The Unofficial MLS FAQ
From LDSOSS
The LDS Church now has an Official LDS Church Technology Forums Web Site see http://tech.lds.org/forum/index.php
This is a work in progress; please contribute.
It looks like some people are posting questions without answers here, hoping that someone will drop in and provide an answer. This usage is not a problem, but those with unanswered questions might get a better response by posting to the LDSOSS Mailing_List.
Q: Someone set the system clock ahead and logged into MLS. Now nobody can log in with the time set correctly. What can we do?
A: Salt Lake now has a program that can usually fix this problem, get the help of your stake clerk. Otherwise, you must restore the last database backup made with the system clock set correctly. There are two ways to do this:
The first way you should try is to switch the database that MLS is using to one of the automatic backups that are made every log out. The database and automatic backups are stored in C:\Program Files\LDS\MLS\Units\<Your Unit Number>. (The path was from memory so it may not be right on) The folder called mlsdata is the newest version. Throw away that one, and look for the latest version created before the clock change. Rename that one to mlsdata. Make sure your clock is set to the correct time, and fire it up.
If all the auto-backups are too new you will need to do it this way: Set the system clock forward past the last login date, log in, perform a database restore, set the system clock back to the correct time, log out, and log back in. You will lose any changes made since the last good backup.
If for some reason (neglect or otherwise) good backups are not available. Church headquarters does make regular backups and they can be used to restore your system. However, the frequency of those backups is every 6 weeks. It is in your best interests to ensure that proper, regular backups are being made.
Q: How can I enter the home teaching and visiting teaching statistics for the month that MLS was set up?
A: That will never be possible. The workaround is to print out a blank hardcopy of the HT/VT report and fill it in by hand, sending it into Salt Lake.
A: I thought I had another work around entering HT VT visits for the month that MLS was installed. Waiting after the install month was over and into the next month, I found that after login into MLS and changing the system date back to the previous month, or the month that MLS was installed, it would allow the entry of HT visits. I was able to print the HT visit report and the report for those who were not visited for the month MLS was installed. However when I changed the date back to the current date it moved all of the visit entries to the current month. As all know it is extremely important not to move the system date ahead, so be very careful what you do with the system date.
Q: While MLS is starting up, it complains that the database may be corrupted! It asks if it should attempt to repair the database. What's going on?
A: Any number of things could be wrong here. Check to make sure that a copy of MLS is not already running; if another copy of MLS already has an exclusive connection to the backend database, then the second instance of MLS will fail in its attempt to connect to the database, and it will just blindly assume that the database is corrupted.
Q: We just entered the information for a newly baptized member, and after connecting with Salt Lake, we have two separate records with two separate Membership Record Numbers (MRN) for the same person!
A: Membership clerks should not be creating records for newly baptized members; that comes in through the mission.
Q: Why can't we enter the birthdates for non-members?
A: Certain countries have laws against storing the birthdates of individuals that are not directly affiliated with your organization. While the United States has no such law, MLS is slated to be deployed worldwide.
Q: Brother Smith is not a High Priest, but we went ahead and called him as the secretary in the High Priest's Quorum anyway. We cannot indicate this fact in MLS because his name does not appear in the list of High Priests.
A: MLS does not let you record what you should not have done in the first place. Actually, MLS can record this function, you first need to add the brother to the HP group and then you can add him as secretary from there.
Q: Hey, MLS is written in Java! That means that MLS can run under Linux too, right?
A: Yes (see MLS Under Linux), but some parts do not work quite right, and you should only put software on Church-owned machines that the Church approves. It may be useful for clerks who run Linux on their laptops to be able to run MLS during bishopric and PEC meetings, so that membership and calling information can be at hand during the meeting. Interestingly enough, reports have come in that a Linux version of MLS is shipping on Church-distributed CD's containing MLS.
Q: Will MLS ever be Open Sourced?
