Directory version 1.7 released!

Today we released the 1.7 version of the online ward/stake directory. Here are the major changes in this release:

- Added a new Missionary section for wards/branches. This section displays:

• The Ward Mission Leader
• The missionary companionship assigned to serve in that ward (and a photo, contact information, and a map of the local mission boundaries)
• A list of the members of that ward that have been called as missionaries (as well as photo, and map showing the boundries of their assigned mission)

- Renamed the 'Ward Leaders and Organizations' section to 'Ward Leaders', this section will display members called to serve in those organizations
- Added a new 'Ward Organizations' section, this section will display a roster of ward organizations (e.g. a list of EQ members, or RS members)
- Added PDF printing for the above Ward Organizations

I really like the new changes. Thank you!

I've also notice an "Email" button for emailing members of an organization. Who is this feature available to? Is is only available to administrators and certain leaders? Or is it available to general membership?

These are great, thanks

Nice. I especially like the missionary link. I think the ordering of it on the list doesn't make sense though. It should at least be before the "Export Households" link and probably some others. (Maybe that's only an issue for admins.)

One other big oversight I see is that the High Priests and Elders organization list only seems to show those who actually have those priesthoods. We have a number of older Elders who meet with the High Priests and a number of Prospective Elders that are each assigned to each quorum. The Prospective Elders don't show up in either place. They are reflected correctly in MLS. Perhaps this information is not yet available in the central database.

mfmohlma wrote:One other big oversight I see is that the High Priests and Elders organization list only seems to show those who actually have those priesthoods. We have a number of older Elders who meet with the High Priests and a number of Prospective Elders that are each assigned to each quorum. The Prospective Elders don't show up in either place. They are reflected correctly in MLS. Perhaps this information is not yet available in the central database.

Yes, the problem lies in the fact that those assignments are stored in MLS, but are not available anywhere else. If you assign an Elder to the HP Group, or a Prospective Elder to an EQ, that assignment is only stored in your local MLS...

jdcr256 wrote:The missionary companionship assigned to serve in that ward (and a photo, contact information, and a map of the local mission boundaries)

I noticed that it gives the missionary's full name, such as John J Smith. I thought we were discouraged from knowing the missionary's first name and only call them "Elder Smith". But perhaps that's because I joined the church in a Student Ward where you didn't want the members to get too friendly with the missionaries.

I think that the changes are a great improvement over the previous version.

We have 2 sets of full time missionaries assigned to the ward and only 1 set is showing up with in the directory. How does one go about correcting this so both sets appear?

Thank you for all of the hard work.

One other observation about the missionaries serving from the ward: As the help link indicates might occur, we have a missionary whose parents moved into the ward while he is out. He does not show up on our list, even though I know for a fact that his monthly deductions have been coming from our ward for over a year now (ever since I, the ward clerk, called and set it up). I guess I need to make another call, even though it was already done to transfer the financial side. I'll be interested to see what info I get from the missionary department about where they think he currently belongs.

mfmohlma wrote:He does not show up on our list, even though I know for a fact that his monthly deductions have been coming from our ward for over a year now (ever since I, the ward clerk, called and set it up). I guess I need to make another call, even though it was already done to transfer the financial side.

If I remember correctly from our discussions with the missionary team, there are three (maybe four) unit entries for a missionary - such as supporting unit (financial), home unit, etc. None of those units are updated unless someone calls to request a change, and a change to one would not necessarily dictate a change to another. So yes, you'll need to call again.

This functionality is new to the mission department as well. They were happy to see it implemented, but have never had a real need to keep those unit numbers up to date as families move around.

jdcr256 wrote:Yes, the problem lies in the fact that those assignments are stored in MLS, but are not available anywhere else. If you assign an Elder to the HP Group, or a Prospective Elder to an EQ, that assignment is only stored in your local MLS...

Ouch. Can I ask that you add a "(List Incorrect?)" link like you did with the Missionaries? Otherwise, the clerks, LUS and the forum is going to get a large number of "The directory isn't correct, how do I fix this?" question.

jdcr256 wrote:If I remember correctly from our discussions with the missionary team, there are three (maybe four) unit entries for a missionary - such as supporting unit (financial), home unit, etc. None of those units are updated unless someone calls to request a change, and a change to one would not necessarily dictate a change to another. So yes, you'll need to call again.

