missionary couple accessing local unit member info

I'm a clerk, we have a full-time missionary couple serving in our ward who will serve their mission in our ward combined with their other mission duties. Main point being, they are essentially "assigned" to our ward. The mission president and this couple have asked me how the couple might be able to access the ward's member information via the lds.org directory. We've tried to add them as "out of unit" members with a calling as "missionary," but when they log onto lds.org, they still only have access to their home ward. We wouldn't be transfering their records from their home ward to ours because they are full-time missionaries. We've given them hard-copy directories... but we'd still like to arrange it so they have access to the ward directory via lds.org. We'd like for them to be able to log onto lds.org and after clicking "directory" be able to go to our ward, rather than their home ward.

any ideas as to how we may accomplish this?
thanks

An out of unit member is all you can do. If the Mission President wants to find a way, he'll have to take it up with his superiors. There's nothing in your power you can do.

It's CHQ that writes the code and sets the policy. Not the ward or stake.

thank you, an out of unit member is not able to view a ward directory, correct?? that's our main point. thanks

colbyj wrote:thank you, an out of unit member is not able to view a ward directory, correct?? that's our main point. thanks

Although I don't have any direct experience, it seems pretty clear from others on the forums that some out-of-unit members do have access. But it's also clear that they gain access because of their callings (as listed in CDOL), not because they have an out-of-unit membership record in MLS. What I don't know is what callings get access. From your experience, not all callings do get access. It could be that it has to be a standard calling, or it may require a leadership calling or it may be a specific list of callings. If the calling you entered was a custom calling, I'd try using the standard Missionary calling (under Other Callings). Otherwise, you're probably out of luck, at least for now.

I'm not sure exactly how it works. My point is that your ability is very limited and the mission president needs to take up his request with someone who is in a position to do something about it.

I am currently serving as a senior missionary. To gain access to the ward records on-line the following was done:

1. I was added as an out-of-unit member. (I was told that this required my bap, conf, & prhd dates which we provided).

2. I was called by the stake to be an assistant ward clerk for membership and was added to the MLS system as such.

After a day or two I had access on lds.org to "Clerk Resources" under Tools.

Seems to work fine.

Cheers.

kalong71 wrote:2. I was called by the stake to be an assistant ward clerk for membership and was added to the MLS system as such.

Out of unit leaders is not an issue. The issue is for those out of unit members without a leadership calling. Not all units will be willing to call a senior missionary to a leadership position just to grant them regular member access to on-line applications.

There is a section in the Local Unit Website wiki (https://tech.lds.org/wiki/Local_Unit_Website) that has a section titled
'Adding nonresident members to the Web site' but I believe this section is outdated because as the ward clerk I don't have any of those buttons/options.

cspring wrote:There is a section in the Local Unit Website wiki (https://tech.lds.org/wiki/Local_Unit_Website) that has a section titled
'Adding nonresident members to the Web site' but I believe this section is outdated because as the ward clerk I don't have any of those buttons/options.

It isn't exactly outdated but, as it says at the top, it only applies to the classic unit websites (found at http://units.lds.org) and not to any of the newer tools like the Calendar, Directory, Maps or Lesson Schedule. So it is of very limited usefulness especially since those websites may be turned off soon.

On the classic site you have to be added manually as a administrator by an existing administrator. Your calling as ward clerk doesn't automatically grant you any additional rights on the classic site. That is most likely why you don't see any of the options described.

eblood66 wrote:On the classic site you have to be added manually as a administrator by an existing administrator. Your calling as ward clerk doesn't automatically grant you any additional rights on the classic site. That is most likely why you don't see any of the options described.

Also, you have to go to the stake website. It's not available to the ward admins.

We've got senior missionaries assigned to our branch. Under the Branch Directory, they are listed as missionaries under the "Misisonary" category so it looks like the Mission Office has them entered correctly.

We are trying to get them added to the system as Primary President and Primary worker so they can access the Branch tools. However, that hasn't happened yet. They are functioning in these callings and they've been sustained and set-apart.

Is there anything special the clerk needs to do on M.L.S. to properly enter them in these standard callings? Nothing is happening and we are all wondering why.

Is there anything else we need to do? Help!

Having senior missionaries show in the Directory is done through the mission office. That information does not create a record in MLS of the unit in which they are serving. There must be an out of unit record in the unit MLS to have their names available to fill calling positions. Note that for a brother his priesthood ordinance information must be included in the out of unit record to be available for a calling position requiring the priesthood.

Thanks, we are implementing these points.

When they have access to dual unit tools, (our branch and their home branch) how does this work? I'm guessing that there will be a new option on the drop down menu when they sign in. Is that correct? I don't know what to tell them to look for.

The only two LDS.org tools I know that have been discussed in relation to multiple unit displays is the Directory and the Calendar. I am not familiar with how multiple unit tools access for other tools is implemented.

For the Directory, additional units are added to, or included in, the drop-down list of units found in the top left column.

For the Calendar the user with multiple unit access will find the additional ward and stake calendars in Settings (gear icon)/Subscriptions. When the Ward Calendars tab is selected the calendars for the different units will be listed under the column title "Calendar Name". The unit the calendar belongs will be listed under the column titled "Unit". The user then selects the calendars they wish to subscribe.

If a senior couple is called on a full-time mission to a ward/branch besides their own (non-live-at-home couples), they just need to work with the ward/branch clerks to get this information manually (on paper). The Missionary Department, to my knowledge, has not authorized access for missionaries to obtain membership information electronically (via Directory) for the units they serve in. If putting them in the local unit's MLS as an "out-of-unit member" works, please let me know!!

(Source: I work in the Missionary Department IS Group)