Tech Forum

Am I the only clerk that is getting static about having separate entries for men and wives with their own cell phone numbers on the ward roster? Is there a chance that MIS will one day insert a second entry for a wife if there is a separate cell phone listed?
DW

dalewebb wrote:Am I the only clerk that is getting static about having separate entries for men and wives with their own cell phone numbers on the ward roster? Is there a chance that MIS will one day insert a second entry for a wife if there is a separate cell phone listed?

There's no chance that MIS will ever add that capability -- I think you mean MLS. (Sorry, I couldn't resist -- I find myself living in the past sometimes, too).

Even though MLS has added individual phone numbers in MLS 3.1, there is still a need for more reports to incorporate those phone numbers, as you can see in this post, for example. But in that post you'll see that both the Release Notes and a post from a Church employee indicate that this will come in the future.

For now, there is only a household number on household-based reports. It's not the husband's number or the wife's number -- it's the household number. My guess is that when individual numbers appear, the household number will still be there, as well as numbers for the husband and wife, and perhaps even for children if they have numbers listed (although that would probably be controlled by an option).

Check to latest MLS version. Secondry phone numbers are aailable now and can be used for this purpose

plaza72 wrote:Check to latest MLS version. Secondry phone numbers are aailable now and can be used for this purpose

While they are indeed available, they are not yet included on all of the reports that MLS generates, including the ward directory. Hopefully, the adjusting of reports to make the best use of the new phone number capability will come sooner, rather than later.

lajackson wrote:While they are indeed available, they are not yet included on all of the reports that MLS generates, including the ward directory. Hopefully, the adjusting of reports to make the best use of the new phone number capability will come sooner, rather than later.

I share the same hope.

But even more important for many wards, if they are like ours, is the website. We routinely refer most rank-and-file members to LUWS to get their directory information, and print the Ward Directory reports from MLS only for special cases.

I understand that this enhancement is also in the works.

lajackson wrote:While they are indeed available, they are not yet included on all of the reports that MLS generates, including the ward directory. Hopefully, the adjusting of reports to make the best use of the new phone number capability will come sooner, rather than later.

I was just at the church and checked on this. If you use the directory report called "Members", ( I think that's what it is called,) It prints out each member with their separate cell numbers, but not the household number... Is this what you are talking about?

zaneclark wrote:I was just at the church and checked on this. If you use the directory report called "Members", ( I think that's what it is called,) It prints out each member with their separate cell numbers, but not the household number... Is this what you are talking about?

The report you are referring to is the Members List (accessible under Reports/Forms). This is a list of individual members, and it will print what MLS 3.1 calls the "Contact phone number," meaning that it will print the individual phone number if it is defined, or the household phone number otherwise. The same with e-mail addresses.

The Members List only lists individuals -- there is no household organization in this list at all, so if you have 3 Smith families, their family members will all be jumbled together (sorted alphabetically by first name).

I'm not certain what was being asked in the original post, but it mentioned a "ward roster", which I assumed to be asking about the Directory of Members, which is a household directory. None of the household-oriented reports such as Directory of Members, Abbreviated Directory, Telephone Directory, or Household Report includes any individual phone numbers or e-mail addresses at this point.

My ward's demographics consist of 20 and 30 year old married couples with one or two children (all nursery age!). There are only a few of us that are slightly older . I would say 98% of the families in our ward do NOT have a landline. They all have cell phones. The individual phone number field has been a blessing to us. I can put the brethren's phone number in their individual phone field and the sister's in theirs. That way, when I print a Relief Society report, it has their phone number listed. For the reports that only list the household phone number we've decided to put the head of house's phone number in that field. It works for us.

drporray wrote:For the reports that only list the household phone number we've decided to put the head of house's phone number in that field. It works for us.

This probably wasn't necessary, as I believe those lists already default to the head of household's individual phone number automatically, if there is not a household phone number listed.

mkmurray wrote:This probably wasn't necessary, as I believe those lists already default to the head of household's individual phone number automatically, if there is not a household phone number listed.

No, that's not the case. For the household-oriented reports (such as Household Report, Directory of Members, Telephone Directory, Abbreviated Directory), the household phone number is the only phone number listed. If the household phone number is blank, there will be no phone number on these reports, regardless of whether any individual in the household has an individual phone number listed.

It's only on the individual-oriented reports (such as Members List, Birthday List, organization lists, leadership lists, etc.) that the reverse is true: if the individual has a phone number, it will be listed, but if the individual phone number is blank, the household phone number will be listed.