This functionality is new to the mission department as well. They were happy to see it implemented, but have never had a real need to keep those unit numbers up to date as families move around.

You are indeed correct. The sister I spoke with mentioned at least 4 entries - submitting, home, contact, and financial ward. I understand the need to manually update the financial side and where the "submitting" ward would come from, but the other two sound like another long-term opportunity for some automation between the membership and missionary databases.

RussellHltn wrote:Ouch. Can I ask that you add a "(List Incorrect?)" link like you did with the Missionaries? Otherwise, the clerks, LUS and the forum is going to get a large number of "The directory isn't correct, how do I fix this?" question.

I don't think I'd want to see this until/unless the assignments are synced. As a ward clerk, I do not want to be calling Salt Lake every time we assign someone to a different organization. It would make more sense to work on syncing the data.

I also like the new features. Nice Work! Something that would make the Missionary section even better would be to display the mission office (or other) mailing address. Alternatively, give the ward clerks access to add an address.

nbflint wrote:I don't think I'd want to see this until/unless the assignments are synced. As a ward clerk, I do not want to be calling Salt Lake every time we assign someone to a different organization. It would make more sense to work on syncing the data.

Sorry, I should have been clearer - what I wanted was some text explaining why it wasn't accurate. But unlike the missionary, it wouldn't say how it could be fixed.

nbflint wrote:I don't think I'd want to see this until/unless the assignments are synced.

I'm beginning to agree as well. I just realized the same problem will occur for the Aaronic Priesthood quorums (young men not ordained) and for the timing of Young Women entering Relief Society. It's a great feature, but if it doesn't reflect how we're really organized, it's not very useful.

mfmohlma wrote:I'm beginning to agree as well. I just realized the same problem will occur for the Aaronic Priesthood quorums (young men not ordained) and for the timing of Young Women entering Relief Society. It's a great feature, but if it doesn't reflect how we're really organized, it's not very useful.

Although there are clearly some imperfections, I would certainly not say that "it's not very useful"; it gives you a great start, and you can always adjust the distribution list in your mail client for those exceptions before you hit Send.

I'd certainly like to see the organization lists synchronized with CHQ, but that sounds like a very significant development undertaking, so I hope no one would think of removing this useful feature in the meantime, just because it's not yet perfect.

RussellHltn wrote:But unlike the missionary, it wouldn't say how it could be fixed.

Yes, something explaining that the online lists do not reflect "class assignments" made by the ward/branch would be useful. Of course, regardless of the assignment an Elder meeting with the High Priests is still an Elder and a Prospective Elder is not yet an elder. This listing accurately reflects that.

nbflint wrote:Yes, someOf course, regardless of the assignment an Elder meeting with the High Priests is still an Elder and a Prospective Elder is not yet an elder. This listing accurately reflects that.

I think another area of confusion dividing line between youth and adults. Usually that's based on High School graduation, not the 18th birthday.

jdcr256 wrote: - Added a new Missionary section for wards/branches. This section displays:

• The Ward Mission Leader
• The missionary companionship assigned to serve in that ward (and a photo, contact information, and a map of the local mission boundaries)
• A list of the members of that ward that have been called as missionaries (as well as photo, and map showing the boundries of their assigned mission)

This is great! I love the maps of where the missionaries called from the ward are serving. Did the programmers consider adding those called as "ward missionaries" serving in the ward along with the ward mission leader as well? It would seem appropriate to both recognize their service as well as those called full-time, and in addition provide quick contact info for ward members to know who to call....
Just a thought.

nbflint wrote:Something that would make the Missionary section even better would be to display the mission office (or other) mailing address.

nbflint, I love this idea. I think it is important for ward members to know where they can write missionaries at!

many great ideas...in future releases, it would be great to see some local control built in -- i can't imagine what a task it would be to maintain a centralized database for a worldwide church that was always correct and in synch. but as elder packer once said, "the church is no larger than a ward". so how about allowing the local ward to add in the current mailing address of missionaries serving FROM that ward instead of putting that burden on headquarters? and what is the source of the current missionaries serving IN the ward? our directory is now showing two missionaries assigned to our ward who have never been seen or heard of at any time in our stake. at first i thought they were just transferred in! but in fact, it is simply wrong, and there is no way to give feedback or to correct it...

