Ward Mission App (more than a digital area book)

[russellhltn]

Is there a process for proposing an application to the Church for consideration to try to get approval for syncing with membership data?

The best you can do is sign up for a project. They are extremely skittish about allowing data in other applications. Even basic downloads have been disappearing. If you're not on an approved project, it's not going to happen. Generally, projects are done by what the leaders say they need, not proposals from the community.

[aebrown]

Is there a process for proposing an application to the Church for consideration to try to get approval for syncing with membership data?
I'm also interested in assisting with development of projects, and since the Church decided to move from MLS to lds.org (and also sync familysearch.org with Ancestry.com), I'm sure that they must have a process for integrating with (or acquiring) third-party applications.
Does anyone know anything about this? Or perhaps know what direction they might point me in?

FamilySearch certainly has a process for integrating with third-party applications. But that's all related to genealogical data, not membership data (except to the extent that membership data of deceased people is fed into Family Tree, or that membership data for living persons feeds into private data, but that's not at all what you're talking about).

I've seen no evidence at all that the Church has any interest in doing so with membership data. Because it isn't something there's any interest in, there is no process and no department to contact that we could point you to.

[elderjacobmorris]

I signed up for your program but I am getting an SMTP error. You might want to check your ports.

[terreview]

Thanks - my hosting server changed their mail server so that was it. I've resolved now. My apologies for the late reply.

[Markpook]

Are there any plans to make an offline/ app version? It's a really great tool but I'm uncomfortable with having information on investigators and such stored on someone else's website. Especially given there's not even a way to contact you listed on the website. Nothing personal, just interested in protecting the privacy of people I teach. Far as I know, there's nothing else like this tool. It's really useful and well made. It'd be a shame to not be able to use it.

[terreview]

Thanks for the response Mark, much appreciated. I have no plans to make an offline version as the backend design is designed around an online/multiplatform persistent experience.

It’s been nearly a year since launch so I wanted to report back. My plan was to gauge usage and continue development if there was further interest and clarity. Unfortunately this was not the case. A combination of lack of community interest, lukewarm responses, and limited usage is a clear case to cease development and hosting on it.

I firmly believe transparency is important here as more information helps everybody. I stated earlier that the community would benefit regardless of the outcome. I still believe that holds true.

After one year of operation, I have 17 users; 16 of which appear to be test accounts, and one is the new WML in my ward who references legacy data but admittedly does not update it. As a workaround he will receive an export of his ward’s data. I will shut down the service on September 12.

As mentioned earlier, I contacted three sources to find approval/clarity. My experience:

-Lukewarm / no official response from direct church phone & e-mail channels
-Lukewarm response on this forum thread / hesitation with regards to meetinghouse policy
-Positive response from local leadership but no desire/bandwidth to champion further.

For any future developers in the ward mission records space, I would recommend against independent development. An independently developed app in this realm is viewed as a risk and will not gain traction. As mentioned in this thread and the community, official church projects are the way to make contributions – if one is not in line with your needs, then develop with the expectation that the project will likely remain local.

I appreciate the conversation on this over the past year. While disappointing on a personal level, I’m glad this conversation and info is at least available for future developers, and I have still gained some positive takeaways for other dev.

[russellhltn]

Interesting timing. I just saw a LDS Tools update that gives leaders the ability to view the digital address book.

[sbradshaw]

Interesting timing. I just saw a LDS Tools update that gives leaders the ability to view the digital address book.

To clarify, this feature is only available to ward leaders in areas where missionaries are using iPads with the Area Book app. And there's no editing in LDS Tools. But it's a step in the direction of making area book information more accessible.

[palarkin]

terreview - I'd like to learn more about your experience. Could we chat via email or phone?

[palarkin]

terreview, I am having a hard time finding this. Looks like the site is down. Any direction?

https://www.leadamission.org