Assistant Clerk Finance - Maps

For quite some time I was able to aid our bishop in verifying households on our ward map. The maps wiki states that finance clerks should in fact be able to verify households. Has this permission changed with a recent upgrade to maps?

This change came with a release sometime around May when the permissions granted by calling were aligned with the responsibilities in the handbook. Membership responsibilities belong to the ward clerk, assistant ward clerk, and the assistant ward clerk - membership. Because the assistant ward clerk - finance does not have membership responsibilities he lost his admin rights in Maps at that time.

jdlessley wrote:This change came with a release sometime around May when the permissions granted by calling were aligned with the responsibilities in the handbook. Membership responsibilities belong to the ward clerk, assistant ward clerk, and the assistant ward clerk - membership. Because the assistant ward clerk - finance does not have membership responsibilities he lost his admin rights in Maps at that time.

Good to know. Thanks for the information.

Note that will the proper approval, you can hold more then one clerk calling. Such as assistant ward clerk and assistant ward clerk - finance. That would get you the rights you're asking about.

RussellHltn wrote:Note that will the proper approval, you can hold more then one clerk calling. Such as assistant ward clerk and assistant ward clerk - finance. That would get you the rights you're asking about.

Good thought. I'll run it by the bishop on Sunday.

fernsten, like many of us we not only do just Finances but also help with membership as well. However since our main calling is Assistant Ward Clerk - Finance that is how we are added into MLS. With MLS you can be given the rights to help out with membership with no problem. However the problem arises when the finace clerk tries to use LDS.ORG to help with membership. The way the program is written the finance clerk does not have the rights on LDS.ORG in order to help with membership.

The work around we found in our ward was to just flag the Finance clerk as an assistant clerk as well, this action shows the Finance clerk in two callings but gaves him the tools necessary to help do what is requested/expected of him by Bishop. While you could just be flagged as "Assistant ward clerk" only in MLS and dropped from the "Assistant Ward Clerk - Finance" in order for you to show up in only one calling. We found it best to use both positions so that stake leaders could see who was responsible for Finance Clerk duties.

So, if the policies of LDS.org and MLS are meant to enforce the policies of the handbook then the only authorized solution is to formally call, sustain and set apart people to the proper callings. Then, a "Finance Clerk" should also be called as a "Membership Clerk." Can a ward have more than one "Membership Clerk" who would have proper access to membership responsibilities in MLS and on LDS.org?

Are the restrictions at LDS.org based on the real, hard-and-fast handbook policies or are the restrictions based on a too-strict interpretation? Seems to me that we shouldn't be suggesting any ”work around" solutions if the restrictions are correctly placed. Or, again, should someone at HQ ease the restrictions a bit?

mrrad wrote:So, if the policies of LDS.org and MLS are meant to enforce the policies of the handbook then the only authorized solution is to formally call, sustain and set apart people to the proper callings. Then, a "Finance Clerk" should also be called as a "Membership Clerk." Can a ward have more than one "Membership Clerk" who would have proper access to membership responsibilities in MLS and on LDS.org?

Actually, in the handbook there is no such calling as "Finance Clerk" or "Membership Clerk"; there are simply callings of Ward Clerk and Assistant Ward Clerk (and Stake Clerk and Assistant Stake Clerk). Working on finances or membership is simply an assignment given to a clerk; the verbiage in the handbook in this regard is always something like "clerk assigned to finances".

But even though I've raised this point before, the developers working on this have made it clear that they have received direction from their managers that the access restrictions come from higher authorities.

mrrad wrote:So, if the policies of LDS.org and MLS are meant to enforce the policies of the handbook then the only authorized solution is to formally call, sustain and set apart people to the proper callings. Then, a "Finance Clerk" should also be called as a "Membership Clerk." Can a ward have more than one "Membership Clerk" who would have proper access to membership responsibilities in MLS and on LDS.org?

Are the restrictions at LDS.org based on the real, hard-and-fast handbook policies or are the restrictions based on a too-strict interpretation? Seems to me that we shouldn't be suggesting any ”work around" solutions if the restrictions are correctly placed. Or, again, should someone at HQ ease the restrictions a bit?

When I was ward clerk the assistant clerks were called just as assistant clerks and I assigned them to either Finance or Membership 'roles'. I was able to change those 'roles' as I determined best without them being recalled.

aebrown wrote:But even though I've raised this point before, the developers working on this have made it clear that they have received direction from their managers that the access restrictions come from higher authorities.

Which makes sense. Just because some wards have finance clerks that help out with membership duties, it doesn't mean that it's a wise idea to give all finace clerks membership powers church-wide.

I guess my question is: Who decides what "assignment" is given to an assistant ward clerk? Does the Stake leadership have to determine if one is in charge of finances or does the Bishop or does the Ward Clerk get to say? If it's so easy to adjust our own assignments on MLS as a work around for the LDS.org restricted access then the restricted access (put in place by the demands of the higher-ups) is kind of meaningless anyway. Should we be clearing this with the Stake leadership first?

mrrad wrote:I guess my question is: Who decides what "assignment" is given to an assistant ward clerk?

It's quite clear in Handbook 1, 13.4.3, that the stake issues the calling for assistant clerks upon the recommendation of the bishopric. But once the assistant clerk has begun serving, the bishopric gives assignments to the assistant ward clerks.

To my thinking, the way access rights are assigned makes it fairly easy to decide how to record the calling of an assistant clerk in MLS (but the decision is made by the bishop):

• If an assistant clerk performs only financial functions, he should be given the calling of "Ward Assistant Clerk--Finance"
• If the bishop wants the assistant clerk assigned to finances to perform other clerking functions as well, he should also be given the calling of "Ward Assistant Clerk" so that he will have the access he needs.
• The calling of "Ward Assistant Clerk" could replace the calling of "Ward Assistant Clerk--Finance", but it can be helpful to have the clerk assigned to finances clearly labeled as such in the Directory.
• With the change to MLS 3.5 rights, any clerk that the bishop wants to be able to authorize a donation batch must be given the calling of "Ward Assistant Clerk--Finance" or "Ward Assistant Clerk" (perhaps in addition to another calling)

Okay, a decision process with four bullet points might not accurately be described as "easy," but you get the point.

mrrad wrote:If it's so easy to adjust our own assignments on MLS as a work around for the LDS.org restricted access then the restricted access (put in place by the demands of the higher-ups) is kind of meaningless anyway.

Yes and no. Keep in mind these changes are reflected in the directory and the CDOL where a history is kept. So if any questions come up it's not hard to see who has/had access. Someone changing their own rights will raise eyebrows if it wasn't authorized.