IROP Purchase (Distribution Center) - transfer money between budget categories

How do I submit a change request to the MLS Finance Group?

I would like to be able to transfer money from one budget category to another. In the past we were to be able to do this and utilized this function frequently.

I asked MLS Support the following question and show their response.
How do we transfer money from budget subcategories into the Distribution Center IROP?

Example
The Relief Society purchases some books for $10 from the Distribution Center. We receive a IROP showing a debit of $10 to the Distribution Center. How do we transfer money from the Relief Society budget category to the Distribution Center category?

Dear Brother Christensen,

In this case, the easiest way to correct this would be to reallocate the funds in 'Budget' (i.e. decrease the 'Relief Society' budget allocation by $10 and increase 'Distribution Center' by $10).

Thank you for your service.
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Their solution will not allow the organizations to see what they have spent at the Distribution Center, they will just know that their budget has been decreased.

I am interested in hearing your suggestions on how to submit a change request and how to solve the transfer problem.

craigbc wrote:How do I submit a change request to the MLS Finance Group?

I would like to be able to transfer money from one budget category to another. In the past we were to be able to do this and utilized this function frequently.

I asked MLS Support the following question and show their response.
How do we transfer money from budget subcategories into the Distribution Center IROP?

Example
The Relief Society purchases some books for $10 from the Distribution Center. We receive a IROP showing a debit of $10 to the Distribution Center. How do we transfer money from the Relief Society budget category to the Distribution Center category?

Dear Brother Christensen,

In this case, the easiest way to correct this would be to reallocate the funds in 'Budget' (i.e. decrease the 'Relief Society' budget allocation by $10 and increase 'Distribution Center' by $10).

Thank you for your service.
------

Their solution will not allow the organizations to see what they have spent at the Distribution Center, they will just know that their budget has been decreased.

I am interested in hearing your suggestions on how to submit a change request and how to solve the transfer problem.

The ability to transfer between budget categories was only recently removed. The best way to handle Distribution Center purchases is simply to change the category of the expense. Go into View/Edit expenses, select the order, and edit the budget category to reflect the right organization.

craigbc wrote:In this case, the easiest way to correct this would be to reallocate the funds in 'Budget' (i.e. decrease the 'Relief Society' budget allocation by $10 and increase 'Distribution Center' by $10).

I think that's a rather bad suggestion. I think allenjpl's suggestion is much better.

If you are adjusting budget allocations whenever an expense comes in, then that's an indication that your ward didn't budget very well. If the plan is to leave Distribution Center charges in the Distribution Center subcategory, then the budget created before the beginning of the year should have reflected that plan, and there should be no "extra" money sitting in the RS budget, since the plan all along would have been to spend a certain amount in the Distribution Center subcategory. Some wards choose to operate that way, but if the intent is to make the Relief Society responsible from a budget perspective for all the expenses they incur, then the only reasonable approach (now that intra-Budget transfers are no longer possible) is to recategorize the expense from Distribution Center to Relief Society.

aebrown wrote:I think that's a rather bad suggestion. I think allenjpl's suggestion is much better.

Agreed. I called on this early last year and was told that this (reassigning expenses from Distribution Center Charges to the correct subcategory) was the correct way. It makes sense and MLS handles it correctly these days.
AB

And keep in mind that a Distribution Center order can be assigned to several organizations using allenjpl's method.

So the Clerk could order manuals for RS, YM, and YW and the Distribution Center expense can be correctly broken out to remove the appropriate amounts from each organization's budget.

davesudweeks wrote:And keep in mind that a Distribution Center order can be assigned to several organizations using allenjpl's method.

So the Clerk could order manuals for RS, YM, and YW and the Distribution Center expense can be correctly broken out to remove the appropriate amounts from each organization's budget.

When this happens you just change the expense category to each organization, you can have multiple categories on a single expense.

The biggest problem I have found is what ever you state for the reason of the change becomes the purpose. To work around this I state the purpose first then the reason for the change. That way the purpose for the expense show on the reports.

