FHC audit online signatures

Our local FHC directors are having trouble putting their online signatures on the online FHC audits.

Is the stake supposed to make them FHC directors in MLS or are the units supposed to list them in their MLS system? We, the stake, have historically only made the director of the one at the stake center a FHC director in MLS. The outlying FHC centers all list their local units as their "parent" organization in CDOL. We assumed (probably bad thing to do) the local units were listing the local FHC directors in their MLS systems.

I am aware the stake has oversight over them, but previous audits have had local Bishops and High Priest Group Leaders signing as their local priesthood leaders.

I was going to check a test ward MLS system, but it wont run on my mac.

I tried to look at some local stakes in CDOL, but I cant see their extended list of "other" callings so we cant see how they are handling it.

chartman

gpolson wrote:Our local FHC directors are having trouble putting their online signatures on the online FHC audits.

Is the stake supposed to make them FHC directors in MLS or are the units supposed to list them in their MLS system? ... We assumed (probably bad thing to do) the local units were listing the local FHC directors in their MLS systems.

I am aware the stake has oversight over them, but previous audits have had local Bishops and High Priest Group Leaders signing as their local priesthood leaders.

The stake issues family history center director callings to official stake family history centers. Do not confuse this with unofficial family history locations. The centers are the responsibility of the stake. The calling of Family History Center Director is a stake calling and should be entered into the stake MLS for the directory to be listed as a standard position in CDOL. When the family history center director is listed in a ward MLS it will be a non-standard position. As you have discovered, they then will not have access to necessary web sites or on-line applications.

The responsible priesthood leader for stake family history centers is normally a high council member. I suppose that the stake president can assign a Bishop or High Priest Group Leader as the responsible priesthood leader for a family history center if he so chooses.

jdlessley wrote:The stake issues family history center director callings to official stake family history centers. Do not confuse this with unofficial family history locations. The centers are the responsibility of the stake. The calling of Family History Center Director is a stake calling and should be entered into the stake MLS for the directory to be listed as a standard position in CDOL.

I don't disagree with you, but note the orginal post said "The outlying FHC centers all list their local units as their "parent" organization in CDOL." Like you, I thought all FHCs belonged to the stake, so I'm a bit puzzled here.

If you recall a prior thread, it appears the "standard position" for a FHC Director is a bit odd in the Stake MLS. So there could well be confusion at the ward MLS level.

Also, I'm not 100% sure that CDOL is the key for this. FamilySearch maintains their own list of positions. Someone may need to insure that they are current on the list of "ward" directors.

Edit: I found that prior thread, but it indicates that you can only have one stake FH Director.

RussellHltn wrote:I don't disagree with you, but note the orginal post said "The outlying FHC centers all list their local units as their "parent" organization in CDOL." Like you, I thought all FHCs belonged to the stake, so I'm a bit puzzled here.

Before our stake was divided, we had two official FHCs (with numbers). Since only one could be listed as "the" stake FHC, the one at the stake center was listed as belonging to the stake and the other one was listed as belonging to the ward.

When the stake was divided, the FHC with the ward as parent unit was the only one in the new stake, but it still shows as belonging to the ward. Nevertheless, we had to put that director into stake MLS as "the" stake FH director in order for him to be able to electronically sign the audit.

Because we now only have the one FHC, I do not know if there is a limit in stake MLS that keeps more than one FH director from being listed. If there is such a limit, it needs to be fixed if the Church intends to move completely to electronic audits. Otherwise, there will be a paper audit for any FHC in the stake that is not the one with the stake as parent, even if they are official centers with numbers.

The workaround would be to enter each FH director into stake MLS for a couple of days while they sign their audits, and then enter the FH director for the stake center again. While it would probably work, this is actually a terrible idea.

The priesthood leader assigned to the FHC (usually a high councilor) who used to sign the paper audits is no longer required to sign either the paper or the electronic audit.

RussellHltn wrote:I don't disagree with you, but note the orginal post said "The outlying FHC centers all list their local units as their "parent" organization in CDOL." Like you, I thought all FHCs belonged to the stake, so I'm a bit puzzled here.

This looks like there are two sources of information for FHC organization providing input to CDOL, the Family History Department and MLS. There is no way MLS could be providing information that lists a local unit as a parent organization. The only link to a FHC in MLS is the Stake Family History Center Director and the Stake Family History Center Assistant Director standard positions.

RussellHltn wrote:If you recall a prior thread, it appears the "standard position" for a FHC Director is a bit odd in the Stake MLS. So there could well be confusion at the ward MLS level.

Also, I'm not 100% sure that CDOL is the key for this. FamilySearch maintains their own list of positions. Someone may need to insure that they are current on the list of "ward" directors.

Edit: I found that prior thread, but it indicates that you can only have one stake FH Director.

I reread that thread and things are still the same in regards to the standard position title yet the policy documents have changed. It is a bit more clear in the To Turn the Hearts: Leader’s Guide to Temple and Family History what the relationship between a stake and a family history center is than it was in the document it superceded, the Administrative Guide for Family History.

I checked in a test installation of MLS to see if more than one Stake Family History Center Director could be listed. I was able to list more than one. This may not be a valid indication of the situation in the real installation. But I have a strong feeling that if a stake has more than one FHC then the directors for each one can be listed in stake MLS. They just will not be associated with their specific FHC. Once those directors are listed in stake MLS using the standard postion then they most likely will be able have access to the on-line audit system if they don't already.

