Adding access to the ward council

I recently had a survey request asking thoughts about the "Leader and Clerk Resources" section of LDS.org. As part of this email it said that access to this section would be expanded to include the ward council and their presidencies, which is really good news.

Does anyone know if this access will also include the High Council? I am assuming that the Stake auxiliary leaders will get the same access as their ward counterparts.

Does that mean that, say the Relief Society Secretary, will be able to move membership records?

Every year during the membership audit, one ward clerk argues that his HPGL and EQP should be able to update membership records, because they get feedback from the home teachers of things that need to be updated on the records. The same argument could be made for RS presidents.

Perhaps I just hold membership records to a higher standard than to allow all the ward council members and their presidencies access to changing, moving, even looking at membership records. There is some sensitive information on membership records. Like birth dates, including years. Many people don't want everyone in the ward to know their age.

YMMV

TinMan wrote:Perhaps I just hold membership records to a higher standard than to allow all the ward council members and their presidencies access to changing, moving, even looking at membership records. There is some sensitive information on membership records.

It's not just you. The Handbook is pretty clear that access to membership records is very restricted -- HB1, 13.6 specifically states that only the bishop and clerk are to have access.

It's true that ward council members may come across new or updated information for members. But it's quite simple for them to pass that information on to the ward clerk or membership clerk to make the actual updates. I've never heard of a clerk feeling overly burdened by such requests; on the contrary, since the clerk is responsible for making sure that the records are accurate, he is generally very grateful to receive such information.

But there is some information related to membership records that would certainly be helpful for RS/EQ/HPG leaders to see (even if they can't update it), such as membership and organization lists. I think that's all that's being referred to in terms of their access to Leader and Clerk Resources, not the full capabilities given to clerks.

TinMan wrote:Perhaps I just hold membership records to a higher standard than to allow all the ward council members and their presidencies access to changing, moving, even looking at membership records. There is some sensitive information on membership records. Like birth dates, including years. Many people don't want everyone in the ward to know their age.

YMMV

I'm sure access will be customized for each position just as it is for the existing users. Right now even bishopric counselors don't have access to the full membership record online. My guess is that they'll have access to print roles and access basic directory and calling type reports (and to view/edit HT/VT information when that finally gets put online). I suppose they might be given the ability to edit phone numbers and email addresses but personally I doubt that will happen.

aebrown wrote:on the contrary, since the clerk is responsible for making sure that the records are accurate, he is generally very grateful to receive such information.

As a Ward Clerk I heartily agree with this observation!

aebrown wrote:
But there is some information related to membership records that would certainly be helpful for RS/EQ/HPG leaders to see (even if they can't update it), such as membership and organization lists. I think that's all that's being referred to in terms of their access to Leader and Clerk Resources, not the full capabilities given to clerks.

That makes sense.

I guess I have had access to the Leader and Clerk Resources since the beginning and didn't know. I though every ward member had access to the Directory section that has an organization button that shows who is in what callings.

The things I never knew i never knew...

Thanks

simonawright wrote:Does anyone know if this access will also include the High Council? I am assuming that the Stake auxiliary leaders will get the same access as their ward counterparts.

I don't have any knowledge of the plans, but based on what we've observed with other church tool development lately, the focus seems to be at the ward/branch level. I'm not so optimistic an initial rollout would include the stake council members. Stake council members can still go through the stake clerk to get the information they need like they have to now; it's not as convenient, but it's available.