Training Matrix

Use this forum to discuss issues that are not found in any of the other clerk and stake technology specialist forums.
User avatar
aebrown
Community Administrator
Posts: 15153
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:48 pm
Location: Draper, Utah

Training Matrix

#1

Post by aebrown »

A letter from the Presiding Bishopric dated 20 July 2005 stated: "A Church record-keeping training course is now available and can be accessed in the 'Serving in the Church' area of www.lds.org. Priesthood leaders, clerks, and stake auditors should review the lessons that apply to their callings."


Both the financial and membership audits have a requirement that leaders and clerks "have reviewed the applicable training lessons." Whenever we conduct such audits in our stake, this is one of the hardest questions to answer accurately because:
  1. The question needs to be answered by several people who are not present at the audit
  2. It's not clear to anyone what the "applicable" lessons are
  3. There is no record of who took any lessons
Because of these problems, auditors usually get a vague answer such as "I'm pretty sure everyone has taken the training" or "Hmm. I don't know. You'll have to ask the other clerks." In many cases, it's clear that clerks and leaders aren't sure where to even find the training. (It's on lds.org under Serving in the Church > Melchizedek Priesthood, or it is accessible on administrative computers through MLS.)

To help resolve some of these issues, I am preparing a training matrix for my stake to use at both the ward and stake level. It lists all the training lessons, and for each lesson lists:
  1. The date the lesson was last updated
  2. The approximate time to complete the lesson
  3. Each calling that the lesson applies to (both required lessons and optional lessons that could be helpful)
I plan to use the matrix as the basis for a training log that wards and the stake can fill out listing each person who should take lessons (by name and by calling), the lessons they should take, and the date the training was completed. Armed with this record, it should be simple for an auditor to quickly scan the list and see if the required training has actually been completed.

I would appreciate any feedback regarding this idea, and the particular matrix (which I have attached to this post). In particular, do the required and optional lessons for each calling look correct?
Attachments
Church Training Matrix.xls
(20.5 KiB) Downloaded 332 times
User avatar
opee
Member
Posts: 338
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2007 3:00 am
Location: Sunnyvale, CA

#2

Post by opee »

Alan_Brown wrote:Armed with this record, it should be simple for an auditor to quickly scan the list and see if the required training has actually been completed.


I would appreciate any feedback regarding this idea, and the particular matrix (which I have attached to this post). In particular, do the required and optional lessons for each calling look correct?

I really like the idea and the document. I have 8 of 10 units that fall into this audit flag in our stake, and a document like this will help.

I would suggest that the Ward and Stake Clerks are required to take all of the modules. Since they are the ones who train others and help others, they should be aware of the content in the modules to urge and inspire other leaders to complete them.
jdlessley
Community Moderators
Posts: 9858
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:30 am
Location: USA, TX

#3

Post by jdlessley »

I think the training matrix as a tool has merit. I plan on sending it to our audit committee chairman and an explanation as to how it can help prepare bishoprics and clerks in meeting their calling assignments. I think we can reduce our audit exceptions dramatically by using the matrix to ensure members are trained.

Now if we could only solve the issue of knowing when someone new has been called to a position requiring training...
JD Lessley
Have you tried finding your answer on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org Help Center or Tech Wiki?
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34418
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

#4

Post by russellhltn »

Excellent! A few comments:

If you could some how clarify the "time" label. I figured it out as "time in minutes" but others may not understand that.

Knowing which ones are available on the ward computer would be helpful.

A little more direction how to use the second sheet would be good. It took me a bit to figure out the best method - copy and paste the first sheet and then change the positions to the names of the people occupying it and then replace the "R" and "O"s with dates as they were done. Just doing simple logging would require too much flipping back and forth to compare the sheets.

As a thought, maybe a better approach would be to color code the squares (I think colors "stick" even when changing the text) and add a column for "name". That way it only takes one sheet to keep track. However that would work only if the sheet was kept electronically rather than printed out and done manually.

I didn't look over the requirements and positions extensively, but it looks good. I didn't know there was a stake Membership clerk. :D Should there be a listing for the STS? Maybe require the introduction and optionally list some of the high level views of how things work?
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
User avatar
opee
Member
Posts: 338
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2007 3:00 am
Location: Sunnyvale, CA

#5

Post by opee »

RussellHltn wrote:A little more direction how to use the second sheet would be good. It took me a bit to figure out the best method - copy and paste the first sheet and then change the positions to the names of the people occupying it and then replace the "R" and "O"s with dates as they were done. Just doing simple logging would require too much flipping back and forth to compare the sheets.

As a thought, maybe a better approach would be to color code the squares (I think colors "stick" even when changing the text) and add a column for "name". That way it only takes one sheet to keep track. However that would work only if the sheet was kept electronically rather than printed out and done manually.

