Baby appears in New Move in Report

[johnshaw]

As a new Clerk, I was evaluating the new move in report for any value it may provide our leadership. I noticed that my own recently born daughter and several other member new borns are listed in this report. Is anyone aware if this quirk? Is there something that I'm missing as to why this is helpful?

[russellhltn]

If one sees the report as a way of knowing of new additions to the ward, I can see that as being useful.

[aebrown]

As a new Clerk, I was evaluating the new move in report for any value it may provide our leadership. I noticed that my own recently born daughter and several other member new borns are listed in this report. Is anyone aware if this quirk? Is there something that I'm missing as to why this is helpful?

Also, be aware that it is possible for a baby to be blessed in a different ward, e.g., the ward of the baby's grandparents. Proper procedure in this case (according to the MLS help file) is for the ward clerk of the ward where the ordinance was performed to create a record and record the blessing, but to put the unit number of the baby's home ward on the record.

Then the record will be created and automatically moved to the home ward. In this case, the baby is in a very real sense a "move in," when you consider the path the membership record went through. But in any case, I agree with RussellHltn -- if you look at the report as "Membership Records recently added to the ward," it makes perfect sense. I wouldn't worry about it -- it might be useful in some cases, and it's easy enough to skip over the "move-ins" that don't need special attention. For this report, I'd say it's better to err on the side of including too many people, rather than skipping someone that needs special attention.

[mkmurray]

It might be helpful to sort by age. Acutally, it might be helpful to print out this report sorted a few different ways.

The three most helpful I can think of (and a few of which I have used) would be the following:

• Sorted by age (so that the kids sort to the bottom) - This will tell you how many adults and how many kids are move-ins.
• Sorted alphabetically - This will tell you the names of families that are new move-ins.
• Sorted by date - This will allow you to see which families are the most recent move-ins.

[SmithGW]

Sorry I'm a bit late getting around to this, but I've been out of town. Anyway, I think the report is probably working as designed. Although it is called a "New Move-In Report," It really is a report of any new records that have been added to your ward. These may appear when members move in, or they may appear as new records are created. For example, the record of a convert may appear on this report even though he or she already lives in the ward boundaries. The same with the record newly created for your child.

[johnshaw]

I guess I understand everyone's comments, however, I still feel like it's a bit silly to have in there.... If it's a report for New Records, then it should be the New Records Report. New Converts are tracked separately in MLS, so I'm not interested in them either, in a New Move In report. What I believe a New Move In Report should be used for is PEC/WC to make sure we've identified new people who have moved into the area, make contact from the varying auxilaries, get HT/VT setup, make sure we've seen them/invited them out to church, etc... There is a very specific use for this (at least in name) very specific report.

I understand that you can sort the data by age or whatever, maintain the list in a spreadsheet, but I believe that it is fundamentally flawed to have data in a centralized system/solution that then needs to be moved somewhere else and manipulated to make it useful for the purpose required (if something in the centralized system already exists). I understand there are limitations to what we have currently, and particularly through this type of forum we are making great strides. If it's a New Record Move In Report, then rename the report, and give me a "familes/individuals moved in to your ward that need to be fellowshipped" report

[jbh001]

Is there something that I'm missing as to why this is helpful?

So you can see what records have newly "moved in" to your unit. Sometimes records that have been newly moved in acquire glitches an need some minor attention by the ward clerk to get them cleaned up, such as making sure they are in the correct household, adding or correcting missing or incomplete address and/or contact information, or adjusting preferred names, among other things.

I guess I understand everyone's comments, however, I still feel like it's a bit silly to have in there....

The report, in its current format, very useful for several purposes mostly unrelated to each other. I believe it is easier to have this one multi-purpose report than a "fellowshipping report," a "new records report," and a "how-long-someone-has-been-in-the-ward report" that all mostly do the same thing.

If it bugs you that much, just be patient for a few months and the offending entries will age out of the report.

[jfackerson]

We had a less active sister just loose her husband to cancer.
She's been in our ward for more than 20 years.
Even she appeared on this Members Moved in Report as a new Head of House.

A sister, who has been in our ward for over a month, recently re-appeared on
this same report, listed as a new Spouse.

A high school member, who's been in our ward since birth, was recently
listed as new Head of House because his parents are away for a year and he's
still at home accompanied by his older sister and her husband.

So it would seem that anyone newly born,
or who changes Household Position, will be listed.

I just print one copy and label all these as special cases with some comment, such as,
blessed (recently born), recently married, recently widdowed.
This copy is photocopied about 12 times and placed within organizational distro boxes.

Also, I place an asterisk next to those whose Records of Membership have
been assigend to our ward from CHQ (Address Unknown Department)
or from some other unit (ward or branch).

On Sundays, new members usually fill in a
Data Collection Form for New Ward Member -- a form we locally created.
See attached OpenOffice Document File.
We use this form to request Records of Membership and to inform
local leadership and organizations.

What I "sneeker net" post to LUWS, as a PDF file, is a modified version
of this Members Moved in Report.
We label it as Member Arrivals, Requested. From this we delete column for Age
and all rows with individuals who have not recently requested copies of their
Records of Membership to be assigned to our ward.