Transfer Local Unit Zoom account to General Church account

[russellhltn]

Technically, there are no "ward" technology specialists, just assistant stake technology specialists assigned to a ward.

But assistants aren't mentioned. In other words, taken at face value, this looks like one person per stake.

Speaking as the designated "it" for my stake, this raises a number of questions, such as how to manage this and if simultaneous meetings can be held on that one account.

[lajackson]

. . . and if simultaneous meetings can be held on that one account.

According to the pdf, there will be one account per unit, and that account will allow breakout rooms for multiple meetings at the same time, a standard Zoom feature (for paid accounts).

[lajackson]

We don't have any technology specialists in our ward or our meetinghouse.

So far we only have instructions for creating stake accounts. I expect that the next round of information (not yet released) will include instructions on how to create ward accounts.

[bartj]

More information will come in an official communication in the coming week or two. Until then, here's some additional information.

- Basic features associated with these accounts can be found in this post - viewtopic.php?f=146&t=38067.

- Only stake, district, or mission technology specialists can create Church Zoom accounts. If a stake doesn't have a technology specialists, they will need to call one.

- It is intended that these accounts will be used by stake presidencies, bishoprics/branch presidencies, and possibly ward councils. Zoom has agreed to allow us to share the accounts, so within a ward the account user name and password can be used by multiple individuals if desired. There are obvious risks with sharing this information with too many people, so local units should discuss the best strategy for them.

- Every unit in the stake can get an account if it is needed. This includes one account for the stake and separate accounts for each ward or branch. If you are an STS and go to meet.churchofjesuschrist.org you'll see there is a dropdown that has each unit in your stake that can get an account.

- Each account will require a unique email address. It is encouraged that STS's use an email address they can manage, but they don't have to. They can request an email address from the local units that want an account. An STS who wants to manage all the accounts should consider using the Gmail "task-specific" email option so they don't have to create a bunch of unique accounts - viewtopic.php?f=159&t=38021.

- In the meet.churchofjesuschrist.org portal STS's can create and delete accounts. All other account activities like password creation and reset will be handled through Zoom. Changing the email address associated with the account after it has been created will also be done through Zoom.

- It is hoped that unit needs can be meet with a single paid license and multiple free licenses. This is not intended to provide every leader in a ward or branch their own paid account.

- These accounts are much less expensive than what can be purchased directly from Zoom. Local units are strongly encouraged to transfer accounts they are paying for to the Church Zoom account to reduce the overall cost to the Church.

I hope this helps. Thank you for all your interest and comments. You are welcome to visit meet.churchofjesuschrist.org to create accounts or wait until the official communication with more details is sent out.

[shanebankhead]

This is fantastic! Thank you. Two questions:

1. It is unclear to me whether this is a true transfer/migration, or if it is just cancelling the old account and starting a new one. In other words, will account settings, scheduled meetings, etc. be retained, or will we need to set everything up again and send out new links for meetings?

2. The instructions say "This process will take some time". Will we still be able to use the old account until the new account is ready? Just want to make sure the transfer doesn't put us in the dark on Sunday if the process is not completed in time.

Thanks!

[bartj]

1. It is unclear to me whether this is a true transfer/migration, or if it is just cancelling the old account and starting a new one. In other words, will account settings, scheduled meetings, etc. be retained, or will we need to set everything up again and send out new links for meetings?

Based on our testing this is more of a transfer. After transferring to the Church Zoom account all scheduled events, historic event, and templates from the old account were available in the new account.

I expect settings will be a different matter. Generally the default settings Zoom applies to new accounts were used for these accounts, but some settings were changed. Those with access to the account can change any setting that is not globally locked by accessing the account settings tab in Zoom. If you run into settings issues with the accounts, use the feedback link in the portal to escalate your concerns.

2. The instructions say "This process will take some time". Will we still be able to use the old account until the new account is ready? Just want to make sure the transfer doesn't put us in the dark on Sunday if the process is not completed in time.

Honestly, I didn't test using the account during the transfer process. I would expect it can still be used but can't say that definitively. I wouldn't make the change on a Sunday just to be safe.


I should add.....If desired, you can go in the portal right now and signup for accounts. You don't have to wait for the official communication. The portal is built and the accounts are available.

[scgallafent]

Only those who have the stake, mission, or district technology specialist calling assigned to them in LCR can create Zoom accounts. Anyone who is not a technology specialists should not event have the option to create Zoom accounts.

We don't have any technology specialists in our ward or our meetinghouse.

bartj's message said that the accounts had to be created by technology specialists, but a stake clerk or assistant clerk may be able to do it also. I know we granted rights to that application to see stake presidency and clerks, but I don't know how the internals of their software work. bartj is the expert there.

Have your stake clerk try it and see if he can take care of the task.

Edit: I have verified that the account must be created by a Stake Assistant Clerk--Technology Specialist.

[Mikerowaved]

. . . and if simultaneous meetings can be held on that one account.

According to the pdf, there will be one account per unit, and that account will allow breakout rooms for multiple meetings at the same time, a standard Zoom feature (for paid accounts).

It also says a single account can host up to 2 concurrent meetings, so yes, using breakout rooms for 2nd hour meetings will be the way to go.

[bartj]

I've been using breakout rooms for 2nd hour classes for the past month. They work well but there is a learning curve for participants. Using the option that allows participants to manually select their room requires the participant to access the meetings using the Zoom desktop/mobile app and have relatively recent version of it. Users that join directly from a browser or have an older app version will not see the breakout room option and will need to be moved to the room they want to join by the host. We are down to 3 or 4 participants who haven't figured it out yet so I manually move them over. I also have mine set so that only hosts can share their screen in hopes of avoiding issues. This requires the teachers to let me know when they join so I can make them co-hosts. Doing this also gives them the ability to remove someone from the meeting if there was a problem in their breakout room.

[egibb]

Getting an error when I try to create an account for the Stake. The gmail email address used is already used for a zoom account so I'll need to transfer the old zoom account over. But I don't get that far on the instructions (pdf).