Membership Records Suggestions

I know that the LCR is evolving.

Some suggestions for future updates:

1. Membership records always have to be reloaded each time you go back into on a single session. It was be nice to have it stay loaded during each session and not require a reload each time going back into the membership list.
2. Is it possible to have a custom area for membership notes for leaders. Some things that would be important to have: A place to list employment; To be able to track visits to the home, along with notes on visits; A history of callings held; To be able to track fellowshipping efforts.

Thanks,

Bishop Brad Stone

If you want to keep a list of members open, you can use multiple tabs in your browser. One suggestion is to hold the Ctrl key as you click a member's name, so the new window will open as a new tab in your browser, and you can click on the tab for the member list at any time.

I suppose a "custom area for membership notes" may already be available, if the "annotate record" feature allows you to enter your own text. I don't know since I've never been in a calling that could do so.

The official way to make suggestions is by using the Feedback link on any page of LCR.

However, I really doubt that the church will ever provide the ability to add free-form notes to membership records. The privacy issues of having uncontrolled personal information in church databases is likely too much of a risk to outweigh the advantages. In many jurisdictions it could also introduce legal liability problems. But that's just a guess based on observations of church systems over the years. I could be wrong.

bstone81 wrote:Is it possible to have a custom area for membership notes for leaders. Some things that would be important to have: A place to list employment; To be able to track visits to the home, along with notes on visits; A history of callings held; To be able to track fellowshipping efforts.

Past conversations have indicated that this is a very touchy subject on a privacy and legal level. As such, I think it's highly unlikely.

drepouille wrote:I suppose a "custom area for membership notes" may already be available, if the "annotate record" feature allows you to enter your own text. I don't know since I've never been in a calling that could do so.

I'm pretty sure that annotations can only be added by the Office of the First Presidency. Unless something has changed recently Stake Presidents and Bishops have to submit a request to that office in order to get an annotation added. And I don't think the annotation is actually displayed. If there is an annotation it just refers the bishop or stake president to call CHQ to get the details.

Basically, I believe annotations are only used for severe issues involving church discipline or which would restrict the member from having certain callings.

drepouille wrote:I suppose a "custom area for membership notes" may already be available, if the "annotate record" feature allows you to enter your own text. I don't know since I've never been in a calling that could do so.

An annotation would be a serous thing. It's usage is covered in Handbook 1: 6.13.4. Generally, it's use is limited to people who are a danger to others.

I've seen a member record with an annotation flag. Basically, the flag is red and when you click on it, it instructs the bishop to go to a confidential web site, and log in for additional information and contact the Global Service Center if additional information is needed. I imagine that site is limited to bishops and stake presidents and the church is very careful about what is annotated.

I'm wondering: do bishops have a report they can run to see any members with annotations? I don't know a way to find them other than looking at each individual record. That would make it easy to miss an annotated member.

mevans wrote:I'm wondering: do bishops have a report they can run to see any members with annotations? I don't know a way to find them other than looking at each individual record. That would make it easy to miss an annotated member.

In MLS he did, but only the bishop or stake president. A clerk could not access it.

I do not know if this function is available at LCR, but if it is, I would expect it again to only be available to the bishop or stake president himself and not to anyone else.

mevans wrote:I'm wondering: do bishops have a report they can run to see any members with annotations?

Yes, it is called "Confidential Member Information Report" in the Membership menu. The ward clerk was recently given access to this report as well, though I'm sure it has less information than the bishop can see. The access table indicates the Stake Clerk has access as well.

Thanks all for the input. Sorry I didn't jump in sooner. I've been busy, and I guess I didn't have the email notification on to be alerted to new comments on this thread.

I understand the privacy and legal issues involved in allowing too much personal information and notes on a member. As a Bishop, I'm having to turn to my own resources (Evernote, Google Docs, Excel spreadsheets) to tract notes and action items on members. It is important to have some way of tracking all this information, since science tells me I only use a tenth of my brain, I can't possibly remember everything on every member and every situation.