Help needed to overcome HT problem since new LCR

Greetings All,

Since the introduction of the new LCR home teaching reporting system, we can no longer use members with a 'non-member' as home teachers.
Companionships made up of non-member records simply do not appear on the online LCR system, whilst they still appear on MLS.

We have always used a non-member record to capture all of the households being visited by the full-time missionaries, as per their instructions.
I'm not sure if it's worldwide or not, but certainly in the Australia Brisbane Mission, all full-time missionaries are required to be assigned as home teachers for 5 families within the ward.

The families which were assigned to be home taught by the full-time missionaries still appear on LCR as being taught by a 'companionship' but there are no members showing in the companionship as non-member records don't show up on LCR as they do on MLS.

Obviously the visits need to be captured in the records somehow, so we created non-member records for each of the missionary companionships. We have had up to 7 full-time missionary companionships at once in our ward. If we didn't create these non-member records and associated HT companionships then our records would've shown that up to 35 families are not assigned home teachers.

Does anyone have a suggestion that can overcome this problem?
Our missionaries must be assigned 5 families per companionship, but the visits can no longer be captured and the assignments can no longer be adjusted. It's a huge problem for us.

On another note....

I've also noticed that LCR now automatically assigns any unassigned single sister or male over 50 years old to be the responsibility of the High Priests for Home Teaching.
I preferred it when the 'Households not assigned to be home taught' list was just one list. Now you have to go into the Elders' list and then the High Priests' list to view the same information.

jasondavie wrote:Obviously the visits need to be captured in the records somehow, so we created non-member records for each of the missionary companionships.

Missionaries are not "non-members". That suggests they are not members of the church. I'd suggest creating a "Out-of-unit" record for them instead. You will need more information to do that, but Out-of-unit is a more accurate use than non-member.

We've thought about this many times, but the "out of unit member" requires dates of birth and also membership numbers. That means that we would need each and every missionary's details to add them as out of unit members. This would be too time consuming considering how many missionary changes there are in our ward.

I wonder what all of the other wards in the world do to capture the 5 families assigned to the full-time missionaries in their wards?

jasondavie wrote: I wonder what all of the other wards in the world do to capture the 5 families assigned to the full-time missionaries in their wards?

This sounds like a 'local' instigated policy. I'm not aware of this being a world wide requirement. In my Stake there is no such directive.

jasondavie wrote:We've thought about this many times, but the "out of unit member" requires dates of birth and also membership numbers. That means that we would need each and every missionary's details to add them as out of unit members. This would be too time consuming considering how many missionary changes there are in our ward.

According to this post, all you need is name and MRN.

Yes, and it's very tricky to have to get 14 missionary's MRNs and then change them all the time!

Surely this wouldn't be a long-term solution in this wonderful age of technology would it?

Thanks for the suggestion though.

I'm really looking forward to hearing how all of the other thousands of units do it!

Handbook 2: 7.4.3 says "With approval from the mission president, leaders may consider asking full-time missionaries to go home teaching with Melchizedek Priesthood holders on a limited basis."

It would appear to me that missionaries are to go with other ward members, not necessarily be the HT companionship. Since the developers work under the direction of the Priesthood department and follow the Handbook, they probably didn't take into account the practice in that part of the world. If your mission wants to continue to do this, I think they need to take the issue up with CHQ.

Can't you just put the missionaries home teaching assignments under some arbitrary home teacher (for example create a companionship with ward mission leader as the only hometeacher)? Does it matter who's name is there as long as all visits are counted?

I believe the direction comes from our Area Presidency. As far as I know it's the entire Pacific area whose missionaries are assigned 5 families to home teach. Literally hundreds of wards.
Is there a way I can let the people who created LCR know about this problem? It's above my pay grade!
Perhaps they can liaise with the Area Presidency???

russellhltn wrote:I'd suggest creating a "Out-of-unit" record for them instead.

