We are lost in a sea of new options and choices without any instructions etc. on the new.lds.org login site. Here are a few things that I feel are being lost:
1. How does a user know what ward/branch calendar they can view and access? Example I am the Stake Website Administer/Ast Stake Clerk and also serve as a 2nd Councilor in a YSA Branch. When I access the new calendars I think that the Ward level calendars are my home ward.. How can I access the Branch Calendar, can or is each Ward/Branch calendar labeled so you know what one is displaying or you can check to display... in the old admin of the lds.org Stake/Ward sites (the Green Background), it was very clear that you had to go to a specific Ward or the Stake Admin area... now it seems to blend and it isn't clear what you can or can't do.
2. Stake Lesson schedules for Priesthood/Relief Society and also Sunday School lesson schedules. We like to keep our Wards and Branches in the Stake on the same lessons weekly... we use to use the lesson schedule function to do this... is this being done away with and replaced by the individual study aids?
3. Not being able to log in to a seperate "Admin" area.. I'm not sure what a user without admin acces can see/do in the Calendar functions. Could there be a division similar to what there is in the new Tools dropdown menu from regular options and admin options?
4. We need to have some training/help options..
Handout for ward members- introduce calendar, etc
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kmertlich
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I agree. There is a great deal of information and new features and training materials would be great. But, there is some information available by clicking on the Help button.
In response to your questions here is what I have found:
1. The Help information indicates that a major update will be coming in Feb to address some of the issues around distinguishing between stake, wards, and branches. Because I can't seem to find a lot about the release I am not sure if all of the concerns will be addressed. Some of that distinction still may have to be at how each unit labels their calendars.
2. The Help indicates that lesson schedules have not yet been developed but there seems to be a plan to do so. As a temporary solution - a stake lesson calendar has been created with an event each Sunday with the Priesthood/RS lesson to be taught.
3. I am a stake clerk and I have additional menu options available to me. As an assistant stake clerk I would think you to would have other menu options available. If you haven't yet, get with your stake clerk or other cleks and see what is available to them.
4. I have found many posts asking the same question. Some have include some attachments. As I read the Help information I am putting some tranny material together but hoping to see more here soon or from the development staff.
Wishing you luck as we plow through all of this. There are some really nice new features.
In response to your questions here is what I have found:
1. The Help information indicates that a major update will be coming in Feb to address some of the issues around distinguishing between stake, wards, and branches. Because I can't seem to find a lot about the release I am not sure if all of the concerns will be addressed. Some of that distinction still may have to be at how each unit labels their calendars.
2. The Help indicates that lesson schedules have not yet been developed but there seems to be a plan to do so. As a temporary solution - a stake lesson calendar has been created with an event each Sunday with the Priesthood/RS lesson to be taught.
3. I am a stake clerk and I have additional menu options available to me. As an assistant stake clerk I would think you to would have other menu options available. If you haven't yet, get with your stake clerk or other cleks and see what is available to them.
4. I have found many posts asking the same question. Some have include some attachments. As I read the Help information I am putting some tranny material together but hoping to see more here soon or from the development staff.
Wishing you luck as we plow through all of this. There are some really nice new features.
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tomjoht
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- Location: Utah, USA
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I've started putting together some help materials at http://tech.lds.org/ldshelp. The calendar has been my main focus, but it seems that the questions never end. I'll try to fill in the gaps of what you asked to add it to the help. I think some of your questions might be answered by the Viewing Calendars page. What other types of instructional materials would you like to see?
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jdlessley
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I can see how many people are having a difficult time as modules of the classic LUWS are developed and made available. Ideally all the modules of the LUWS would be developed and released at the same time. The new replacing the old. But there is considerable amount of development that is taking place and it is module by module rather than all at once. Thus we find ourselves with the classic LUWS still around and the decision as to whether to use the new, still in development, calendar and directory. We still have access to those parts of the classic LUWS for which there are no new modules yet available such as the home page for convenient information and areas such as the News and Information section and Lessons Schedules.
The first two modules from the LUWS that have been made available, albeit in beta or still in development, are the calendar and the directories, both unit member and leader. The part that causes a bit of confusion for some people is having the new calendar and directory accessed through the home page of lds.org rather than from a unit home page. Bouncing between the classic LUWS and lds.org to get information that had been available from one location, a home page, can be problematic for some people.
For those of us following the transition from the beginning there is not much difficulty in understanding how to get the information we need.
I guess what I am getting to is that the training material needs to have a bit of history and roadmap as to what is happening. This would help answer why we have the situation we find ourselves in today and what we can expect as the development continues until we reach the new LUWS.
I would think that a help topic available on lds.org about the transition from the classic LUWS to the new LUWS would be of considerable help to the membership. Currently a good portion of what I describe as needed is available in the new calendar help. The effort put into that resource is wonderful and helpful. Not everyone looking to get this generalized program information knows to look in the calendar help. Some of that information needs to find its way to the help on lds.org so that it is more readily available since it applies to more than just the calendar.
The first two modules from the LUWS that have been made available, albeit in beta or still in development, are the calendar and the directories, both unit member and leader. The part that causes a bit of confusion for some people is having the new calendar and directory accessed through the home page of lds.org rather than from a unit home page. Bouncing between the classic LUWS and lds.org to get information that had been available from one location, a home page, can be problematic for some people.
For those of us following the transition from the beginning there is not much difficulty in understanding how to get the information we need.
I guess what I am getting to is that the training material needs to have a bit of history and roadmap as to what is happening. This would help answer why we have the situation we find ourselves in today and what we can expect as the development continues until we reach the new LUWS.
