unit Numbers

HI everyone, as we all know trying to get unit numbers for other wards or "missions" can be a pain, i know that when trying to tie up people or missionarys to the mls system once they have given either tithing or fast offering is hard if you dont have the unit number that came from.

So here is a list of some unit i managed to get hold of.
[unit names and numbers removed]

Please add to the bottom so all we have todo is search here and we can make our lives easier.

alextovey wrote:HI everyone, as we all know trying to get unit numbers for other wards or "missions" can be a pain, i know that when trying to tie up people or missionarys to the mls system once they have given either tithing or fast offering is hard if you dont have the unit number that came from.

So here is a list of some unit i managed to get hold of.
[unit names and numbers removed]

Please add to the bottom so all we have todo is search here and we can make our lives easier.

I appreciate that you are trying to be helpful, but I don't think this is a good idea for multiple reasons:

1. This is impractical, as there are over 30,000 stakes, missions, districts, wards, and branches. We could not possibly capture any significant portion of those unit numbers here accurately and efficiently.
2. When a person who is not a member of your unit makes a donation, there is no requirement to obtain their unit number; in fact, there is no place in MLS to even record their unit number on the donor record.
3. The one place in the finance side of MLS where a unit number is requested is when a donor (or payee) is another unit (an actual ward, stake, branch, etc.). If you have received a payment from another unit, it is almost certainly by check, and that unit's Unit Number will be on the check.
4. Finally, there are much better ways to look up unit numbers in the few cases where you need them. There is the Church Directory of Organizations and Leaders (which is the definitive resource, accessible to bishops and stake presidencies), local unit web sites, and maps.lds.org (which I used to find the unit number of Bristol 2nd Ward in less than a minute). You can even make a quick phone call.

So, please, no one should make any attempts to record these unit numbers on this forum.

I have used this page to find unit numbers:
-http://www.lds.org/units/find/0,12831,2311-1,00.html

For example if I search for the Orem Park Stake I get this page:
-https://secure.lds.org/units/stake/1,97 ... 56,00.html?


The unit number is then embedded in the URL - 123456 (actual number replaced with fictitious number)

The URL is of the format https ://secure.lds.org/units/stake/#,####,###-#-#-UnitNo,00.html

or for a ward https ://secure.lds.org/units/home/#,####,###-#-#-UnitNo,00.html

Where # stands for a numerical digit that has some meaning to the website but doesn't matter here.

Good luck!

Wow, I've never come across that maps.lds.org website website before. Kept me amused for minutes. Thanks for that! Didn't see any unit numbers come up anywhere while I was looking up units, but interesting nonetheless. CDOL or local unit websites certainly provide an easy way to access unit numbers anyway (especially CDOL).

jltware wrote:Didn't see any unit numbers come up anywhere while I was looking up units, but interesting nonetheless.

The trick for finding unit numbers by using maps.lds.org and LUWS is detailed here:

http://tech.lds.org/forum/showthread.ph ... #post18744

jltware wrote:Didn't see any unit numbers come up anywhere while I was looking up units, but interesting nonetheless.

On maps.lds.org, once you have found the unit of interest and selected it in the left column of the page you will find a link on the bottom of the map callout box that says 'Go to Website'. Click that and once at the unit website the URL will have the unit number in it as described above.

Given that the unit numbers are exposed to public view in the various URLs why not just put them on the various public web pages for wards and stakes and avoid all this code breaking?

gkearney wrote:Given that the unit numbers are exposed to public view in the various URLs why not just put them on the various public web pages for wards and stakes and avoid all this code breaking?

Although some technical people seem to have had a bit of fun figuring out a way to find unit numbers, I fail to see the point of "code breaking." Everyone who really needs to find a unit number for a unit has access to CDOL and can easily look up a unit there, in an approved, straightforward way. Why would anyone need to discover unit numbers any other way?

aebrown wrote:Everyone who really needs to find a unit number for a unit has access to CDOL and can easily look up a unit there, in an approved, straightforward way. Why would anyone need to discover unit numbers any other way?