I'd like to see the ability to add missionaries serving FROM the ward. Particularly the singles wards. Most of those missionaries officially leave from their parent's ward, but they are better known by the singles ward they were in when just prior to leaving.

nbflint wrote:Something that would make the Missionary section even better would be to display the mission office (or other) mailing address. Alternatively, give the ward clerks access to add an address.

We want to show as much info as we can. For now we are showing everything the missionary department allows us to show.

geowizrd wrote:and what is the source of the current missionaries serving IN the ward?

The source of both missionary sections is the database of the church's mission department. The assignments for the missionary companionship serving in your ward is controlled by the local mission president.

One quirk I've noticed with the new directory (probably was there before). By default, when you select a unit it goes to "Households" where it starts to work on the list. If you select another option on the left side (such as Ward Organization), the list building of households does not abort and will overwrite the middle column. You then have to re-select Ward Organization to get the right middle column back.

This wouldn't be so bad if something else was made the default.

I would like to see a place where the start-date, end-date of the missionary can be displayed. That way the ward/stake members can know when the missionary is expected to return home. Also a place to put his mailing address and/or package address.

AileneRHerrick wrote:I really like the new changes. Thank you!

I've also notice an "Email" button for emailing members of an organization. Who is this feature available to? Is is only available to administrators and certain leaders? Or is it available to general membership?

I just tested this by logging in under my wife's name, (she is a Primary Teacher,) and she had the full emailing rights.... I am not sure about this feature... I'm hesitating in announcing this feature to the ward until I think about it a little... There seems to be the possibility for some misuse.

zaneclark wrote:I just tested this by logging in under my wife's name, (she is a Primary Teacher,) and she had the full emailing rights.... I am not sure about this feature... I'm hesitating in announcing this feature to the ward until I think about it a little... There seems to be the possibility for some misuse.

ward email lists will always exist, whether they are maintained in mls/directory or on an ad hoc basis by various ward organizations. so they might as well be in a central location where they are easily maintained for the benefit of the entire ward. the possibility of misuse, though real, is outweighed by the good that can come from timely and efficient communication. if there is misuse, the member's lds account or access should simply be under the control of the local leader (not currently the case), who can best judge the situation. as far as announcing it goes, perhaps consider just letting the dozen or so people in the ward know who actually need it. i'm guessing the directory email link is more "open" than the messaging app simply because an email sent from the directory uses an individual's email client (so they are responsible), while the messaging app (which is more restricted) sends an email "through the church", as clarified in this other thread:

jdcr256 wrote:For clarity's sake, there is no relation between the messaging app (referenced in this thread) and the directory app. They run on separate servers and don't share any common code. They don't talk to each other in any way. Directory does not support any messaging services, it just provides email addresses. Emails must be sent from the users mail client.

I again tested the email feature using my wife's account. Not only could she send an email to our own ward, but to the members in any ward in the stake. I agree this is a great feature if used properly, but the potential for misuse is there. I suppose each stake could develop guidelines for the proper use of this feature.

zaneclark wrote:I again tested the email feature using my wife's account. Not only could she send an email to our own ward, but to the members in any ward in the stake. I agree this is a great feature if used properly, but the potential for misuse is there. I suppose each stake could develop guidelines for the proper use of this feature.

The new email feature does not change the visibility of email addresses at all (which is a good thing, of course). Only those email addresses which other members of the stake have entered in the system, and set to "Show in Ward Directory" will be visible to other members (leaders have greater visibility, but I assume we're not talking about misuse on their part). Prior to the introduction of the email feature, someone who wanted multiple email addresses had to search around for them (they could export for their own ward, but would have to look at individuals in other wards), but they could certainly gather any visible email addresses they wanted. The email feature makes it more convenient, but since it doesn't change which email addresses are visible, I don't see how the potential for misuse is significantly different from what it has been since the introduction of the Directory.

The updates are great! There are a lot of good ideas in this thread as well.

aebrown wrote:

mfmohlma wrote:I'm beginning to agree as well. I just realized the same problem will occur for the Aaronic Priesthood quorums (young men not ordained) and for the timing of Young Women entering Relief Society. It's a great feature, but if it doesn't reflect how we're really organized, it's not very useful.

Although there are clearly some imperfections, I would certainly not say that "it's not very useful"; it gives you a great start, and you can always adjust the distribution list in your mail client for those exceptions before you hit Send.