A: The Church is weighing the possibility of releasing the source for MLS so that members can contribute to it. There is no official word on if or when that might happen.
Q: Who wrote MLS?
A: The Church contracted a team of Java programmers in Utah to write MLS.
Q: Can MLS export data for my home software or PDA?
A: Yes, but only under an account with administrative privileges. It exports the data in CSV (comma-separated values) format. Use File->Export... to export data.
Q: Boy, MLS sure has some hefty system resource requirements! Is the Church buying new computers for each and every unit?
A: It appears so. The Church has made a major push to get MLS in all US units by the end of 2004. To this end, the Church appears to have negotiated with Dell to get new machines for every unit that needs one.
Q: Does MLS include Mission Recommendation software?
A: Nope; it's still an old DOS program.
A: There is a web-based Mission Recommendation system currently in testing. This system allows a bishop to open it up to a prospective missionary to enter their own information and then pass it off to the bishop who adds his comments and passes it off to the stake president, and so on up the chain. - Richard Pyne
Q: Is there any way to see what MLS is doing?
A: If you hold down the CTRL key when you launch MLS, it comes up in debug mode. This is useful when sending a bug report to tech support. Also, there is some key you can press or somewhere you click to get into a place that lets you view the database tables, etc.
Q: Who is Tech Support for MLS?
A: There are a couple of guys working at the Church office building who provide front-line technical support for MLS, but only members with the appropriate Stake-level callings are supposed to be calling them. If you feel you need technical assistance, first try seeing if your question is answered in this FAQ, then try posting your question to the LDSOSS mailing list, and then finally, try bugging the appropriate person in your Stake (like the computer specialist or the clerk).
Q: Can I manually edit the MLS backend database content?
A: In the interest of security, this FAQ does not discuss ways to directly access MLS's backend database. Just don't do it.
Q: Can two people use a unit's MLS at the same time?
A: No. PointBase Micro grants exclusive access to whoever connects to the database first. In any case, even if it were possible for two clients to connect to the same backend database, MLS was not designed to be multi-session safe, so you might wind up corrupting the database if you tried.
Q: MLS can't print more that 64 pages in one batch! What's going on?
A: Reports have come in from various sources indicating that the printing system in MLS requires massive resources; perhaps that could be one reason why the printing function in MLS is limited.
Q: Printing is extremely slow, even on the new Dell computers the Church shipped out. How can I speed this up?
A: MLS has severe problems printing to any printers using PCL6 or postscript drivers. Make sure you are using a PCL5 driver, and your printing speed will improve significantly. In my ward we went from printing 1 page in multiple minutes to multiple pages per minute. In some cases you do not need a new driver, but can change the settings to force the driver to speak PCL5. Search your printer driver's help documentation for "PCL5". On the Lexmark printer we have, the option that enabled PCL5 said something about using "raster" images. If you can't find a printer driver for your model that supports PCL5, some people have reported that the drivers for previous models work fine, such as using the HP 1100 driver for an HP 1300. If you still have problems, read below.
A: The church recently sent an MLS message to all units recommending specific drivers for specific printers, but these changes have resulted in few reported improvements. In any case, make sure you have the correct printer driver for your system. (note: for hp printers, the generic postscript driver is the slowest by up to 300%).
A: Upgrading an HP 1100 printer to 18 meg cost about $15 (eBay) and did help a bit. Combined with changing my print dpi to 300, this has been quite successful even on a PIII 550 computer. Any additional suggestions are welcome.
Re: Thank You, changing the print dpi to 300 is one of the best and most successful tips.
A: When installing additional memory in printers don't forget to go to the printer properties and specify how much memory is now in the printer, typically this is in the device settings tab. I have installed additional memory in all of our stake computers, eleven of them HPs, Lexmarks, and Brothers, and they are all doing better. Remember that more memory is not increasing the printer processor speed but it does allow more printing data to be stored in the printer rather than computer. I have also found, for some odd reason, that when initially installing more memory in the printers, after installing the memory then sending a few print jobs to the printer then removing the memory and reinstalling the memory in the printer, and sometimes reinstalling the driver after the additional memory has been installed seams to improve behavior even a bit better.
