Getting Started

I have been a consultant at my local Family History Center (southdavisfamilyhistorycenter.org) for a while, but have been recently called as the IT administrator. I will be speaking with the previous admin soon, but he is in poor health and may not be able to remember as much as I hope. Are there any guides to getting started in this calling? Policies? Procedures? I work in the IT field as a software engineer in the IT software industry, so I do have some knowledge of how things are done generally in IT, but I would love to find information specific to Family History Centers and/or LDS Church information.

Thanks.

So you have been asked to serve as a Technology Specialist in a Family History Center?
As far as I know, that is not a standard calling, so nobody can grant you access to the documents and training you may need. I believe the FHC Director has access to a portal that contains all the information you may need to serve in such a position.

If your calling(s) allow you access, you might try the following resource:
Meetinghouse Technology in the Help Center https://www.lds.org/help/support/meetin ... technology

To start with, in a Stake or Ward situation, the "Assistant clerk - Technology specialist" (STS) is the one who is charged with dealing with computers - both in wards and FHC. I believe the Stake STS can have assistants, and it's not unreasonable to make an assignment to a FHC. But your calling does need to be recorded correctly and you need to know your "chain of command".

The first thing I'd do is make sure this his an official FHC and not a "workroom" that the local leadership has set up. Calling it a FHC doesn't make it so. The way to tell if it is official is if it has a unit number separate from the Ward or Stake it's attached to. Or if it appears in the CDOL.

Assuming it's official, the next thing would be the FHC Operations Guide.

Unofficial "FHCs" are whatever the local leadership can provide. They do not get anything from CHQ that the official ones get.

The South Davis Utah Family History Center shows up in the Church Directory of Organizations and Leaders with its own unit number. Its parent is the Bountiful Utah North Canyon Stake.

The South Davis Family History Center is a not just a ward or stake "workroom". We serve multiple stakes in south Davis County, Utah. The center operates under the direction of the Bountiful Utah North Canyon Stake. So, yes, this is an official center.

The portal sounds like something I would like to take a look at. However, I'm not sure my FHC Director is fully aware of it. How can I point her to it?

mrmcgibby wrote:The portal sounds like something I would like to take a look at. However, I'm not sure my FHC Director is fully aware of it. How can I point her to it?

I'm not sure what exactly you're referring to. Maybe this one: fhc.familysearch.org Note that some resources will not work unless your on a FHC network. (Church VPN).

Hi, I'm a member and I wanted to join in doing indexing. I have downloaded the app already but when I sign in using my lds account, it tells me that I have an incorrect username or password. I tried it again and again but it still won't log me in even though I use a correct username and password. I use the same account when logging in in other church websites and I have no problem getting in. Only in the family search indexing that I can't log in. Is there anyone who could help me know what to do? Thank you!