I'd certainly like to see the organization lists synchronized with CHQ, but that sounds like a very significant development undertaking, so I hope no one would think of removing this useful feature in the meantime, just because it's not yet perfect.

I knew I wasn't going crazy when I thought I'd seen this somewhere... When viewing the High Priests group through the Leader Portal using this link (sorry, only useful for leaders), the assigned members are as I have put them in MLS, with many Prospective Elders assigned to the group. The other organizations are also congruent with MLS.

So it does appear that some database at CHQ has the info the directory needs to be correct. Hopefully there is a way for the directory application to access the database used for the leader application to show a consistent view of organizations. This is important for many reasons, including the priesthood quorums I mentioned as well as Relief Society and Primary (split classes, etc.).

Should I file a feedback or are the developers watching here?

mfmohlma wrote:I knew I wasn't going crazy when I thought I'd seen this somewhere... When viewing the High Priests group through the Leader Portal using this link (sorry, only useful for leaders), the assigned members are as I have put them in MLS, with many Prospective Elders assigned to the group. The other organizations are also congruent with MLS.

I don't have access to that app, but I spoke with the developers. The source for their org list uses slightly different rules when constructing the lists, but he confirmed that they do not have any access to any custom organization assignments in MLS. There are future plans to move this information online, but it does not exist now.

jdcr256 wrote:I don't have access to that app, but I spoke with the developers. The source for their org list uses slightly different rules when constructing the lists, but he confirmed that they do not have any access to any custom organization assignments in MLS. There are future plans to move this information online, but it does not exist now.

I'm sure a good way to verify this is to compare the YW/RS lists. Unless the system looks at what month the sister was born, it's not likely to accurately predict when she graduates high school and moves from YW to RS.

jdcr256 wrote:I don't have access to that app, but I spoke with the developers. The source for their org list uses slightly different rules when constructing the lists, but he confirmed that they do not have any access to any custom organization assignments in MLS. There are future plans to move this information online, but it does not exist now.

I guess I am going crazy... Sorry, you are right. I saw the prospective elders in the High Priest list and drew my own conclusions from there. Thanks for checking. I guess the best we can ask for at this point is that the prospective elders show up in one of the two priesthood lists (and hope that the org structures can be uploaded sometime soon).

I found another problem today when I decided to use the Directory to send a note to the bishopric instead of the Clerk Resources. The email addresses appear in the "To" box separated with a semi colon. I had to change this to the usual comma before the email could be sent.... Anyone have a solution to this?

Zane

zaneclark wrote:I found another problem today when I decided to use the Directory to send a note to the bishopric instead of the Clerk Resources. The email addresses appear in the "To" box separated with a semi colon. I had to change this to the usual comma before the email could be sent.... Anyone have a solution to this?

You also reported this about a year ago in the thread Problem sending email to leaders in new directory. That thread contains discussion and possible solutions. I don't think there's been any change since then.

But with the release of Directory 1.7, this issue will affect far more people, since they now can send to many more groups. It would be nice if the Directory were more standards-compliant in this regard instead of favoring Outlook.

aebrown wrote:You also reported this about a year ago in the thread Problem sending email to leaders in new directory. That thread contains discussion and possible solutions. I don't think there's been any change since then.

I thought the problem sounded familiar! As a longtime member of the "senior" class, I find I repeat a lot of things.

No missionaries serving in your unit: We've never had missionaries listed as serving in our ward although other units have both names and pictures up. It sounds like the local mission president has someone update the units where missionaries are serving when transfers happen. The elders serving in our ward won't know if the missionaries serving in the ward are up to date because they don't have access to the ward website. I'll just tell the missionaries (serving in our ward) to go up their chain of command to get this issue fixed.

pierce1of5 wrote:No missionaries serving in your unit: We've never had missionaries listed as serving in our ward although other units have both names and pictures up. It sounds like the local mission president has someone update the units where missionaries are serving when transfers happen. The elders serving in our ward won't know if the missionaries serving in the ward are up to date because they don't have access to the ward website. I'll just tell the missionaries (serving in our ward) to go up their chain of command to get this issue fixed.

Yes - the mission office has to correct this. See my reply in this thread: https://tech.lds.org/forum/showthread.p ... -your-ward.