Dowloadable Standard Forms

So you have the BIG idea that the Church or community needs to develop. Discuss that idea here. Maybe you just want to make a suggestion on a new forum topic. Let us know.
mattprasmussen
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Location: Amsterdam, NY

#11

Post by mattprasmussen »

I got an email from our stake seminary coordinator with a fillable PDF form for the seminary teacher position appointment. Very nice. It lets you save the data which is good because you'll usually have the same person as seminary teacher from year to year.

I know what you're thinking: "Yes, but that's from CES, not from Church Headquarters." True, but the Church is the Church. :D If they make some forms available, the rest of the forms should be available to simplify the administration of church duties. Please note, I'm not trying to start up a petition; just trying to raise the awareness of how the forms can resolve how time consuming some administration tasks are.
JamesAnderson
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#12

Post by JamesAnderson »

They have already done some things over at providentliving.org that have proven useful.

One is the employment form a ward employment specialist uses to help a member looking for employment. It is an HTML form.

The other helps fill a rotating database of new job openings. The employment specialist fills out the form and then it appears in the database of job openings for two weeks. Then it drops off, but if the job is still unfilled, the employment specialist can reenter the info and it will reappear again.

As noted both are HTML forms, but I can see the need for .pdf forms, even if just for printing them out. This is already done extensively on familysearch.org for such things as FGRs and pedigree charts, so why not a large part of the rest of the common forms that are used in Church administration?

Some forms might have to only be available to the appropriate leaders that use them, but it might help cut down on distribution costs for the forms, including printing, storing, and mailing the forms out to leaders, and the leaders would not have the aggravation of wanting a certain form they need for their specific calling and not being able to find one or having to wait a couple of weeks for the form copies to arrive in the mail.
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mkmurray
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#13

Post by mkmurray »

Would there need to be some type of digital signing to prevent fraudulent use of the forms? Or would there just be restricted access to the forms based on current calling, etc?
JamesAnderson
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#14

Post by JamesAnderson »

Digital signature?

Yes in some cases, especially if the form were to be filled out and sent back to Headquarters. But if all you needed was a download of a form to print out, then that would not necessarily be needed as the paper copy would then be sent back to headquarters with a signature.

But if the form were filled out online or electronically, then a digital/electronic signature would be necessary. But the technology there is already well-established, so there could be a good electronic signature scheme set up to protect those forms against misuse and other things.
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WelchTC
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Read this about electronic forms!

#15

Post by WelchTC »

We respectfully ask that no one ask for or share electronic forms that are not distributed in electronic format from the Church through some official Church distribution point such as the Local Unit Web Sites or from the Distribution Center. Some forms are specifically intended to be filled out and handled in paper form only because they are highly confidential. They should not be stored on a computer in an interactive pdf file, spreadsheet, database, scanned file, or any other electronic form.

Please do not ask Church employees to provide you with data or forms that you cannot get through the regular channels. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Tom
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