A: I would not put the blame on the Dell computers. The Dell computers are very capable, it is just that MLS requires massive resources. This does seem eccentric to me because the print data is mostly text with lines and gray scale bars, or rather it is not high intensity raster images, it should then be virtually the quickest and concise data to for the printer to process.
A: Another slowdown with any of the reports from MLS is that they are several megs of data per page. For example, a 4 page report will show up in the print queue as 22 megs and take several minutes to print... even on a fairly new machine with a fairly new laser printer. Try printing out a Rich Text Document or PDF file and see how fast the pages go through the printer, it's more a bottleneck in the MLS report formating and less of the computer or printer issue.
Q: Why does the Member Progress Report show only a couple of members even though all the records appear in MLS?
A: If the ward recieves new member records during the initial "Send/Receive" with Salt Lake during MLS installation migration, only those records appear in the Member Progress Report for the first quarter. If this occurs, a blank Member Progress Report needs to be printed, completed, and faxed to Salt Lake. It should not be a problem the next quarter.
A: This happens often if the Stake Computer Specialist is heading up the initial membership database request for MLS, and does not know the 3rd level MIS password to first request available MIS updates. If this is the case the Stake Computer Specialist might consider using the autocomm or textcomm in the nodesys to first connect to the MIS/FIS headquarters server. I think that this will download any move-in membership updates waiting for MIS, then MLS can request the membership database without getting the waiting MIS move-in membership updates.
Q: When entering donations in MLS, are there any keyboard shortcuts to make it faster to enter data like the old FIS program?
A: Yes, use the [Page Down] key to jump to the next major 'section'. The major sections start with "tithing amount", "check number", "cash amount", and back to "tithing amount". Pressing enter will get you to the next field, with the exception of the ward missionary section. The ward missionary section still requires pushing spacebar, or a mouse click for shortcuts. When entering a tithing slip with a check for example, try this sequence: enter tithing amount, press [Page Down], enter check number, press [Enter], enter check amount, press [Page Down], press [Enter] twice and I'm on to the next slip. You get the idea.
A: The [Page Down] key is a great tip, I have one more thing to add to that. After you have entered the Check(s) you can immediately save the entry with the combination [ALT]+[S] keys, this saves the donation and moves to the next with out having to press the [Enter] or [Tab] key down through the remaining fields to the Save Donation button.
A: Ctrl-N for Next and Ctrl-B for Back also work for jumping from left side to checks to cash, etc. Ctrl-Enter saves both from Ward Missionary Section and from Enter Donation.
Q: In looking at donor records that were combined in FIS ie John Judy Jones, only the membership number for John shows up in MLS. Are they still combined or is there a procedure to combine them? Also I see no way to delete old donor records?
A: That's right, for some odd reason, the donations will now only go under one member, for some reason beyond me. There is a combine button in the Add/Modify Donors section, but make sure you put the head of the household in the first entry, and whomever you're combining with them as the second. The records will be merged under the first member, and the second member will be marked as hidden. You can update the display name of the first member so that it reflects the combination of the two if you like. (for example: I have joined "Smith, John" and "Smith, Mary" under "Smith, John". I then updated Johns donor display name to read "Smith, John Mary" but leave his membership number and other info alone.) As of MLS, you cannot delete old donor records, but you can mark them as hidden so that they don't show up in your reports. MLS will do this for you automatically at the end of the year if a member has not made any donations.
Re: This has been a very sensitive issue with many who donate with there spouse, when on their tithing settlement statement it states (No Donations), many have broken into wisps of tears and feel divided from their spouse. It seams that with joint donors, the joint donor’s record number could have been entered also. Then on the joint donor’s tithing settlement statement it could state something like “Joint donor with ‘spouse’s name’“, also automatically appearing in the tithing declarations notes something like “Joint donor with ‘spouse’s name’“.
