Executive Secretary

luvmy8dz wrote:What sections of MLS should the Executive Secretary have access to? Our outgoing ES has had access to all except "Edit Recommends." I don't think the incoming ES should have access to Finance or Membership. Am I correct?

It's not clear if you are talking about the ward or stake level, except that Edit Recommends is only available at the stake level. In any case, the stake president or bishop makes the final decisions, but in general it doesn't seem like an ES should have Finance access. The Using MLS: Ward and Branch Instructions says (the stake version is very similar):

Who May Use MLS? Bishopric members, the executive secretary, the ward clerk and assistant clerks, and priesthood and auxiliary leaders and their secretaries may be given access to MLS. It is important that all MLS users are assigned the correct access rights according to their callings.

User Rights. An MLS user should receive only the rights needed to perform his or her calling. For example, those who use MLS for entering donations (e.g., financial clerks, bishopric counselors) should have “Finance” rights. As members receive new callings or are released from callings, their access to MLS should be changed to reflect current assignments.

luvmy8dz wrote:What sections of MLS should the Executive Secretary have access to? Our outgoing ES has had access to all except "Edit Recommends." I don't think the incoming ES should have access to Finance or Membership. Am I correct?

The decision rest with the Bishop or Stake President as to what level of access the ES should have in MLS. Each ES is given assignments at the beckoning of the Bishop/President which varies to great degrees depending on the needs of the B/P.
As Stake ES, both the Stake Clerk and I have full access to MLS, including the Temple Recommend activation both at Church and online. I am normally the one present when the Stake President is interviewing for recommends, and I activate them upon completion of the interview and this works for our local needs... so it is really going to be decided by the individual needs of each ward or stake.

In the Ward MLS, it used to be that a user did not have access to the "Action and Interview List" unless they had "Edit Membership" rights. Some wards would give their Executive Secretaries "Edit Membership" rights so they could access this report (in other wards the clerk would print it and give it to the ES).

I just checked in MLS 2.8.3 and this has been changed so that a user with at least "View Membership" rights has access to the "Action and Interview List". I would suggest using this for your ES -- although it is really up to the Bishop.

My philosophy is to give rights to only those that need it -- the less cooks in the kitchen usually the better!

Also, the Ward MLS has two rights for Recommends -- "View Recommends" and "Edit Recommends". I don't know why there is still something called "Edit Recommends" since that is all done at the Stake level now. I suspect that will go away in a future release. In fact, you can't even select that right in the Ward MLS.

The "View Recommends" is a heirarchal right in that if you select it, the user also gets "Edit Membership" rights. I don't like that. Bishopric counselors might need the ability to view recommends, but they probably usually don't need to be editing membership records. Again, it's up to your Bishop to decide.

robm wrote:My philosophy is to give rights to only those that need it -- the less cooks in the kitchen usually the better!

And fewer places to point fingers.

I also see it as a morale issue. The fewer people who have access to change things, the more responsible the person in charge feels. At least that's how it works for me.

robm wrote:In the Ward MLS, it used to be that a user did not have access to the "Action and Interview List" unless they had "Edit Membership" rights. Some wards would give their Executive Secretaries "Edit Membership" rights so they could access this report (in other wards the clerk would print it and give it to the ES).

I just checked in MLS 2.8.3 and this has been changed so that a user with at least "View Membership" rights has access to the "Action and Interview List". I would suggest using this for your ES -- although it is really up to the Bishop.

My philosophy is to give rights to only those that need it -- the less cooks in the kitchen usually the better!

Also, the Ward MLS has two rights for Recommends -- "View Recommends" and "Edit Recommends". I don't know why there is still something called "Edit Recommends" since that is all done at the Stake level now. I suspect that will go away in a future release. In fact, you can't even select that right in the Ward MLS.

The "View Recommends" is a heirarchal right in that if you select it, the user also gets "Edit Membership" rights. I don't like that. Bishopric counselors might need the ability to view recommends, but they probably usually don't need to be editing membership records. Again, it's up to your Bishop to decide.

My advice is that you seek counsel from the Stake Clerk and your Bishop. The guidelines give us some direction but sometimes local leaders have to adjust for their specific situations. But I too like less cooks in the kitchen.

robm wrote:Also, the Ward MLS has two rights for Recommends -- "View Recommends" and "Edit Recommends". I don't know why there is still something called "Edit Recommends" since that is all done at the Stake level now. I suspect that will go away in a future release. In fact, you can't even select that right in the Ward MLS.

When MLS is used at the stake level, the "Edit Recommends" right is selectable and must be selected for users that have recommend activation responsibilities. In order to avoid confusion for ward MLS administrators, rather than gray out the edit right, a possible improvement could be to hide it when MLS is running in ward mode.

RussellHltn wrote:And fewer places to point fingers.

I also see it as a morale issue. The fewer people who have access to change things, the more responsible the person in charge feels. At least that's how it works for me.

In the wards where I have been the membership clerk, and now as Stake membership clerk I recommend: Only the membership clerk should make changes to the membership records.

If more than one person is modifying records the responsibilities need to be clearly defined to assure that all necessary changes are accomplished.

Auxllary leaders and Secretaries only have access at the organizational level.

znauga