Home and Visiting Teaching Planning Program

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.
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WelchTC
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#21

Post by WelchTC »

I want to stress the importance of the work you guys are doing. Even though there is a policy about not hosting MLS data on 3rd party Web sites, we do look at all of these program you guys are doing. As we prepare for new products and features, we look to the community for great ideas.

Tom
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nbflint
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#22

Post by nbflint »

While I understand that the church needs to protect itself and the members from misrepresentation or harmful actions on the internet, I can' t help but wonder if an authorization process for app developers for the LUWS wouldn't benefit the members and still serve the protection needs of the church.

What I mean is that the church could allow web developers to submit an application for use on the LUWS. If the App met certain security and other requirements it could be added, otherwise not. In this way the members of this forum and elsewhere could do even more to improve the effectiveness of LUWS.

Just a thought.

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brado426
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#23

Post by brado426 »

An authorization process such as that would be great. However, I understand that developing and maintaining such an authorization process would be somewhat complex and would require resources. I also understand why the church has these policies.

On another note, I was reading in another thread about "Desktop 5.5" possibly allowing an Internet connection. If this were the case, it would be pretty easy to add a function to MLS that would automatically upload the HT/VT Assignment data to the HT/VT Reporting website. This would eliminate the need to export the data and upload it manually.

Brad O.
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WelchTC
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#24

Post by WelchTC »

nimebe wrote:While I understand that the church needs to protect itself and the members from misrepresentation or harmful actions on the internet, I can' t help but wonder if an authorization process for app developers for the LUWS wouldn't benefit the members and still serve the protection needs of the church.

What I mean is that the church could allow web developers to submit an application for use on the LUWS. If the App met certain security and other requirements it could be added, otherwise not. In this way the members of this forum and elsewhere could do even more to improve the effectiveness of LUWS.

Just a thought.
We have talked about this quite a bit. There is a lot of support for creating an authorization API. The first step towards this is building a unified login that ties into the existing membership information so that when a member does login, our computers at the Church know who you are and what access you should be given. Once we have this, we can look into creating web services that would allow the community to create other products and servers around. This is still being debated. We have to ensure that if we do offer these types of web API's we can avoid people from violating privacy and security.

Tom
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#25

Post by russellhltn »

brado426 wrote:On another note, I was reading in another thread about "Desktop 5.5" possibly allowing an Internet connection.
I wouldn't count on it at this time. Yes, with 5.5, a Internet connect is permitted, but only to an existing church network (typically when a FHC is co-located in the same building). Installing a network just to support MLS or bringing in outside networks isn't in the cards at this time. It may yet happen, but for the moment, the answer is "no". As such, you might want to be prepared for when it happens, but don't count on it.
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nbflint
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#26

Post by nbflint »

tomw wrote:We have talked about this quite a bit. There is a lot of support for creating an authorization API. The first step towards this is building a unified login that ties into the existing membership information so that when a member does login, our computers at the Church know who you are and what access you should be given. Once we have this, we can look into creating web services that would allow the community to create other products and servers around. This is still being debated. We have to ensure that if we do offer these types of web API's we can avoid people from violating privacy and security.

Tom
I'm glad the discussion is occurring. I think it would be great as it would allow the church as a whole to harness the creative and technical skills of the membership into LUWS.

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#27

Post by vernondcole »

My first thought upon reading the beginning of this thread was "There already IS a Home and Visiting Teaching program. It's called MLS." Unfortunately, MLS is on a single user computer kept in a locked room in the church house. It's a great program. Nobody uses it because it is too inconvenient.
For example, my boss at work was my Branch President. He is one of the most computer literate people I know. He is Director of the Computer Services department of a company which basically lives on data. Our new computer center has a 1 megawatt emergency generator. You get the idea. <<P.S. -- when the wicked are all burned, there will be this great data processing facility, located 90 minutes west of Salt Lake City, which will be available for other use, the owners being presumed to no longer care..>>
So, when Ron was Branch President, even HE did not use MLS for home and visiting teaching. The nifty visiting percentage reports which are automatically sent to the stake computer every month are all zeros.
In order to get quality home teaching and visiting teaching tracking, the Church must be a partner in the design and implementation of the system. MLS is inaccessible most of the time, and is not networked. All of the important information and reporting are in MLS. Only a networked extension to MLS will make a really good solution.
All else is band aids.
(Then again, I'm an EMT. I LIKE band-aids.)
douglas.a.hatch-p40
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#28

Post by douglas.a.hatch-p40 »

Hi Tom,
I'm considering writing a script that would automatically subdivide my ward into geographic districts for an emergency preparation assignment I was given. In order to calculate distances, I would need to submit addresses to Google Maps to be geo-coded. As addresses are publicly available information, what security problems does this pose? Note: only the addresses would be submitted. I'm not populating markers with names or other data.

Thanks!
- Doug
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WelchTC
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#29

Post by WelchTC »

douglas.a.hatch wrote:Hi Tom,
I'm considering writing a script that would automatically subdivide my ward into geographic districts for an emergency preparation assignment I was given. In order to calculate distances, I would need to submit addresses to Google Maps to be geo-coded. As addresses are publicly available information, what security problems does this pose? Note: only the addresses would be submitted. I'm not populating markers with names or other data.

Thanks!
- Doug
There has been no official word from the Church about this type of use. While I suspect Google does store all addresses submitted to them for whatever purpose they see fit, as long as no other identifying information was provided I can't see why it would be a problem. I was on google maps the other day and found out that my house had a close up street level 360 degree photo. With the photo, you can see right into my home office.

Tom
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Re: Home and Visiting Teaching Planning Program

#30

Post by MCRONIN »

As an elders quorum president, I would just like to see the ability to make the entries of visits made by my quorum members and have that information then recorded in MLS. I feel like there is a need to continue the return and report process to either face to face or over the phone. I do not see many of my quorum members entering the information that they had visited someone themselves, plus I feel like it may allow the feeling of the importance of home teaching to be overshadowed when I say just enter your visits online. But if I or my counselors were able to do that from home that would help emmensly. And if thats whats in disscussion then I am tickled with joy. Any way this can be done on LDS.org or LDS tools?
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