Will Additional Reports be Available on LCR?

I am a recently called ward clerk.

I was a ward clerk a few years ago when things were first being moved from MLS to LCR. Back in those days the MLS member database could be exported and I could use that data in Excel spreadsheets to supply monthly attendance reports to the bishopric. They liked this because it helped them identify members who may need more attention. Now that the data can not be exported, are there plans for such reports to be available on LCR? I understand this would require attendance information to be entered into LCR so I was just curious if there were any plans for this.

I also understand that I can supply monthly attendance reports to my current bishopric but It will be A LOT more work compiling the information from the rolls than it was when the membership data was available (then I would only have to check a box if they attended a class, now I will have to type in all their names and keep that list current as members move in and out).

Thank you.

We haven't heard of any such plans. Personally I doubt it will happen because the church seems to avoid storing information about the activity of members on it's systems (but with a few exceptions like new converts or seminary attendance).

CWatsonJr wrote:Back in those days the MLS member database could be exported and I could use that data in Excel spreadsheets.

You can export a CSV file of households from the Directory on lds.org.

drepouille wrote:

CWatsonJr wrote:Back in those days the MLS member database could be exported and I could use that data in Excel spreadsheets.

You can export a CSV file of households from the Directory on lds.org.

Yes, but this doesn't give me every member of the ward which is what I need for attendance reports.

You should be able to print attendance sheets. It seems to me that's the simplest way to compile it. The question is how to distribute the information afterwards.

russellhltn wrote:You should be able to print attendance sheets. It seems to me that's the simplest way to compile it. The question is how to distribute the information afterwards.

Actually, printing the roll sheets is part of the gathering process. Compiling the data requires taking all the gathered data and breaking it down into a concise report that is substantial and meaningful. Giving the bishopric copies of the rolls each month is too much data to get a good picture of what the information means. It needs to be broken down so they can see where a member may need additional attention or assistance.

Without the member data, that means retyping all of the gathered data into a concise format. That equals a substantial amount of time and work. I don't mind the work but the time is an issue.

CWatsonJr wrote:

drepouille wrote:

CWatsonJr wrote:Back in those days the MLS member database could be exported and I could use that data in Excel spreadsheets.

You can export a CSV file of households from the Directory on lds.org.

Yes, but this doesn't give me every member of the ward which is what I need for attendance reports.

The CSV export shows both parents and up to 16 children for each household. Who is missing?

True but it doesn't have the children's ages or class so there is no way to parse the data to put them in the right classes. Each person would have to be looked up individually in LCR or have all the rolls in front of you and look through each one to find the member. In addition, it doesn't have birth dates so excel has no data to help transition a youth from primary to YM or YW at the correct time.

If you would have seen how the data was organized before, you would understand. There was a row for each person and, besides other pertinent data, there was a field that had which class they were in.

The way the data is exported now is nothing more than a mail merge list, basically.

drepouille wrote:

CWatsonJr wrote:Back in those days the MLS member database could be exported and I could use that data in Excel spreadsheets.

You can export a CSV file of households from the Directory on lds.org.

How is this done? How do you export as a CSV or to excel? Ward computers don't have excel on them. I am a Ward Clerk and can't find anywhere on LDS.org within LCR that allows me to export a member list or report.

steele7 wrote:How is this done? How do you export as a CSV or to excel? Ward computers don't have excel on them.

OpenOffice or LibreOffice Calc can be used instead of Excel and those can be installed on ward computers.

steele7 wrote:I am a Ward Clerk and can't find anywhere on LDS.org within LCR that allows me to export a member list or report.

It's not in LCR. It's in the directory (https://lds.org/directory) under Export Households on the left. But I wouldn't rely on it too much. I fully expect it to be removed whenever they do any significant work on the directory again.

Ahh...I see. Thanks for the update.