Return and Report

[beefche]

That makes me nervous. We aren't supposed to use the church roster in an inappropriate manner. I'm not saying this is inappropriate, but I can sure see how someone hostile to the church could use this in a court as an accusation of invasion of privacy/sharing personal information inappropriately.

[mormonman]

My Best advice would be to do what I did. Go on the site, look around, it's free for the first 90 days. Look on the forums get a feel for how the website works.

[jgraham]

Originally Posted by Gwen

is that against church policy?

i was told i am not to use any information obtained from official church sources (like vt lists or address list printed by the clerk, etc) for anything other than official church things and it can not be shared outside of official church business. i can't give out the address list. if i start a home business selling cosmetics i can't go down the rs phone list for ppl to sell to.

i assume everyone has an acct so they can sign in and check off when they have done a visit? can everyone see everyone's list or only their own?

not sure if it's church policy but here they keep lists confidential and if you have done the visits or not confidential. if my vt doesn't do her visits i will never know who she is, all i will know is i have never been visited.

not saying it's a bad program and i think the pie charts are kinda cool. could be neat to print to get ppl to see how much really is or isn't getting done each month as over all statitics. just concerns off the top of my head.

as for the comments to the coloring, font, etc.... i would change it. may not be trying to fool ppl but if that is the impression you give off then it's counter productive. it bothered me a bit too even though i read the explaination before i visited.

This is not against Church policy. Special efforts have been put forth to ensure that RAR complies with existing Church policy. It is against Church policy to export data from Church systems and upload to a website. The RAR system does not encourage or require anyone to do this and it clearly states that.

Only Presidency Members can see the entire list. Those set to an access level of "Teacher" can only see their own assignments.

Furthermore, only those who are excited about and feel they would benefit from the RAR system are encouraged to use it. Anyone (Presidency or Teacher) who does not want to use it are encouraged to remove their information from the system and continue to report the old-fashioned way. The last thing the site operator wants is for anyone to be "forced" to use the tool.

Rather than speculate as to what could be wrong with the system, I'd encourage anyone to try it out for themselves. If you don't like it, don't use it.

JG

[jgraham]

Originally Posted by beefche

That makes me nervous. We aren't supposed to use the church roster in an inappropriate manner. I'm not saying this is inappropriate, but I can sure see how someone hostile to the church could use this in a court as an accusation of invasion of privacy/sharing personal information inappropriately.

This is in no way affiliated with the Church. As with any other website, anyone who asks for their name to be removed from the site will be removed.

JG

[Gwen]

Originally Posted by jgraham

Rather than speculate as to what could be wrong with the system, I'd encourage anyone to try it out for themselves. If you don't like it, don't use it.

JG

ty for being willing to answer questions.

lol don't see it working here. we can barely get our members to put their reports in the computer at church much less anywhere else. a simple phone call seems to be best.

as for trying it out and seeing before i fully process the pro's and con's.... sorry not my style. i find i tend to stay on the path better when i process my choices before i make them.

it does seem like a lot of thought has gone into it, there could be some good benefits under the right circumstances, and if it's working great for some areas then wonderful.

i just worry about the church policy of sharing information like that. i would feel more comfortable if i knew ppl were saying in their meetings... i'm setting X up, if you would like to be included in the system then let me know. then ppl are signed up with their consent, not finding out after the fact and having the option to be removed from it. i don't like the idea of putting ppl's personal info out there without their consent. yes that is even knowing it's not public access. maybe that's just me.

[jgraham]

Originally Posted by Gwen

ty for being willing to answer questions.

lol don't see it working here. we can barely get our members to put their reports in the computer at church much less anywhere else. a simple phone call seems to be best.

as for trying it out and seeing before i fully process the pro's and con's.... sorry not my style. i find i tend to stay on the path better when i process my choices before i make them.

it does seem like a lot of thought has gone into it, there could be some good benefits under the right circumstances, and if it's working great for some areas then wonderful.

i just worry about the church policy of sharing information like that. i would feel more comfortable if i knew ppl were saying in their meetings... i'm setting X up, if you would like to be included in the system then let me know. then ppl are signed up with their consent, not finding out after the fact and having the option to be removed from it. i don't like the idea of putting ppl's personal info out there without their consent. yes that is even knowing it's not public access. maybe that's just me.

