Ministering Assignments Kanban Board?

Hello, has there been any discussion or plans to create a way to better visualize companionships and assigned families? I'm imagining cards with names/faces that we can drag, drop and create linkages on a canvas. It would also be great to have the cards overlaying a ward map, so that we can easily see where everyone lives in relation to each other. We're trying to assign companionships to minister to families based on geography/proximity, and these sorts of feature would be very helpful. Many mission presidents have used cards with faces to manage companionship changes, and I could see this being a very elegant digital solution.

Sincerely,

A new and struggling EQ President

Most likely, you could make a fairly inexpensive physical implementation much sooner than a digital implementation will be provided. Several years ago, when I was in an EQ presidency, we used pieces of magnetic sign material about 5/8" side and about 3" long with names written or printed on them. We would draw on a whiteboard with dry-erase markers for whatever purpose we had at the time, be that districts, geography, etc. Then, we would move the magnetic name strips around on the whiteboard.

Developing software that has member information is problematic. It's generally not advisable to put member information into a 3rd party software application. If the situation goes sideways, the leader who decided to use it could be legally liable for any unauthorized disclosure of personal information.

We've not heard of any plans for the church to develop something like that, but we rarely hear of things before they're done.

I'd suggest working on a physical card-based plan. It's something you can implement now while you wait for something better (If and when it comes.)

russellhltn wrote: Thu Jan 13, 2022 6:21 pm Developing software that has member information is problematic. It's generally not advisable to put member information into a 3rd party software application. If the situation goes sideways, the leader who decided to use it could be legally liable for any unauthorized disclosure of personal information.

I would love to see this software built within the secure area of L&CR. I'm also not suggesting (or asking) to use a 3rd party app.

I'm envisioning an amazing in-house tool that would help all of us do a much better job with managing one of the most important callings we can have in the Lord's kingdom.

Anyway, thanks for the helpful reminder!

Leowinegar wrote: Thu Jan 13, 2022 7:09 pm I would love to see this software built within the secure area of L&CR. I'm also not suggesting (or asking) to use a 3rd party app.

That would be nice, but the church doesn't operate like a normal business. We're not the customer.

I get the impression that the IT department is rather small and they can only work on projects as determined by priorities "from above".

If I were a gambling person, I'd bet that you'll be in another calling before any such feature comes out. Which is why I'm recommending you go with a system that you can do now rather than trying to wait.

russellhltn wrote: Thu Jan 13, 2022 8:00 pm
That would be nice, but the church doesn't operate like a normal business. We're not the customer.

I get the impression that the IT department is rather small and they can only work on projects as determined by priorities "from above".

If I were a gambling person, I'd bet that you'll be in another calling before any such feature comes out. Which is why I'm recommending you go with a system that you can do now rather than trying to wait.

Yeah, I'm pretty familiar with how it works. My dad worked for the Church for 40 years. I've worked with a few guys who left church employment and they said they are open to good ideas from the "front lines". That's what I was hoping to do here. Just share a good idea that would help the Church all over the world. This goes well beyond my time in this calling. I care about building Zion and I think good features like this would help in that regard.