I would think that a help topic available on lds.org about the transition from the classic LUWS to the new LUWS would be of considerable help to the membership. Currently a good portion of what I describe as needed is available in the new calendar help. The effort put into that resource is wonderful and helpful. Not everyone looking to get this generalized program information knows to look in the calendar help. Some of that information needs to find its way to the help on lds.org so that it is more readily available since it applies to more than just the calendar.
JD Lessley
Have you tried finding your answer on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org Help Center or Tech Wiki?
Have you tried finding your answer on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org Help Center or Tech Wiki?
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ebastow
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jacoblindseth
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mjgainer
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Our stake is also getting the word out about the new website. To get the ball rolling we did a presentation in Stake Presidency meeting to explain to the Stake President and Councilors about the new site. They had known almost nothing about it got really excited. We're going to do a similar presentation to all the Bishoprics in the stake in a few weeks. I think that it's important to remember that the leaders probably know as little about the website as the general members. The Bishoprics/Stake Presidencies have some amazing tools available to them that mostly like they won't know about unless we point it out to them.
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awev
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As a ward clerk I need to know a lot of this so I can help guide those in the different presidencies. My Bishop is great, as he has been leading the charge, and is better able to explain things than I am, as he has played on the new.lds.org site long before it went live, while I hopped on just a couple weeks beforehand. Our stake presidency use computers every day at their jobs, so they are computer literate (for high council members it is hit or miss). The stake tech support guy is a member of our ward, so just a word in his ear helped make the stake presidency aware of how far along things where/are.
The third Sunday the assistant clerk (four of us, plus the ward clerk) are invited to the bishopric meeting, as a clerk's training session. One of us is asked to give a lesson based on our calling, in my case it was how to use the map feature to find a unit name and number to help speed up the request of records (prior to MLS 3.3). The ward clerk did an overview of the new.lds.org website for the bishopric ward council meeting last year, and it helped make the local axillary presidents aware of what was available last year.
The thing that would help the most, and that the presidencies would like, is to know who is able to view what based on their callings. As an assistant ward clerk for membership I am able to view callings and organizations, yet a secretary for one of those organizations/auxiliary is not able to. The person that I am helping, or training, may not have the same permissions and tools as I do, and so this makes it harder. I can explain that the tools menu is broken into two parts, the upper portion is for all members, while the lower part is for your calling - that is easy. Yet when I try suggesting a tool to use based on their calling, and it doesn't show up, or I provide a link to use after they log in, and it doesn't work, it reminds me that I don't know who can do what on-line. I know that we can only view the data on-line, we still have to be in the clerk's office, using the stake provided computer, running MLS, to make the actual changes, and I am able to explain that any that ask.
Provide the information to those of us that will be conducting the training, and let us decide what to pass along, based on our audience. I am in a smart ward, even if it is not a BYU ward, we have only two members without a computer, and two others chose not to use email, out of 500+ members. The Relief Society has a move-in packet they provide to new sisters, and I was consulted on updating the LUWS log-in and registration info, and where to find the new ward calendar(s). Over the next couple weeks the presidencies will be taking a New Family Search training, and that is also going to be a jumping off point for the new lds.org site. After the presidencies are trained they will be holding training in the different organizations, such as EQ, HP, RS, and YM/YW.
My biggest concern is having the proper information available so I can pass it along to who needs it. I like the first PDF, where it was two-sided, and helped the average member get logged in to the church web site. I think a second sheet based on callings will be helpful for our ward, yet I still need to find the information explaining who can do what, and what tools are available to each calling.
You folks have given me a couple ideas on how to help get the information out there. Thank you
The third Sunday the assistant clerk (four of us, plus the ward clerk) are invited to the bishopric meeting, as a clerk's training session. One of us is asked to give a lesson based on our calling, in my case it was how to use the map feature to find a unit name and number to help speed up the request of records (prior to MLS 3.3). The ward clerk did an overview of the new.lds.org website for the bishopric ward council meeting last year, and it helped make the local axillary presidents aware of what was available last year.
The thing that would help the most, and that the presidencies would like, is to know who is able to view what based on their callings. As an assistant ward clerk for membership I am able to view callings and organizations, yet a secretary for one of those organizations/auxiliary is not able to. The person that I am helping, or training, may not have the same permissions and tools as I do, and so this makes it harder. I can explain that the tools menu is broken into two parts, the upper portion is for all members, while the lower part is for your calling - that is easy. Yet when I try suggesting a tool to use based on their calling, and it doesn't show up, or I provide a link to use after they log in, and it doesn't work, it reminds me that I don't know who can do what on-line. I know that we can only view the data on-line, we still have to be in the clerk's office, using the stake provided computer, running MLS, to make the actual changes, and I am able to explain that any that ask.
Provide the information to those of us that will be conducting the training, and let us decide what to pass along, based on our audience. I am in a smart ward, even if it is not a BYU ward, we have only two members without a computer, and two others chose not to use email, out of 500+ members. The Relief Society has a move-in packet they provide to new sisters, and I was consulted on updating the LUWS log-in and registration info, and where to find the new ward calendar(s). Over the next couple weeks the presidencies will be taking a New Family Search training, and that is also going to be a jumping off point for the new lds.org site. After the presidencies are trained they will be holding training in the different organizations, such as EQ, HP, RS, and YM/YW.
My biggest concern is having the proper information available so I can pass it along to who needs it. I like the first PDF, where it was two-sided, and helped the average member get logged in to the church web site. I think a second sheet based on callings will be helpful for our ward, yet I still need to find the information explaining who can do what, and what tools are available to each calling.
You folks have given me a couple ideas on how to help get the information out there. Thank you