I understand your concerns about Church policy. I think it is important to secure Church data, but you have to look at the big picture. How is Home Teaching/Visiting Teaching being handled now? A great percentage of it is being handled through Email. Email is by far the least secure way to transfer anything across the Internet. I guarantee you that more confidential stuff than HT/VT Results are also being handled by Email. I think it is awesome that we now have a far more secure way of handling HT/VT via the Internet.

Leaders should absolutely get the consent of their quorum or group ahead of time. I will suggest that some wording be added to the RAR website to encourage this.

JG

[MarginOfError]

The Church is aware of Return and Report, and it was developed with the suggestions and feedback of the LDSTech community. Its initial release did not conform to Church policies regarding the safe-keeping of data, but it has since been brought into compliance.

The Church announced in September 2008 that it would develop its own Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching software. It will be very similar to Return and Report, and once released, the owner of Return and Report will graciously discontinue their product. I'm not exactly sure when the Church's version will be ready.

Read more about it:
HT/VT Reporting Website Overview - LDS Technology Forums
RAR Strengths/Weaknesses - LDS Technology Forums
Home Teaching / Visiting Teaching Application - LDS Technology Forums

and for more about using the web to track members
Approved online tracking programs - Page 2 - LDS Technology Forums

[jgraham]

Originally Posted by MarginOfError

The Church is aware of Return and Report, and it was developed with the suggestions and feedback of the LDSTech community. Its initial release did not conform to Church policies regarding the safe-keeping of data, but it has since been brought into compliance.

The Church announced in September 2008 that it would develop its own Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching software. It will be very similar to Return and Report, and once released, the owner of Return and Report will graciously discontinue their product. I'm not exactly sure when the Church's version will be ready.

Read more about it:
HT/VT Reporting Website Overview - LDS Technology Forums
RAR Strengths/Weaknesses - LDS Technology Forums
Home Teaching / Visiting Teaching Application - LDS Technology Forums

and for more about using the web to track members
Approved online tracking programs - Page 2 - LDS Technology Forums

MarginOfError,

While that information was accurate at one time, recently I have learned that the Church has no plans to duplicate the functionality of returnandreport.org. Therefore, it looks as though it will not be going away any time in the foreseeable future. The project the Church is working on is nothing more than an MLS-Rewrite and will not contain any functionality beyond that. Because of this, it seems that most of the community members have lost interest and abandoned the project altogether.

These are very discouraging and frustrating developments and it is a real shame, but luckily we have the unofficial returnandreport site to fall back on.

JG

[MarginOfError]

Originally Posted by jgraham

MarginOfError,

While that information was accurate at one time, recently I have learned that the Church has no plans to duplicate the functionality of returnandreport.org. Therefore, it looks as though it will not be going away any time in the foreseeable future. The project the Church is working on is nothing more than an MLS-Rewrite and will not contain any functionality beyond that. Because of this, it seems that most of the community members have lost interest and abandoned the project altogether.

These are very discouraging and frustrating developments and it is a real shame, but luckily we have the unofficial returnandreport site to fall back on.

JG

Yeah, I spoke too soon. I posted this before I'd read all the way through those threads. It's a little disappointing that the Church decided not to develop the reporting application but I'm still holding out hope for the future.

Personally, I don't even intend to bring up Return and Report with my bishopric. I have this thing against double entry (I think it's a statistician's thing). I also have qualms about starting projects that can't be continued when I am released. I prefer to have things as simple and available as possible.

[mormonmusic]

I'm a former High Priest Group Leader of 3 years, released two weeks ago.

Regarding returning and reporting -- I couldn't get my quorum to return and report if my life depended on it. I tried constant reminders, mentioned it in PPI's, had discussions about its importance, as well as people's concerns about doing it, and only the very best, dedicated "same ten people" would ever report their home teaching.

We used an email address everone could report to for home teaching, and that was enough given the fact that only two out of 14 companionships ever reported -- not even the person who became our eventual Bishop would report.

Also, a lot of older brethren aren't compuer savvy, so it would take heavy-duty training to get everyone up to speed -- I had trouble getting about 20% my brethren to open up their home teaching assignments when I sent them out in PDF format. I can imagine expecting them to get registered at the site you're pointing to would be an even greater task.

So, I think this site would be a bit of a waste of time. Now, you might have more dedicated brethren then I do, so my opinion may not apply -- but I see it as a make-work tool rather than something that will allow you to focus on other responsibilities.

A simple email address would be just as good. People tell you what they did, you print it, put it in a file, and then take it to the MLS system at Church for data entry.