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Assisting the Family History Rep
Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 3:44 pm
by geek
Our family history rep would like a printout of member names, confirmation dates, and membership numbers. Obstensibly, this is so that she can go house by house and provide information for the members to create logins.
Is this kosher? I would expect members to come get their information if they need it, but I realize that's inefficient from the FH rep's perspective. While I wouldn't expect our FH rep to violate anyone's identity, is it bad form to just give her that info for the entire ward?
Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 3:45 pm
by geek
(And if anyone agrees that it's bad form, then does anyone know of a citation in the CHI for it?)
Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:07 pm
by mfmohlma
Confirmation date is no longer necessary (it's now birthdate), and members have their recommend numbers on their temple recommends. Personally, I see no reason to have this list floating around.
Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:18 pm
by aebrown
oregonmatt wrote:Confirmation date is no longer necessary (it's now birthdate), and members have their recommend numbers on their temple recommends. Personally, I see no reason to have this list floating around.
Actually, the confirmation date is still necessary for FamilySearch (it's LDS Account that now uses the birthdate). I would hope that someday New FamilySearch will switch over to LDS Account, but that hasn't happened yet.
I can't quote a specific handbook reference prohibiting this, but I would be pretty nervous about it. Even if the FH consultant can be completely trusted, what if the list gets misplaced or stolen? It has sufficient information for someone to steal an LDS identity -- you can use a confirmation date and MRN to steal an existing LDS Account or New FamilySearch login.
No matter what, this should not happen without the bishop specifically authorizing the release of this information to this individual.
Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:25 pm
by mamadsen
Our stake is recommending that the units help members sign up for an LDS Account during Tithing Settlement. We are also encouraging them to sign up for the new FamilySearch at the same time. The units will probably provide an additional computer for the members to use while they wait for their TS appointment.
Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 8:12 pm
by jdlessley
geek wrote:(And if anyone agrees that it's bad form, then does anyone know of a citation in the CHI for it?)
The CHI, Book 1, p 150 - 151,
Confidentiality of Records. There is also information in MLS Help,
Confidential Nature of Membership Records. Essentially any information more than name, address, and telephone number is limited to authorized stake and ward leaders.
Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 7:53 am
by greggo
A couple of suggestions...
When the financial clerk distributes the year-end donation statements before tithing settlement each year, he may also distribute the familys' individual ordinance summaries (IOS) which has all the required information. Our ward also went as far as mailing out the IOS's to inactive families with a note from the bishop requesting them to come to tithing settlement. Sure, this takes a lot of extra time/paper/toner/postage, but it had the added benefit of getting 1 or 2 individuals to come to tithing settlement and donate who normally would not. It also generated a lot of feedback on errors in records, and since the envelopes were marked "Address Service Requested," we found several members who had moved.
Our ward also had a list of all the confirmation dates and MRN information available for adult members to get their info during a class on how to use Family Search. A similar list was also used for a class for the youth. In each case a member of the bishopric, exec. sec. or clerk kept the list (with approval from the bishop, of course) and destroyed it after use.
Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 10:15 am
by mkmurray
Greggo wrote:A couple of suggestions...
When the financial clerk distributes the year-end donation statements before tithing settlement each year, he may also distribute the familys' individual ordinance summaries (IOS) which has all the required information. Our ward also went as far as mailing out the IOS's to inactive families with a note from the bishop requesting them to come to tithing settlement. Sure, this takes a lot of extra time/paper/toner/postage, but it had the added benefit of getting 1 or 2 individuals to come to tithing settlement and donate who normally would not. It also generated a lot of feedback on errors in records, and since the envelopes were marked "Address Service Requested," we found several members who had moved.
Our ward also had a list of all the confirmation dates and MRN information available for adult members to get their info during a class on how to use Family Search. A similar list was also used for a class for the youth. In each case a member of the bishopric, exec. sec. or clerk kept the list (with approval from the bishop, of course) and destroyed it after use.
These are probably better ways to approach it. However, always work with your local leadership regardless.
As for Tithing Settlement, the online trainings actually teach you to use this end-of-year time to audit membership records via the IOS handouts. As stated, this is a great time to get people on the ward websites and also doing family history.
Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 3:34 pm
by russellhltn
geek wrote:Our family history rep would like a printout of member names, confirmation dates, and membership numbers. Obstensibly, this is so that she can go house by house and provide information for the members to create logins.
I would expect that to happen on a "by appointment" basis. If the appointments are made ahead of time, it seems like it shouldn't be too hard to get a procedure in place to get the member's IOS to them prior to the appointment. Even if the exact time/date hasn't been set yet, just knowing they are "on the list" is sufficient for the procedure.
Of course this is all based on the approval of the local leaders and how they want to handle it, but if I was the membership clerk, that would be my suggestion.
As for the Family History Rep (and the Bishop), I'd explain that this information goes beyond just being used for FamilySearch and in the near future it may be used for access to personal financial information. As such, we need to be careful about who has access to it.