In our ward we budgeted and amount for curriculum and place anything to do with curriculum under curriculum no matter what organization ordered it or what time of year it was ordered.

Gary_Miller wrote:The biggest problem I have found is what ever you state for the reason of the change becomes the purpose. To work around this I state the purpose first then the reason for the change. That way the purpose for the expense show on the reports.

In our ward we budgeted and amount for curriculum and place anything to do with curriculum under curriculum no matter what organization ordered it or what time of year it was ordered.

Good point.

We cover the Curriculum outside of the organizations as well. I found a few years ago that most organizations would just order a full set of everything, even when we had extra manuals in the Material Center. I bounce the order requests off what is already in the Material Center to help avoid over-ordering.

However, we only cover the Annual order (and items that fully wear out) this way. If an organization wants extra manuals because their existing ones are serviceable but not "new" they can expend their budget for that.

davesudweeks wrote:I found a few years ago that most organizations would just order a full set of everything, even when we had extra manuals in the Material Center. I bounce the order requests off what is already in the Material Center to help avoid over-ordering.

Our organizations all have there own closets and are responsible for the own supplies which includes insuring they don't order more than is needed.

The Material Center is required to have a specific number of manuals on hand for check out if needed. They have nothing to do with what the organizations need.

davesudweeks wrote:However, we only cover the Annual order (and items that fully wear out) this way. If an organization wants extra manuals because their existing ones are serviceable but not "new" they can expend their budget for that.

We cover everything that curriculum throughout the year.

We prefer to not "micro manage" the organization presidents on the supplies they need. If they fill they need it then they get it. They cannot do their responsibility without the tools and the money has already been set aside under curriculum for this purpose. In other words the organizations budgets have already been decreased and the funds allocated to curriculum.

We have also done this for items that would fall under administration or miscellaneous expenses, such as postage for VT letters or flowers for the chapel . The budget allocated to the organizations are to cover the costs of the activities for the members they serve.

Gary_Miller wrote:We cover everything that curriculum throughout the year.

What do you do when you have 200 copies of a $0.50 pamphlet on hand with no designated use, your ward consists of 160 families, and the R.S. orders 100 more copies so they can hand them out to all the sisters?

A situation similar to this a few years ago is what prompted us to do a better job of encouraging organizations to check what was available already before spending the Lord's money. Before that, the Organizations covered their portion of the curriculum order from their organization budget.

We don't "micro-manage" it either, just encourage due diligence when ordering and requesting. The Bishop's fund takes care of most of the Administration-type items anyway.

Now that organizations can order directly from the DC and charge it to the ward, perhaps some training is in order because recently our Primary ordered 150% more of an item that they needed and charged it.

davesudweeks wrote:What do you do when you have 200 copies of a $0.50 pamphlet on hand with no designated use, your ward consists of 160 families, and the R.S. orders 100 more copies so they can hand them out to all the sisters?

Each organization has their own closet/cabnet where they store their who currulum and supplies. I would hope they know what they have on hand before ordering more.

davesudweeks wrote:Now that organizations can order directly from the DC and charge it to the ward, perhaps some training is in order because recently our Primary ordered 150% more of an item that they needed and charged it.

All DC orders go through the clerks office and I order them. That way I know what to expect expense wise.

Gary_Miller wrote:Each organization has their own closet/cabnet where they store their who currulum and supplies. I would hope they know what they have on hand before ordering more.

That would be good if possible, with 3 units in our building, that has not happened here. Most items are kept in the Material Center where each ward has shelves identified for the ward's items.

Gary_Miller wrote:All DC orders go through the clerks office and I order them. That way I know what to expect expense wise.