Q: Is there a way to run MLS from a shared network drive?
A: Yes, but as with running MLS on Linux, you should only run Church software on the Church machines that the Church approves. The way I got it to work was to copy the C:\Program Files\jre directory from the network drive to the local machine (at the same location). You can then run MLS from the network drive.
Q: We are asked to mark donor records as hidden when members move from the ward. Is there an easy way to recognize moveouts when they occur? I am a finance clerk and I don't see that kind of communication between membership and finance.
A: You will obviously know that you can print a move out report and also review the current ward directory, those that show up on the move out report or do not appear in the current directory you would mark as hidden. Although there may be cases of members of another unit that are donating to something like the ward missionary, you should leave those donors visible until they stop making donations. Nothing automatic as you had hoped for. You would not want to delete a members donations, this is why you mark the donor as hidden rather than given the option to delete the donor. Although it seams logical that if a donor has not donated within the previous and current year you should be able to delete the donor. I am assuming that at some point after the beginning of a new year all of the hidden donors, payees, transfer sources and inactive categories will be purged. There does not seam to be a formal year end closing and so I am just assuming that after the beginning of a new year the previous mentioned will be purged.
Q: Is it possible to delete an "added item" made during reconciliation? We mistakenly entered a budget item (distribution center charge for next years manuals) and it added the value "trasfer item" to the budget report rather than subtracting it.
A: You will do exactly the same entry, (in the Reconcile - Other items - Add item) entering the exact same Date, Ref. num., Category, Reason, EXCEPT enter in the EXACT OPPOSITE (- or +) Amount from what you entered in error, this will offset your entry error. As you may already know it is better to use the Enter Expenses and mark the Not a check box, when entering in such expenses as Ward Missionary support payments, Distribution Center charges and other similar not a check expenses that appear on the statement. I suggest that the Reconcile - Other items - Add item should be avoided completely except for a few cases when you absolutely know why and what you are doing.
Q: To be less obvious that a check printed from MLS is inside a window envelope. Please consider reformatting the layout of the center check stub. Move the name and address down 1 1/8" (29mm) and to the right 1 1/8" (29mm), Like wise move the Purpose up 1 1/8" (29mm). Also allow option for country to not be printed on checks.
This suggested request if implemented will allow the name and address on the center check stub to show through the standard unit window envelopes from the distribution center. This will be less obvious that a check printed from MLS is inside a window envelope.
Q: What is the best way to move MLS from one computer to another? We have a computer in one ward that is going on the fritz and need to move MLS to a new Dell, but would like to avoid having to re-download all the membership if there is a good way to do it.
A: Use 'Backup to a File' from the File pull down menu in MLS on the old computer, use 'Restore from a File' from the File pull down menu in MLS on the new computer. Before you can get to 'Restore from a File' from the File pull down menu in MLS, you will of course have to load MLS on the new computer set up the administrator, password and unit number, name.
A: Caveat #1: If the old computer is updated to MLS 2.2.1, and you install MLS 2.2 on the new computer, you will NOT be able to restore the backup. You must upgrade to 2.2.1 first. If you call tech support, they can direct you to a place to download the complete new version. You may also want to look at downloaded updates in the C:\AFARIA\ directory. You may be able to move the update/patch files to the corresponding directory on the new computer and run the batch files to upgrade that way, but it's not recommended.
A: Caveat #2: You WILL need to call tech support to have them reset the dialup security. They recognize that a different computer is trying to use the old computer's profile and you will get a security error on send/recieve if you don't have them reset the security (whatever that means).
Q: I would like to see the Stake a Ward Web Sites’ Leadership Directory updated automatically from what is entered in the MLS organizations. From what I see this is not yet possible, however one of you out there might know a work around, other than the redundant double data entry in the MLS and then on the web site. Is there a work around, or any future intentions that the web site data will update automatically from the MLS?
