DNC Notations in MLS

I believe that it is stated Church policy that memberships in MLS should not be annotated in any way to mark them as "Do Not Contact" (DNC). As a new Ward Clerk I've inherited an MLS database with notations of "mrnc" in the phone number field of all the DNC's.

Apparently, "mrnc" stands for Member Requested No Contact. I'm getting ready to remove all these notations to comply with policy. However, I'd like to ask the forum how others who don't use notations in MLS to track DNC's, how they do track them.

I've been around enough to know that keeping track of them is a must and relying on the collective memory of the PEC or WC isn't going to work. I can't see keeping a separate manual list working either. How do others track DNC's, if not in MLS?

What we have done in our ward is put together a spread sheet to track this information. The spreadsheet is maintained in a folder on the desktop called home and visiting teaching. The HP, EQ, and RS all have access to this spreadsheet and are able to view and update it based upon feedback from home and visiting teachers. The spreadsheet shows the name of the person, date of contact, who made the contact and a short summary of the contact. We review this list as a ward council at least once a year.

ckmcdonald wrote:I believe that it is stated Church policy that memberships in MLS should not be annotated in any way to mark them as "Do Not Contact" (DNC). As a new Ward Clerk I've inherited an MLS database with notations of "mrnc" in the phone number field of all the DNC's.

Apparently, "mrnc" stands for Member Requested No Contact. I'm getting ready to remove all these notations to comply with policy. However, I'd like to ask the forum how others who don't use notations in MLS to track DNC's, how they do track them.

I've been around enough to know that keeping track of them is a must and relying on the collective memory of the PEC or WC isn't going to work. I can't see keeping a separate manual list working either. How do others track DNC's, if not in MLS?

The thread This weekend's tip: No "DNC" on membership records includes the policy on not using DNC notations for membership records. It also has a lively discussion on the topic, and includes some suggestions for respecting people's wishes regarding contact while complying with the spirit and letter of the policy.