This will not work either. All of our out of unit leaders in our YSA branch were removed from their companionships and are not available to be added as companions. I am still researching how to get out of unit leaders to be available, but so far I've had no luck. Doing some further research in the handbooks indicates home teaching assignments are to be made in the unit in which the member's record reside. There is no provision for making home teaching assignments outside the home unit.

nikk3hi3tala wrote:Can't you just put the missionaries home teaching assignments under some arbitrary home teacher (for example create a companionship with ward mission leader as the only hometeacher)? Does it matter who's name is there as long as all visits are counted?

For sure, but I'm just not a fan of a changes to a system which make it harder than the original system. I'm no software developer, but would it really be that hard to incorporate?

jdlessley wrote:

russellhltn wrote:I'd suggest creating a "Out-of-unit" record for them instead.

This will not work either. All of our out of unit leaders in our YSA branch were removed from their companionships and are not available to be added as companions. I am still researching how to get out of unit leaders to be available, but so far I've had no luck. Doing some further research in the handbooks indicates home teaching assignments are to be made in the unit in which the member's record reside. There is no provision for making home teaching assignments outside the home unit.

Sorry to hear you're having problems too
It appears that there were a few variables that the developers weren't aware of.
Hopefully the next release can take these things into account.

It seems that it is possible to create a companionship without assigning any companions to it. Maybe that is the best way to tackle your problem.

Yep, thanks. It may have to do for now. It just becomes so hard to track when you have multiple missionary companionships though

There is one more trouble with that: I tried it and it seems that one cannot print any assignments for a companionship without any companions.

LOL! Oh well, thanks for trying!

jdlessley wrote:Doing some further research in the handbooks indicates home teaching assignments are to be made in the unit in which the member's record reside.

It appears I made an inference from the handbooks in this statement. On careful review of the handbooks I found nothing that explicitly states a member's record should be in the unit in which the home teaching assignment is made.

Why there is no provision in LCR for out of unit leaders to be assigned as home teachers escapes me. This is definitely a situation that was overlooked. The same can be said for missionaries being available as HT companions since it is addressed in the handbook.

jdlessley wrote:Why there is no provision in LCR for out of unit leaders to be assigned as home teachers escapes me. This is definitely a situation that was overlooked. The same can be said for missionaries being available as HT companions since it is addressed in the handbook.

I seem to remember a policy that out-of-unit members are to pay tithes/offerings in their home unit, and they are to serve as HT/VT in their home unit. Beyond that, they accept callings to serve in their host (adopted) unit. However, I cannot cite a reference for that policy.

jasondavie wrote:Is there a way I can let the people who created LCR know about this problem?

I'd do both:
- Give feedback from within the app.
- Inform your stake president to take up the issue with the Area Presidency. They need to be aware of things that complicates implementation of their directive.

We'll have to see which way things go. LCR might be modified, then again, maybe the directive will be rescinded or modified.

drepouille wrote:I seem to remember a policy that out-of-unit members are to pay tithes/offerings in their home unit, and they are to serve as HT/VT in their home unit. Beyond that, they accept callings to serve in their host (adopted) unit. However, I cannot cite a reference for that policy.

You mention two items.

A member normally makes donations to the unit where their membership record resides.

Whether or not an out-of-unit member home teaches in their home unit or the temporary unit would depend more on the circumstances involved. For example, if I an helping as an out-of-unit member in a neighboring or overlay unit in a minor calling, I might be asked to continue home teaching in my home unit. But, if I am an out-of-unit member in a leadership calling, I might be involved in home teaching in the temporary unit.

jdlessley wrote:Why there is no provision in LCR for out of unit leaders to be assigned as home teachers escapes me. This is definitely a situation that was overlooked. The same can be said for missionaries being available as HT companions since it is addressed in the handbook.

It wasn't overlooked. The business rules document given to the developers specifically addresses this. In order to be available as a home teacher, a member must not be an out-of-unit member. I wasn't involved in the discussions, so I don't know what discussions led to the decision. If you think this is incorrect, you can send feedback or ask your stake president to address it through the channels available to him.