've received is that it would be in "first quarter 2015" (which doesn't end until 31 March 2015, which is over two months from now).

And it's already been delayed once.

[pahollow]

I hope their will be a companion app that will allow home & visiting teacher reporting on every mobile ecosystem (Windows, Android and Apple) so that a home & visiting teachers can first report during or after visit, then allow stewardship interview to take place based on that report the app could have a simple list to check:

1. Visit made
2. Message shared
3. Needs identified
a) Ordinance required
b) Resource assistance needed
c) Service project required
d) Help with family history/Temple work needed
e) Need to see Bishop or leader
4. Then this information automatically sent to the leader, their counsellors, Bishop and executive secretary ready for PEC or Ward Council via LCR based on sensitivity of needs and home and visiting teachers contacted for a follow up interview with leaders as required
5. Make sure the LDS Tools apps works the same way on Windows, Android and Apple devices to be fair for all mobile device users!
6. When home and visiting teaching is done in this way it would make the program so much more useful and accountable - not to mention more successful as organisation is simplified and reduced!

[eblood66]

I hope their will be a companion app that will allow home & visiting teacher reporting on every mobile ecosystem (Windows, Android and Apple) so that a home & visiting teachers can first report during or after visit

Fact: We've already been told by a church employee that the upcoming HT/VT release will not include the ability to self report.

Speculation: There is a long history concerning online HT/VT support. Back about 8 years the church was just starting to consider involving volunteer help for developing user-facing applications. The first such project was going to be online HT/VT. Some of us still hanging around the forums were involved. We came up with lots of ideas along the same lines as you've suggested. As we tried to define these requirements things got bogged down with trying to get approval. Eventually the whole effort was shut down. There was never any specific explanation why (which is where the speculation comes in here). But based on where things got bogged down, there is significant reservations at high levels to the idea of reporting HT/VT via electronic means. My guess is that there are concerns with allowing very personal information to be put into a church database. Even just the fact that someone needs to talk to the bishop is very sensitive. The privacy issues are significant and there could be legal implications in many jurisdictions. And any hack of the church servers could cause major problems for the church PR-wise. Just having that information there could make the church servers a hacking target. There may also be concern about removing personal contact between leaders and teachers. The spirit is often stronger when two concerned people are talking directly. Or I could be completely wrong and there were other concerns. Or perhaps even the general authorities involved don't know the reason and are acting on inspiration alone. We don't know. But all indications are that the upcoming release is pretty much just the current MLS functionality moved to LCR without adding any major new features.

All speculation aside, you can be sure that ideas very like yours have been considered at very high levels. That much was clear back then. So if this type of reporting is never implemented, we can assume there were good reasons and the decision was made under the direction of the spirit. If something is done but it takes longer than we would like, I think we can also assume that it's because this is such an important program in the church and our leaders want to be very sure that the important spiritual and privacy aspects are not compromised in an effort to improve efficiency.

[michaelwforbes]

Looks like someone is trying to engage members reporting HT/VT outside of the LCR. Look at the app Wardplan: https://www.wardplan.com/

Is this app against Church policies?

[aebrown]

Looks like someone is trying to engage members reporting HT/VT outside of the LCR. Look at the app Wardplan: https://www.wardplan.com/

Is this app against Church policies?

You already asked this question in this post. Let's keep the discussion of Wardplan over in the existing topic.

[zaneclark]

Just found a discussion on the clerks forum on some changes in the latest MLS update... A tech employee said this was in preparation for the transition to LCR... Hope this means it is eminent!