Attached is a revised copy with your suggested changes. on the color coding and the 2nd sheet example. I added a "D" for done. The cells will turn Green when you put "D".
Attachments
Church Training Matrix with Formatting.xls
(32 KiB) Downloaded 286 times
User avatar
aebrown
Community Administrator
Posts: 15153
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:48 pm
Location: Draper, Utah

#6

Post by aebrown »

RussellHltn wrote:If you could some how clarify the "time" label. I figured it out as "time in minutes" but others may not understand that.

That's easily fixed -- perhaps "Course Length (minutes)".
RussellHltn wrote:Knowing which ones are available on the ward computer would be helpful.

They should all be available on the ward computer, so I don't see any reason to make this distinction.
RussellHltn wrote:A little more direction how to use the second sheet would be good. It took me a bit to figure out the best method - copy and paste the first sheet and then change the positions to the names of the people occupying it and then replace the "R" and "O"s with dates as they were done. Just doing simple logging would require too much flipping back and forth to compare the sheets.

Perhaps I didn't make it clear, but this is a work in progress. I didin't do anything on the second sheet except jot down a note or two as to what I intended to do. My plan was to have a different format that would list specific people. The matrix was to be a static master list, but the training log would list specific names and dates. But I appreciate the suggestions -- I still am not sure what would work best there. In any case, my plan was to have it be self-contained, so no flipping back and forth would be necessary.
RussellHltn wrote:I didn't look over the requirements and positions extensively, but it looks good. I didn't know there was a stake Membership clerk. :D Should there be a listing for the STS? Maybe require the introduction and optionally list some of the high level views of how things work?

There's no ward membership clerk, either. There's only a ward clerk and zero or more assistant clerks. The fact is that wards and stakes have a lot of flexibility in organizing the clerk work. This would need to be customized for each ward and stake.

FYI, in our stake one of the assistant clerks has responsibility for membership-related issues, including tracking MP ordinations and callings. That can be a pretty big job all by itself (but he does a lot more than just that).

I didn't include the STS because there's not really any training related to that calling at this point (except I suppose the general Introduction to MLS, but that applies to every assistant clerk).
User avatar
aebrown
Community Administrator
Posts: 15153
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:48 pm
Location: Draper, Utah

#7

Post by aebrown »

jdlessley wrote:Now if we could only solve the issue of knowing when someone new has been called to a position requiring training...

Practically every such calling is a stake calling, so it doesn't seem like it should be that hard for the stake to know when such callings occur.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34418
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

#8

Post by russellhltn »

opee wrote:Attached is a revised copy with your suggested changes. on the color coding and the 2nd sheet example. I added a "D" for done. The cells will turn Green when you put "D".
Neat. Can you create a "Name" field and have it reset the requirements when the name changes? :D
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34418
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

#9

Post by russellhltn »

Alan_Brown wrote:They should all be available on the ward computer, so I don't see any reason to make this distinction.
There are some differences, isn't there? Or was it just last update date?

Alan_Brown wrote:There's no ward membership clerk, either. There's only a ward clerk and zero or more assistant clerks. The fact is that wards and stakes have a lot of flexibility in organizing the clerk work. This would need to be customized for each ward and stake.
I checked LUWS and it shows "Assistant Ward Clerk (membership)", "Assistant Ward Clerk (finance)" and "Assistant Stake Clerk (finance)" as part of it's built-in callings. MLS adds "Assistant Stake Clerk (membership)" to the list. So I guess your list isn't too far off the standard.

Perhaps it should be indicated these are roles and there may not be a one-to-one mapping to the callings actually extended. My concern is that someone may take the chart as gospel and decide they have to call someone to those positions. All roles should be covered.




Alan_Brown wrote:I didn't include the STS because there's not really any training related to that calling at this point (except I suppose the general Introduction to MLS, but that applies to every assistant clerk).
I think I'd assign him to read the policies for Administrative and FHC computers. (Two separate documents.)
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
jdlessley
Community Moderators
Posts: 9858
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:30 am
Location: USA, TX

#10

Post by jdlessley »

Alan_Brown wrote:Practically every such calling is a stake calling, so it doesn't seem like it should be that hard for the stake to know when such callings occur.
Sorry for the interjection in my previous post. But yes, that is true. And as ludicrous as it may sound in my stake certain individuals may know but those who must do the training do not. This has been an ongoing issue that has been everpresent even before I moved into the stake. This is just a local issue I'm sure.
JD Lessley
Have you tried finding your answer on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org Help Center or Tech Wiki?
Post Reply

Return to “General Clerk Discussions”