That is what I would prefer as well, and what we did before the DC went online for unit supplies. Now others (I don't know exactly who has rights but it extends to auxiliary counselors at least) can order and bill to the unit. The Ward clerk may not know until the IROP shows up in MLS. And in these cases, it is entirely possible that the Bishop wouldn't have the opportunity to approve the expense before it is too late to stop a purchase that he otherwise would not authorize (we have had instances where the Bishop told organizations that they could not purchase items that they wanted, even if the cost was within their budget limits).

Gary_Miller wrote:Each organization has their own closet/cabnet where they store their who currulum and supplies. I would hope they know what they have on hand before ordering more.

That's assuming the items in question are specific to that organization and not something more general. Since the comment was about pamphlets, it seems likely that it was "general". Perhaps Provident Living.

davesudweeks wrote: That would be good if possible, with 3 units in our building, that has not happened here.

Every church building I have ever been in has storage Closets/cabinets. These are usually assigned to the unit and then assigned to an organization. It just might be a good time to find out who owns what storage Closets/Cabinets and what they are being used for. What you find may surprise you.

davesudweeks wrote:Most items are kept in the Material Center where each ward has shelves identified for the ward's items.

This sounds crazy. How can a ward or organization keep track of their items if anyone can get to them. Who has control over the items?

The materials in the Material center (Library) is there for the use of all wards in the building with the purchasing of the supplies and materials being done under the direction of the agent bishop and cost being shared by all the units in the building. Its not there to store individual wards curriculum items.

davesudweeks wrote: That is what I would prefer as well, and what we did before the DC went online for unit supplies. Now others (I don't know exactly who has rights but it extends to auxiliary counselors at least) can order and bill to the unit. The Ward clerk may not know until the IROP shows up in MLS.

This is an easy fix. All that needs done is for the Bishop to make a policy that all DC purchases as well as office supplies are done through the Clerks office.

davesudweeks wrote:And in these cases, it is entirely possible that the Bishop wouldn't have the opportunity to approve the expense before it is too late to stop a purchase that he otherwise would not authorize (we have had instances where the Bishop told organizations that they could not purchase items that they wanted, even if the cost was within their budget limits).

While I know the Bishop has approval authority. Its my belief that once the bishop approve the Budget authorization for the organization he has given the authority for the organization president to purchase whatever they need to support their mission. The Bishop still has to approve the expense before a check can be cut. However, the bishop has the right to do this how ever he wants, and hopefully he is consistent with the procedure.

RussellHltn wrote:Since the comment was about pamphlets, it seems likely that it was "general". Perhaps Provident Living.

We have a closet in the bishops office where these type pamphlets are stored. Short of that there items could be stored in the clerks office ether in a file cabinet or in one of the cabinets above the clerks desk.

Gary_Miller wrote:Short of that there items could be stored in the clerks office ether in a file cabinet or in one of the cabinets above the clerks desk.

The clerk's office is (in my opinion) NOT the place to store any non clerk related materials. In my ward the organizations never looked to see what was there and a lot of it was left overs from year past so it just accumulated dust and got in my way.

I am fairly territorial over the office space the Lord has allotted for my use in accounting for his kingdom in my ward. This, on occasion, even includes telling bishop's counselors they can't use the office for an interview.

I would probably relent if the ward building was short of available storage space for the organizations.

@nbflint, I agree I'm also very territorial over the clerks office space. Having just been called last month the new ward clerk and myself (we were called the same day) have spent the month organizing files and trashing unneeded supplies.

I don't know when they stopped sending the 3.5 diskettes to HQ but there was still a box of diskettes, labels and mailers in the office. I also brought around 20 backup diskettes home yesterday and throw them in wood stove, i did notice the date on many of them was 2000.

nbflint wrote: I am fairly territorial over the office space the Lord has allotted for my use in accounting for his kingdom in my ward. This, on occasion, even includes telling bishop's counselors they can't use the office for an interview.

I would probably relent if the ward building was short of available storage space for the organizations.

Ah yes, the clerk's office. Despite there being vacant classrooms, quiet spaces, and nooks everywhere, somehow the clerk's office is the one that's always being used for interviews.:rolleyes: