NonMember with Membership Record Number

I'm still new to this calling as Membership Clerk and have just been given something that I have no idea what to do with...

It seems that we have a nonmember in our ward (spouse is a member) that at some time or another may have been incorrectly added to the system. He is the only nonmember listed in our records that has a membership number assigned to him. Any other nonmember spouses of members in our records do not have a record number.

What would be the best way to resolve this? Should I delete him altogether and re-enter him or can I somehow just remove the record number?

I hope this makes sense.

Thanks in advance.

Are you sure he is not a member? If there is a real member number, CHQ thinks he is. If there is no number, CHQ thinks he is not.

Have you done a unit refresh lately? As part of the upgrade to MLS 2.9 the record numbers of those who are not members were no longer going to display.

MLS 2.9 should have forced a unit data refresh, but this one may have slipped through the cracks.

Or, he might be a member.

Also, if you cannot determine it locally, CHQ can tell if the number is an actual membership record number or just an administrative number.

lajackson wrote:Are you sure he is not a member? If there is a real member number, CHQ thinks he is. If there is no number, CHQ thinks he is not.
...
Or, he might be a member.

Also, if you cannot determine it locally, CHQ can tell if the number is an actual membership record number or just an administrative number.

Indeed, there are a variety of reasons an administrative number may be assigned to a non-member. Administrative numbers look exactly like membership numbers, so there's no way to tell by inspection.

So the first statement is false, but the last one is true.

There's some more information in this thread.

Thanks. I'm sure he is not a member, so it's most likely an administrative number... I'll call on it to make sure.

Please note that Church Headquarters can only give membership information to verified individuals. If you are listed in CDOL (Church Directory of Organizations and Leaders) then you can call in and we can verify you. Ward and branch clerks are not listed in CDOL. If ward and branch clerks have membership questions, it's best that they send a message through MLS, or have their bishop or branch president call Church Headquarters. We cannot give ward and branch clerks membership information over the phone since we cannot verify them.

I would think that if he had a real membership record, you would be able to print an Individual Ordinance Summary (IOS) for him. If MLS won't print an IOS for him, I'd forget about the issue. If MLS will print an IOS and there is no baptism date on it, then you have a "Member of Record." This is a record created when an infant was blessed, but that was subsequently never baptised. See page 145-146 of handbook 1 for instructions on what to do with these records.

You will note that for each non-member spouse that has an accompaning Date of Birth within Marriage Data, then there will be assigned an Administrative Record Number. This number has same format as a Member Record Number. For those non-member spouses without a Date of Birth within Marriage Data, then there will not be any number at all.
If that non-member spouse gives permission for you to create a temporary non-member record to allow inclusion of their name within MLS printed Directory of Membership, then a temporary Record Number will be created based on Unit ID --DASH-- followed by a one up number. Such a temp record number will not be added to member spouse's Record of Membership Marriage Data. If a non-member spouse allows themself to be photographed along with their member spouse for inclusion within LUWS Directory of Membership (no non-member names appear within on-line LUWS Directories of Membership), then we use that as proof that they've given us permission to add a non-member record to MLS for inclusion within MLS generated lists and directories.

I'm new here, so I hope I'm not opening up a whole new can of worms, but if I understand correctly, the MRN is basically a non-significant identifier. Maybe this is causing some of the problems? I'm rusty as to whether there is a significant part of the MRN such as a region identifier in the beginning? Mine started with 058- and I seem to recall (of course, being interested in identifiers of all sorts I started asking about the significance) this being a region identifier?

At any rate, based upon the problems described in this and other threads, would it perhaps be more simple to either modify or expand the identifier system so that "individuals of record" (those who are listed but not members) would automatically have a digit indicating this status in their administrative number or MRN that would be replaced once they are regular members. So the system (once modified) would automatically know what to do with them and not "leak" them into directories or other databases for regular members until the digit change was made. This would of course mean that an individual could have two numbers during the lifetime of their records, however the two identifiers would be related and more simply/accurately deduced by accounting the change in one or at most two (if checksums are being used) digits? The idea would be that it would not be up to ward and other clerks in most cases to try to figure out the status, guess or come up with their own systems and solutions.

Just a thought....