Tech Forum

I'm looking for interest in developing an app that could facilitate contemplation of ministering assignments prior to the assignments being extended.

I'm an Elder's Quorum President and our process to develop assignments has been cumbersome. Because changes to assignments in lds.org go live instantaneously, other means are necessary to draft the assignments and I'm looking for better ways than creating and circulating multiple versions of spreadsheets when updates need to be made.

An app that relies on blockchain probably isn't the only way of doing such a thing but from what I understand of the technology, I think it could potentially 1) facilitate ease of gathering consensus on tentative assignments from the interested leadership, 2) provide a vehicle for comments to be made about assignments, 3) maintain a record of past assignments, and 4) perform other functions that are deemed useful or worthy of experimentation.

I'm not a developer nor even a competent designer so I'm only thinking on a high conceptual level here and want to flesh out a concept with the aim of creating something that could start out as a stand-alone app but possibly be incorporated into LDS Tools.

Is there any interest and skill in working on this?

Community development of something that contains membership information is dead at the gate.

You'll have to wait for the church to develop a staging feature.

What constitutes "membership information"?

I'd think names of members in the ward would count.

ephemeral wrote:An app that relies on blockchain probably isn't the only way of doing such a thing

Not to dash all your hopes, but for a long time (even before Ministering) there has been a request for a way to load assignments into the system without them being published immediately. Based on other topics here at the Forum, I have been led to believe that this request has been seriously considered. It would not be as interactive as your suggestion, but would allow proposed assignments to be entered and adjusted, reviewed by those needing to approve them, and then implemented upon approval with the click of a button.

The concept is not new to the developers. There is a similar function in the Church Directory of Organizations and Leaders. As I understand it, for example, when Church approval is given to the creation of a new ward or the calling of a new bishop, headquarters is able to enter the information into CDOL in some type of a pending status that is only seen by a very few. Then, when the stake president sends notification that the change has occurred, the ward actually created or a bishop ordained and sustained, the pending changes are quickly released for general display.

Whether or how soon such a function might become available in Ministering I do not know. The developers do not make those decisions. They are guided by the Priesthood Department in their priorities and assignments. And if or when the developers are directed to code such a system, their other priorities will affect how long development might take.

But perhaps, someday, the release notes for LCR Ministering will include a little line that assignments may now be pre-staged and adjusted as needed for bishopric approval, then released at the push of a button.

One can always dream. However, I was released as a high priests group leader during last April General Conference, so this desire no longer has as high a priority in my prayers as it did in the past. My focus has turned to elders quorum presidents and my desire that they catch the vision of their new callings.

I agree, though, that this administrative change would be of great benefit to quorum and Relief Society presidents alike. And before I started praying about it, I did send Feedback.

From a Google Plus LDS Tools Beta Thread (https://plus.google.com/u/0/+CurtisBroa ... KAg?cfem=1)

"Leader and Clerk Resources is already designing and developing the feature you're describing above. It allows leaders to create a 'sandbox' type of environment where they can change assignments without those assignments going live until they want them to...stay tuned for that one soon. "

I saw it pop up in the LCR BETA, but I believe they freeze changes / turn off BETA the week leading up to General Conferences. So I'd say, expect to see a "Proposed Assignments" staging area in LCR "soon".

Adopting the blockchain technology is something we must do, one of the main issues with churches is that they often can't keep up with the trends and are left by the least enthusiastic of the believers because they feel outdated, and something outdated is out of touch, and something out of touch with the world isn't something most people want to be associated with... I mean, I've even read this article recently, according to which even the conservative real estate market is preparing to embrace blockchain and distributed ledgers technology! So if a market in which investments are calculated in half-centuries can do it, so can the Church... Or we'll be left behind, dead in the water.

OliVDB5590 wrote:Adopting the blockchain technology is something we must do, one of the main issues with churches is that they often can't keep up with the trends and are left by the least enthusiastic of the believers because they feel outdated, and something outdated is out of touch, and something out of touch with the world isn't something most people want to be associated with...
...
So if a market in which investments are calculated in half-centuries can do it, so can the Church... Or we'll be left behind, dead in the water.

Having read a few articles about blockchain technology myself, I find it an interesting subject. If and when the time is right (in the Lord's eyes), I'm sure the Brethren will be inspired to get the Church more involved with it. However, let us be mindful that speculation, let alone debate, is pointless and potentially counterproductive until/unless that time comes.