Leader and Clerk Resources App

wouldn't that be great to have a leader and clerk resources app? I'm thinking more specifically something for home and visiting teaching. I think it would be a lot easier with an app to look up someone's home or visiting teacher instead of printing and carrying around all of these reports or having to take all the steps to get into lds.org online on my phone. I'm loving web based service instead of MLS by the way. 6-8 people fighting for time on one computer in the clerks office just doesn't cut it!! I am so appreciative we finally have web based access. I'm just hoping for further improvements.

rachbill wrote:wouldn't that be great to have a leader and clerk resources app? I'm thinking more specifically something for home and visiting teaching. I think it would be a lot easier with an app to look up someone's home or visiting teacher instead of printing and carrying around all of these reports or having to take all the steps to get into lds.org online on my phone. I'm loving web based service instead of MLS by the way. 6-8 people fighting for time on one computer in the clerks office just doesn't cut it!! I am so appreciative we finally have web based access. I'm just hoping for further improvements.

LDS Tools already has additional features and reports for leaders with appropriate callings. I would expect that probably any additional features would be added there rather than having an separate app. I wouldn't be surprised if HT/VT assignments get added in the fairly near future (that's just a guess--no inside knowledge here). I wouldn't expect the ability to edit HT/VT anytime soon. Reporting (but not self reporting) might be a possibility but I wouldn't expect it as soon as just viewing the assignment in the household/individual view.

But nothing has been announced along those lines and generally new features like this aren't announced beforehand.

But you could use the Feedback menu option in LDS Tools to make the suggestion.

While I can see viewing information in the app, because LDS Tools works from a internal database that syncs only occasionally, I don't see much hope for editing or data entry. For that part, I'd think the church would be better off creating a mobile-friendly version of LCR and perhaps create a "app" that's nothing more than a quick way to get to it. Or perhaps that function gets added to LDS Tools so that it switches to the browser for editing.

russellhltn wrote:While I can see viewing information in the app, because LDS Tools works from a internal database that syncs only occasionally, I don't see much hope for editing or data entry.

I have to disagree here. The LDS Tools app already allows contact information to be updated. When an update is requested it looks like it requests the most recent data, allows the data to be updated and immediately uploads the revised data. I can see an similar model being used to report HT/VT visits.

But personally I wouldn't expect even that anytime soon.

russellhltn wrote:For that part, I'd think the church would be better off creating a mobile-friendly version of LCR and perhaps create a "app" that's nothing more than a quick way to get to it.

I agree that it would probably be better to use responsive-design to make LCR mobile friendly rather than try to duplicate all the editing ability of LCR in an app. But there may be certain updates that make sense integrated into LDS Tools.

eblood66 wrote:I have to disagree here. The LDS Tools app already allows contact information to be updated. When an update is requested it looks like it requests the most recent data, allows the data to be updated and immediately uploads the revised data. I can see an similar model being used to report HT/VT visits.

It could, but I think HT/VT data changes often enough that it would create a fair amount of confusion from sync lag. One could easily miss quarterly report deadlines.

russellhltn wrote:

eblood66 wrote:I have to disagree here. The LDS Tools app already allows contact information to be updated. When an update is requested it looks like it requests the most recent data, allows the data to be updated and immediately uploads the revised data. I can see an similar model being used to report HT/VT visits.

It could, but I think HT/VT data changes often enough that it would create a fair amount of confusion from sync lag. One could easily miss quarterly report deadlines.

The key is that it requests the most current information when you start the edit session for contact information. If it did the same before presenting a set of check boxes to report HT/VT then there is no sync lag to worry about. Grabbing the list of households and companionships would be small enough that it could be done very quick. If it presented just the families taught by the person being displayed, the download would be even faster.

It certainly would be very handy if when someone stops you in the hall to tell you their results, you could just pop out your phone and seconds later have it recorded (and not have to remember to record it later in the day when you can get to a computer).

Leader and Clerk Resources (the website) does have a "responsive" design for small screens and can be pinned to your home screen. I agree that incorporating more functionality into the LDS Tools app would be the best way to improve the situation on touch-screen devices.

How to pin leader app to home screen

bonk55 wrote:How to pin leader app to home screen

There is no "app", just a website. The details on how to put a shortcut on the home screen depends on what OS you're using.