Of course the OP said the FHC directors where having problems signing the audits on-line. I don't know if that is the same thing as having problems signing into the audit site. I would like to hear from the OP more specifics about the on-line issue.

jdlessley wrote:There is no way MLS could be providing information that lists a local unit as a parent organization.

MLS isn't the initial source of any parent/child unit information found in the CDOL. That has to be coming from somewhere else. But I don't know as it's coming from FamilySearch.

lajackson wrote:When the stake was divided, the FHC with the ward as parent unit was the only one in the new stake, but it still shows as belonging to the ward.

This is strong evidence to me that the Family History Department is providing the input to CDOL. I know of two sources that update this information. One is through the Family History Online Guide that the FHC Director updates and the other is through software, LANDesk Manager (IIRC), on the FHC computers. If the FHC Director has not notified the Family History Department then it may take a long while for the change to be made.

When I was an STS I had to correct incorrect FHC information with FamilySearch regarding a center that was still listed as belonging to another stake. I did this at that time by telephone. Then months later I noticed this same information could be updated by the FHC director online after the feature was added to the Family History Online Guide site.

All FHC directors are entered directly into CDOL by FH Department personnel (call 1-866-406-1830 [easy to remember: April 6, 1830]). Entering them in MLS does not push them to CDOL as with other callings that access LUFAS (Local Unit Financial Auditing System). I asked FH why they didn't request this be automatically done. They said it is because they want to be aware of FHC director changes so they can send training materials to them. Apparently, there are FH Department system(s) that are not integrated with CDOL, and new FHC directors are manually entered into these system(s).

Gary Later
LUFAS Administrator
Church Auditing Department

latergv wrote:All FHC directors are entered directly into CDOL by FH Department personnel

At least for the stake level FHC director, that seems to conflict with the experience outlined in this thread. However, that might be the right answer for "ward" FHCs. It's certainly worth trying.

latergv wrote:Apparently, there are FH Department system(s) that are not integrated with CDOL, and new FHC directors are manually entered into these system(s).

I fully believe that. Mainly because they had them in place before the expanded capability of CDOL.

latergv wrote:All FHC directors are entered directly into CDOL by FH Department personnel. Entering them in MLS does not push them to CDOL as with other callings that access LUFAS (Local Unit Financial Auditing System).

Ok, lightbulb time.

There are two locations where the name of the FHC Director will appear in CDOL. One is under the FHC itself, and that information is entered by the FH Department (as it probably should be).

The other location is in the list of callings in Stake MLS. The stake can list a FH Director in a standardized calling as part of the stake staff. Without this latter listing, the FHC Director cannot log into LUFAS and sign the audit.

Or more specifically, it may be that both are required. The Stake MLS position, loaded under the stake, gives the FHC Director permission to sign in and sign, and the FHC information, loaded by the FH Dept, lets LUFAS know which audit the person should be allowed to sign.

It would seem to me that LUFAS ought to allow a Director to sign based on his position in the FHC CDOL listing, just as a bishop can sign a ward audit based on his position in the Ward CDOL listing. But this is not the case. It seems LUFAS requires both the FHC identification in CDOL and the stake position (standard calling) of FH Director before that person can electronically sign a FHC audit.

RussellHltn wrote:At least for the stake level FHC director, that seems to conflict with the experience outlined in this thread.

lajackson wrote:There are two locations where the name of the FHC Director will appear in CDOL. One is under the FHC itself, and that information is entered by the FH Department (as it probably should be).

Ah, good point. I'd expect all positions in the FHC "unit" to come from the Family History Dept/FamilySearch.

Thanks for all your comments, but it is apparent their is still quite a bit of confusion about how to allow the local unit FHC directors electronically sign the audits. One of the Counselors in our Stake Presidency is out of town and wants me to get it fixed soon so I contacted what I thought was a church local unit auditor/trainer for 90 plus stakes in this region. He said no longer holds that calling, but is now an assistant area auditor for a Coordinating Council (group of stakes near a major city). He said:

"I bumped into this problem in my CC as well, and had stakes with FHCs that were child units to wards/branches do these audits on paper. The Church Auditing Department is aware of the problem, but hasn't yet advised the assistant area auditors regarding the matter."

Then he copied my email to the assistant area auditor for the Coordinating Council that includes my stake along with his comments. The assistant area auditor for our Coordinating Council Responded:

"Brother XXXX is correct as to my understanding of the problem. The other stakes in our CC that were having problems (not all did) completed their audits in the paper format and per Church instructions mailed the audit reports to me for review and processing and then I send them to the area audit committee in SL for further review and processing.

The brethren have indicated this problem in LUAS should be corrected by the mid-year audits. It appears to be a problem between the Church Family History Center and the Church."

and instructed me to mail the completed paper audits to him.

Therefore, at least in our case, the brief answer is - the system is broken, we are supposed to do the FHC audits on paper, get them signed on paper, then get them our the area assistant auditor for our Coordinating Council.

Thanks for your help. Plus please feel free to continue discussing the way FHC Directors are established in MLS, CDOL, and/or Family Search as we will need to know that by the next audit cycle.

chartman.

We had a similar problem in our stake where we have a stake family history center and 3 ward family history centers with the ward as the parent organization in CDOL. We had no problems with the stake or 2 of the ward online audits. We found that one ward family history center could not sign off on the audit - she was entered in the ward MLS as the ward family history director. I tried entering the ward director in as the stake director in MLS to see if this would give her access but that did not work. I called SLC and they directed me to the Family History Department at 1-866-406-1830. I called them and they said that each director has to call and register with the Family History Department and then register on a website as directed by the Family History Department. Once she did that she was able to sign off on the online audit without a problem. Hope this helps.