Tech Forum

CWatsonJr wrote:I am in the process of developing a spreadsheet system where I can dump this list into an Excel sheet and have Excel generate a report for me of who has and hasn't attended Sacrament meeting in the last month (I may expand that to a quarter if the bishop wants it that way - right now, he only wants it for the last month). So far, I have three weeks of data under my belt and it looks like it is working just fine.

I'd have to go back over the manuals, but I'm leery of tracking sacrament meeting attendance. I thought that was a no-no and we were only to get a headcount.

Class attendance is fine and should be sufficient for spiritual leadership.

russellhltn wrote:I'd have to go back over the manuals, but I'm leery of tracking sacrament meeting attendance. I thought that was a no-no and we were only to get a headcount.

Handbook 2, 5.2.4 says that leaders track specific attendance of new members at sacrament meeting. I don't know why that couldn't apply to any members – I think it would be helpful for ministering, in the same way that keeping track of attendance in the classes helps leaders minister.

It's not a requirement to keep track of individuals who attend sacrament meeting, probably because it's difficult to keep track accurately with so many people. Passing around a roll would distract from the spirit of the meeting, but I don't think there's anything that prohibits leaders from keeping track of individuals who attend.

Handbook 2, 18.2.2 is the guidelines for sacrament meeting and doesn't mention attendance. The guideline for clerks recording attendance (not very specific) is in Handbook 1, 13.5.1.

He's not writing down names, but uses the listing tool to capture numeric data, but not taking down the names.

The count at Sacrament meeting is a key indicator (see that part of LCR for the bar graph and you can select that one alone and compare the percentage with other lines where needed). June is quarterly report month so this is the month that will count for the 2nd quarter of this year.

Best thing is to try to get a count during either the business part of the meeting and sacrament hymn part (although a few hymns like 'Upon the Cross at Calvary' are rather short), or just after the sacrament is complete, walk up the aisle and count all that are in the rows and any in the foyers if they go out to pass it to members who are there for whatever reason. Count each row on a line then go back and add up everything after the meeting. or if there is a calculator app on your device use that.

JamesAnderson wrote:He's not writing down names, but uses the listing tool to capture numeric data, but not taking down the names.

I am getting the impression he is working on tallying by name:

CWatsonJr wrote:I am in the process of developing a spreadsheet system where I can dump this list into an Excel sheet and have Excel generate a report for me of who has and hasn't attended Sacrament meeting in the last month ...

(Bold added for emphasis.)

That is significant effort for something not required, or even needed. I would have to ask, what is the purpose for tracking by name other than for recent converts?

JamesAnderson wrote:He's not writing down names, but uses the listing tool to capture numeric data, but not taking down the names.

That's not how I'm reading it:

CWatsonJr wrote:I use LDS Tools on my iPad to count how many members attend Sacrament meeting. There is an option for "Lists" where you can click on each member who is there and it will total it up for you.

Using lists just to generate numbers is far more complicated than simply counting. Great for class, but more work than required for sacrament.

In my ward we have generally about 400, and about 220 or so attend sacrament regularly. So the going from row to row, counting just the number of people in the row, not noting names unless it is a recent convert (and even then that may not be necessary as the bishop may be aware and may see or hear from others in the ward council who may otherwise inform him of the investigator or new convert attending or not attending, sometimes that will appear on the progress record as missionaries also keep track of investigators attending church for purposes of preparations for the baptism interview).

Attending Church multiple times prior to baptism is mentioned in Preach My Gospel. But the missionaries watch that generally on account of what I noted above. And they are often involved in the teaching of the lessons again after baptism so they will be working with the convert for the short term.

As a clerk in a BYU-I YSA ward attendance (both Sacrament and class) are critical for the ecclesiastical endorsement. We only provide count and do NOT try and track names for sacrament, leaving that up to the individual and their priesthood leaders.
Class and Quorum attendance is very important and difficult to track in a timely manner. We need to track attendance week by week. some kind of on-line tool the would really help. any ideas?

bill

Right now the only thing in LCR would be the class rolls. You can print them out but you can't input data for a good idea of attendance for stats.

Largest class in any ward is gospel doctrine, then elders quorum. Usually, Sunday School classes are not tracked, but aggregate attendance at priesthood usually is and that varies from stake to stake what they do there. In smaller classes like most primary classes, young men/young women, and optional courses, the instructor will know who was there and who wasn't as far as who is in the class at the time the class is being run.

An online tool that you could print a roll the night before and take it in to class then input who came to that class that day would help. If your unit is anything like mine members come and go and so being able to print a roll based on what is actually in the membership data for your ward would be a huge help, but you would want to be sure that the data held even if a member moved out for the statistical part of it, particularly with priesthood based on what some stakes may want.

I don't see such a tool right away, the LCR developers have a lot of other fish to fry before they can get to this, and even then it will depend on what the brethren want to do in this regard.

I know the Church is working on an app for sacrament attendance that would allow you to do the things you mentioned and report who has not been to sacrament meeting for awhile. It is being piloted now, so who knows if it sees the light of day, but the Church seems to recognize that this information is helpful in letting leaders know who is struggling and could use some more support. Perhaps it would someday be expanded to class attendance, but I don't think that is in the plan right now.

silus99 wrote:I know the Church is working on an app for sacrament attendance that would allow you to do the things you mentioned and report who has not been to sacrament meeting for awhile. It is being piloted now, so who knows if it sees the light of day, but the Church seems to recognize that this information is helpful in letting leaders know who is struggling and could use some more support. Perhaps it would someday be expanded to class attendance, but I don't think that is in the plan right now.

I can't even... can't even imagine tracking weekly attendance and having that data centrally located. Wow.