Addendum to Record

I'm moving a membership record out for a member who no longer resides with his family.
The Bishop wants me to add a note to the record for the next Bishop.
Is it possible to add a note or is my only option to select the radio button that reads, "Contact prior Bishop"?

mercedeye wrote:I'm moving a membership record out for a member who no longer resides with his family.
The Bishop wants me to add a note to the record for the next Bishop.
Is it possible to add a note or is my only option to select the radio button that reads, "Contact prior Bishop"?

I assume you are saying you need to put a note on the record, but it is unnecessary to contact the prior bishop, is that what you are saying?

I think this is the only way to do it (by checking the "Contact Prior Bishop"). I can imagine what would happen if every bishop had a note about some member, it could become quite a mess. I imagine the MLS developers thought it best to keep things tidy and have things passed by word-of-mouth.

mercedeye wrote:I'm moving a membership record out for a member who no longer resides with his family.
The Bishop wants me to add a note to the record for the next Bishop.
Is it possible to add a note or is my only option to select the radio button that reads, "Contact prior Bishop"?

I have always surmised that free-form comment fields have been excluded from MLS (and its predecessor) is that the Church does not want us keeping dossiers on members. However handy it would be, such a field is too easily misused.

I have added a note using the "Special requests" section.

mercedeye wrote:The Bishop wants me to add a note to the record for the next Bishop.

It depends on the type of note the bishop is wanting to leave. I.E.
"Brother Johnson is close to being ordained an Elder"- Click contact Prior Bishop
Bu if its
"Brother Johnson Is believed to have committed serious sin" The Bishop needs to call Salt Lake to have the record notated.
Hopefully its the first option and no offense to any Brother Johnsons' out there.

Please note that no actual "note" is added when you submit a special request. A hold is placed on the record so the bishops have to communicate before the record can be moved.

I've learned a bit about this process.
Thanks for the discussion!

luvmy8dz wrote:I have added a note using the "Special requests" section.

The Special requests section is a note to CHQ, not to the new unit. Just check the box that the new bishop should contact the former bishop.

lajackson wrote:The Special requests section is a note to CHQ, not to the new unit. Just check the box that the new bishop should contact the former bishop.

I think there is some confusion over two related, but distinct issues.

First, as a membership record is moved out of a ward into a new ward, there is an option for the first ward to specify "Contact prior bishop." Only the bishop of the first ward may specify that this option is selected. In this case, the membership record will be moved, but the bishop of the new ward will be notified with the new record that he is to contact the bishop of the first ward.

Second, you can use the Special Requests section of MLS to put a Move Restriction on the record (this can also be done by the bishop calling the administration office). This will make sure that the record is not moved by another ward without the bishop's knowledge. Then when a move request for the record comes to the administration office, they will contact the bishop before allowing the move.

If there is some chance that the record of the concerned individual may be requested by another ward and thus moved out of the ward without the bishop's prior notification, you may want to consider the Move Restriction. Even without a Move Restriction, the original ward will be notified through MLS that the record was moved, and which ward it moved to, so a Move Restriction is rarely necessary. However, a Move Restriction can be appropriate in some cases where time is of the essence.

Even without a Move Restriction, the original ward will be notified through MLS that the record was moved, and which ward it moved to, so a Move Restriction is rarely necessary. However, a Move Restriction can be appropriate in some cases where time is of the essence.

How does one get this information? I have not seen it anywhere?

It would be nice to be able to select "contact Prior Bishop" in a record so that if it does get pulled the new Bishop would be informed. I believe the only time that a record can show contact prior Bishop is if I am moving the record, not if it is pulled by another unit.

Miknmaur wrote:Even without a Move Restriction, the original ward will be notified through MLS that the record was moved, and which ward it moved to, so a Move Restriction is rarely necessary. However, a Move Restriction can be appropriate in some cases where time is of the essence.

How does one get this information? I have not seen it anywhere?

The wikiis our friendly repository of handy information. See the article Move restriction.

Miknmaur wrote:It would be nice to be able to select "contact Prior Bishop" in a record so that if it does get pulled the new Bishop would be informed. I believe the only time that a record can show contact prior Bishop is if I am moving the record, not if it is pulled by another unit.

But as you stated yourself. MLS provides the notification that a record has been pulled. The old biship then just needs to contact the new bishop.