Privacy settings and Ministering

[davesudweeks]

Is there any development towards allowing members to see the ministering assignments of others ? As the Bishop, I cN see all for each member, but most cannot and it is incredibly difficult to minister adequately when members cannot see this info.

All members can see other members of their unit (except those who have marked their information "private - leaders only"). They can also see who is assigned to minister to them and to whom they are assigned to minister to (if they are running current LDSTools).

I fail to understand the value of members seeing who others are assigned to minister to or who is assigned to minister to others. All of us can minister to anyone - knowing who is "assigned" makes no difference. If you are in a country with privacy laws that default members to private unless they make their record public, the problem is not with the ministering application as it is following the legal requirements in that country.

[russellhltn]

All members can see other members of their unit (except those who have marked their information "private - leaders only").

Correct.

They can also see who is assigned to minister to them and to whom they are assigned to minister to.

I can't. I can see it for those I've been assigned to, but I can't see for anyone else.

[davesudweeks]

Clarify my understanding (I don't have a device that supports current LDSTools so I may be wrong).

If I had no special calling-directed access and if my device supported current LDSTools, I should be able to see the families I am assigned to minister. I should also be able to see my Ministering Elders who are assigned to minister to my family.

I may be incorrect in the above, but if correct, I wouldn't have any need to see who is assigned to minister to others in my ward if I did not have a calling that granted access. Other ministering assignments are a moot point.

[mtolman5989]

Yes - that is the problem. They need to see the assignments of others. That way they know who yo call when someone needs assistance. It worked with HT/VT but now it is gone.

[russellhltn]

If I had no special calling-directed access and if my device supported current LDSTools, I should be able to see the families I am assigned to minister.

Generally, yes. However, it appears that if the family has set their privacy settings to "leadership only" then you won't be able to see them. That's still being confirmed.

I should also be able to see my Ministering Elders who are assigned to minister to my family.

Yes, but it might also have the limitation listed above.

Other ministering assignments are a moot point.

You can see who ministers to the people you minister to. To effectively deal with the needs of the family, there may be a need to coordinate between RS and EQ Ministers. As for the rest of the ward, I'm in agreement.

[davesudweeks]

Yes - that is the problem. They need to see the assignments of others. That way they know who yo call when someone needs assistance. It worked with HT/VT but now it is gone.

Would they not report the needs of families in the unit they are aware of who need assistance to the RS President or EQ President for them to direct the assistance? The Ministering secretaries and Compassionate Service coordinator can also see all the assignments if they are in standard callings (though this information is not on LDSTools - it is on lds.org).

Or maybe I'm completely misunderstanding what the problem is.

[mtolman5989]

Yes - technically that is true. Practically, brothers and sisters are trying to respond to a myriad of issues ina ward our size and are encouraged to be empowered to work with each other. I will double check with my EQ And RS presidencies as we had a stake meeting last night and they were reporting that across the stake it is not functioning the way you describe. As a Bishop, i see it all but we need more visibility for all. Does that heck?

[mtolman5989]

Help !!

[davesudweeks]

Yes - technically that is true. Practically, brothers and sisters are trying to respond to a myriad of issues ina ward our size and are encouraged to be empowered to work with each other. I will double check with my EQ And RS presidencies as we had a stake meeting last night and they were reporting that across the stake it is not functioning the way you describe. As a Bishop, i see it all but we need more visibility for all. Does that heck?

You should describe what you are wanting to accomplish in feedback from within the APP. Posting here will not necessarily find its way to those who direct the programmer's priorities. Bear in mind that the ministering application may function exactly as the brethren want it to and in that case you will not be able to have individual members pass information to other ministering elders and ministering sisters without coordinating though the EQ or RS presidency (unless you provide them each with multiple-page printouts when assignments change).

[russellhltn]

I will double check with my EQ And RS presidencies as we had a stake meeting last night and they were reporting that across the stake it is not functioning the way you describe.

What are they experiencing? I don't have an iPhone, so I'm not sure how LDS Tools works on that.