YSA Memberships - Contacting Prior Bishop

I am a stake clerk for a YSA stake. One of the bishops was wondering if there is an easier way to generate a list of the prior units for the students other than printing the individual membership records for each member in the ward. He wants to follow the directions in the handbook about contacting the previous bishop before calling the member to a position. Right now he has his clerks go though each membership record, record the prior unit's number, then look up the unit in CDOL to get the bishop's contact information. Any ideas how to improve this workflow? Unfortunately, "Prior Unit" is not an available field for a custom report.

fransonsr wrote:I am a stake clerk for a YSA stake. One of the bishops was wondering if there is an easier way to generate a list of the prior units for the students other than printing the individual membership records for each member in the ward. He wants to follow the directions in the handbook about contacting the previous bishop before calling the member to a position. Right now he has his clerks go though each membership record, record the prior unit's number, then look up the unit in CDOL to get the bishop's contact information. Any ideas how to improve this workflow? Unfortunately, "Prior Unit" is not an available field for a custom report.

I think you're obtaining this information in the only way that is currently possible. I can imagine a variety of potential improvements to MLS or Clerk and Leader Resources on lds.org that could improve this workflow, but given the current capabilities, the only way to see the prior unit information is to examine the membership record.

However, I'm curious what Handbook section you are referring to. In Handbook 2, section 19.1.1 it says:

Leaders may extend a Church calling only after (1) a person’s membership record is on file in the ward and has been carefully reviewed by the bishop or (2) the bishop has contacted the member’s previous bishop to determine that the member is worthy for the calling and to verify that his or her membership record does not include an annotation or a comment about unresolved Church discipline.

Since either option is acceptable, and option 1 is far simpler, it seems that option 1 would be the usual procedure, rather than contacting the member's previous bishop, unless the bishop has some reason to have concerns that should be discussed with the previous bishop. Is there some other Handbook section that makes a stronger requirement?

fransonsr wrote:Right now he has his clerks go though each membership record, record the prior unit's number, then look up the unit in CDOL.... Unfortunately, "Prior Unit" is not an available field for a custom report.

I'm surprised that "prior unit" is not an available MLS criteria, when it is data that is stored on the membership record, and a copy of that membership record is held in our MLS. Perhaps I'm not understanding the whole process.
Just last night I tried to access "prior unit" for a custom report. I wanted a listing of any members whose prior unit was a foreign country. No such luck.

kisaac wrote:I'm surprised that "prior unit" is not an available MLS criteria, when it is data that is stored on the membership record, and a copy of that membership record is held in our MLS. Perhaps I'm not understanding the whole process.
Just last night I tried to access "prior unit" for a custom report. I wanted a listing of any members whose prior unit was a foreign country. No such luck.

I am not certain which section the bishop was referring to. But you've made a good point, which I will point out him. Thanks.

I do wonder why 'prior unit' is not available for a custom report. It would be very helpful for a student ward. As a ward executive secretary in a family ward I found there were a couple of times it would have been helpful too.

fransonsr wrote:I do wonder why 'prior unit' is not available for a custom report. It would be very helpful for a student ward. As a ward executive secretary in a family ward I found there were a couple of times it would have been helpful too.

There are all sorts of pieces of information on the membership record that are not available in custom reports -- I'd guess roughly half of what is on the membership record. So prior unit is not unique in that regard. But it would be handy, and doesn't seem particularly sensitive. So it would be a nice addition to custom reports.

fransonsr wrote:I am not certain which section the bishop was referring to. But you've made a good point, which I will point out him. Thanks.

If the bishop is working toward helping new members of his ward obtain temple recommends, including limited use recommends, he would need to contact the prior bishop. But as aebrown has pointed out, the membership record is sufficient for a calling.