Probably because it is simpler to extract a unit number from a URL than to login to CDOL (which is not linked with SSO to the other LDS.org sites AFAIK) and search by unit name. Particularly when the unit name is not known, the Maps site is particularly helpful in finding the unit number and name for a particular location. If CDOL were linked by SSO to eliminate duplicate credential entry and had some maps integration, perhaps it would be more common to use CDOL over URL extraction.

GreenwoodKL wrote:Probably because it is simpler to extract a unit number from a URL than to login to CDOL (which is not linked with SSO to the other LDS.org sites AFAIK) and search by unit name. Particularly when the unit name is not known, the Maps site is particularly helpful in finding the unit number and name for a particular location. If CDOL were linked by SSO to eliminate duplicate credential entry and had some maps integration, perhaps it would be more common to use CDOL over URL extraction.

If this were needed very often at all, and if the effort were significantly greater, I might agree with you. But I am in the thick of all sorts of ward and stake procedures, and I look up unit numbers an average of about once a year. When I do, if it takes me 60 seconds instead of 45 seconds to look one up, I can live with those lost 15 seconds just fine.

I find it hard to believe that anyone needs to do this often enough to justify the extra work involved in documenting and learning a technique other than CDOL. And I'm quite confident that the Church is not going to have any desire to make unit numbers more easily accessible when they have already provided a means for them to be looked up by those who need to know.

GreenwoodKL wrote: If CDOL were linked by SSO to eliminate duplicate credential entry and had some maps integration, perhaps it would be more common to use CDOL over URL extraction.

If you are signed into LDS.org and have rights to CDOL then a SSO link to CDOL does exist on the tool menu.

Note: I just found out that there is an issue right now with that link not working correctly. Hopefully we will have it fixed soon.

Disagree that members can't benefit by easily having access to, or don't often need to know unit numbers. I've been trying to figure out a units number for two hours as I'd like to make a mission payment for an elder in another ward. I have several nieces and nephews coming up on missions and this will be a regular occurrence. There's no risk I see in making this number easily accessible.

mvannatter73 wrote:Disagree that members can't benefit by easily having access to, or don't often need to know unit numbers. I've been trying to figure out a units number for two hours as I'd like to make a mission payment for an elder in another ward.

Things change. At the time of those posts (4+ years ago), there really wasn't any reason. (And some of the techniques listed no longer work.)

The appearance of the on-line donation system does change things, although I'm not sure how helpful a lookup would be. I'm constantly surprised at the number of people who have no clue what the their ward's name is. So relatives looking by name isn't likely to be as helpful as you'd hope.

If you know the home address, I'd think using the maps and pulling it from the URL has a better chance of success.

russellhltn wrote:If you know the home address, I'd think using the maps and pulling it from the URL has a better chance of success.

What this entails is going to maps.lds.org and start typing in the name of the ward. When you see a match below, click on it. (Be patient, I found it to be sometimes VERY slow to respond.) When a map of the ward appears, the URL displayed in your browser will end in id=ward:xxxxxx, where the xxxxxx is that ward's unit number.

If you don't know the name of the ward, you can type in the address of the Elder. Displayed on the left will be the various wards and branches associated with that address. Click on one (usually the top one on the list), then look for the unit number in the URL as described above.

Ask the family to send it to you. They can locate it in the donation setting of their online account.

I'm trying to make an online donation to a nephew's mission who lives in another town. The online donation system asks for the recipient's unit number. Since my calling does not require admin duties, I don't have access through CDOL. Here is a case where there is a legitimate need to find unit numbers for other people's wards.

djeppson wrote:I'm trying to make an online donation to a nephew's mission who lives in another town. The online donation system asks for the recipient's unit number. Since my calling does not require admin duties, I don't have access through CDOL. Here is a case where there is a legitimate need to find unit numbers for other people's wards.

Please read the two posts prior to yours. Both give ways of getting the unit number without cdol access.