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elesel edited this page Oct 23, 2016 · 13 revisions

Callings Tracker

Callings Tracker helps LDS stake and ward leaders plan calling changes using Google Sheets.

Getting your copy

  1. Open the stake or ward version of Callings Tracker
  2. Click the Make a copy button, and then your copy opens in Google Spreadsheets
  3. Rename it if desired
  4. Click Callings->Setup->Create triggers, which should cause an Authorization Required box to appear
  5. Click the Continue button to proceed to the Request for Permission box
  6. Read what you're agreeing to, then click Allow
  7. Click Yes when prompted to create and run triggers as yourself
  8. After you've been notified the triggers have been created, click the Ok button to start using the spreadsheet

Configuration

First, a warning: Don't rename any of the worksheets, column headers, or change which rows are frozen. This will cause things to break. Maybe in the future version of Callings Tracker it will be more resilient, but not so in this version. Now, with that out of the way, here's what you should do to configure Callings Tracker for your stake/ward/branch:

Add members

There isn't an automated way yet to do this yet, but I hope to make one at some point. Also note that this method retrieves preferred names rather than full names.

  1. Copy and paste the table from https://beta.lds.org/mls/mbr/records/member-list?lang=eng into Excel
  2. Remove everything except the Name, Age, and Unit (stakes only)
  3. Remove any rows where the value in the Name column begins with an asterisk
  4. Insert a new column between the remaining columns, and name it Age Range
  5. Set the top cell in the new column to this formula (assuming column B is the Age column): =IF(B2>=18, "adult", IF(B2>=12, "youth", "child"))
  6. Copy the formula down through the remaining rows on the worksheet
  7. Copy the Name, Age Range, and Unit (stakes only) columns to the clipboard, omitting the column headers
  8. Paste them into the Members sheet in Callings Tracker
  9. Move or remove any values in the Force names column
  10. Select the Callings->Format member list menu item and ensure that the names that appear in the Lookup names column are what you want to see in member pick lists
Add units (stakes only)

Replace the sample units in the Units sheet with your own. Each row must contain a two character abbreviation, the full name of the unit, and an X to indicate it's visible and should be included in the pick lists on the Callings - Pending sheet.

Add leaders (stakes only)

Replace the sample leaders in the Leaders sheet with your own. Each row must contain the leader's initials, the full name of the leader, and an X to indicate it's visible and should be included in the pick lists on the Callings - Pending sheet.

Worksheets

Callings sheets

  • Callings - Pending: Callings and releases that are in progress
  • Callings - Current: Members and the callings they're currently serving in. After a member's calling is complete in the Callings - Pending sheet, it will be moved to this until a release is considered.
  • Callings - Archive: Members who have been released from callings are on this worksheet

Configuration sheets

  • Members: A list of stake/ward members that is used to populate the drop-down lists in the Member Name column on the Callings - Pending worksheet.
  • Units: A list of wards/branches in a stake, available only in the stake version of Callings Tracker.
  • Leaders: A list of leaders who have set members apart, available only in the stake version of Callings Tracker. This list might have a future use at some point for calling assignments (e.g. the leader assigned to extend a calling).
  • Positions: A list of positions in which a member may serve, along with the lifecycle of each position.
  • Lifecycles: A list of lifecycles and the columns in the Callings worksheets that are used to track progress through each lifecycle.
  • Actions: A list of actions and an assignment of each action to one of the Callings worksheets.

Callings menu items

  • Sort callings: Sorts each callings sheet (Pending, Current, Archive)
  • Organize callings: Sorts each callings sheet, then moves each row to the right sheet depending on its status
  • Update calling status: Forces the statuses of callings on the Pending and Current sheets to be updated. Use this if status didn't update automatically on one or more callings.
  • Format member list: Updates the Lookup name column in the Members sheet. Use this after updating the member information in the same sheet.
  • Setup->Reload configuration: Updates drop-down lists in configuration sheets and then stores the information for use in drop-down lists in the callings sheets
  • Setup->Show/hide configuration sheets: Toggles display of configuration sheets
  • Setup->Create triggers: Creates triggers that automatically update the calling sheets as they're being edited
  • Setup->Remove triggers: Remove triggers so that they can be re-created by another person
  • About: Shows information about Callings Tracker

Updating an existing spreadsheet

  1. Go here and copy all of the text to your clipboard
  2. Open the spreadsheet from Google Drive
  3. Click Tools -> Script editor... from the menu bar
  4. Click in the area underneath the Code.gs tab
  5. Press Ctrl-A to select all of the code
  6. Press Ctrl-V to replace the code with what you copied to the clipboard in step #1
  7. Press Ctrl-S to save Cods.gs
  8. Click the Save button
  9. Close the script editor and return to your copy of Callings Tracker