A: Something like this is easily doable with the WWW:Mechanize Perl module. Someone just has to get around to writing it.
Q: The Custom Report Filter Criteria ‘Birth Day’ is not working for me, we are using MLS 2.2.1. Is any body else having this issue?
A: We had problems with printing a birthday list using this filter. There appear to be some strange issues with this filter, but we got the birthday list for December to print correctly by selecting everything "on or after" Dec 1 and "on or before" Dec 31 (and using the same year for both). With more details on your exact problem, I might be able to figure out what's wrong.
Re: By setting up the birthday search criteria like this, each month an updated birthday list is requested you will have to edit the search criteria, this is not very proficient.
Q: The Custom Organizations and Positions that Ward and Branch units create in MLS is not being transferred to the Stake MLS; the whole stake is using MLS 2.2.1. Is any body else having this problem?
Q: I've seen the checkbox during initial setup that asks if a dial-up connection is to be used. A unit in my stake wants to purchase a DSL line and use it for MLS. Does MLS require a dial-up connection, or can we use a high-speed Internet connection?
A: Connecting a unit machine that contains confidential church records to the Internet, in any way, shape, or form, constitutes a serious security breach. The machines do not have the necessary access control mechanisms in place to adequately protect personal and financial data contained within them. Salt Lake is exploring ways to get unit machines connected via high-speed links like DSL, cable modem, and satellite, but the security implications are very difficult to address at this stage. Do not attempt to connect any unit machines to the Internet without authorization from Salt Lake.
Q: How do we sync our ward web page with our MLS membership database (they are not now in sync)?
A: Straight from www.lds.org: Q. How do I correct membership data or meeting times that automatically appear on my ward's Web site? A. The ward clerk must make those changes on the membership system. After the changes have been transmitted to Church headquarters, they will be posted to the Web site within 48 hours. Q. Does Membership Directory information come from my local membership database or the Church headquarters database? A. The Church headquarters database.
Some information in MLS is not currently shared with the Local Unit Web Site including a member's email address, preferred name, and the Leadership Directory. While the Church reports that MLS transmissions are "posted to the web site withing 48 hours", in practice this is NOT the case. One unit reports that it's MLS transmissions are reliably posted once per week, usually between Monday evening and Wednesday morning.
Q: How do you indicate that someone is currently on a mission so they don't show up on statistics, single adult lists, etc?
A: I asked tech support and there is not a way to do this in MLS that is similar to what we had in MIS (marking 'C' for 'Current' for mission served).
Re: I would like to see in Ward MLS callings added "Full Time Missionary", and allow these Full Time Missionary calling positions to be transmitted to the Stake MLS. This also goes for Ward Missionaries callings.
Ward Clerks are concerned that full time missionaries serving from their ward are showing up on members without callings reports and Stake Clerks would like to see on Stake calling reports serving full time missionaries. The same would be nice for Ward Missionaries callings.
Q: The latest MLS update (April 2005) with new dialup numbers and settings broke my Windows 2000 installations of MLS. What's the solution since we probably can't dial up to get an update fix?
Q: What are some basic trouble shooting steps that can be done before we call Salt Lake? We have problems with "MLS" connecting with the Church. The branches that I work with are 300 to 800 miles from the District office.
Q: The Wards and Branch in our Stake are now caught in a never ending loop, with every Send and Receive Changes headquarters servers are re-attempting 2.4.1 update, the version that the Wards and Branch have is already 2.4.1. And when clicking on any of the membership menu options MLS reports an error.
Q: The Stake MLS after downloading and updating the MLS to 2.4.1 cannot be logged into. At the 2.4.1 MLS login screen, selecting the user, typing in the password, and clicking login the MLS 2.4.1 login screen freezes.
Q: How do I change the default language for MLS?
A: If you're in a Spanish Branch, a RM, or just don't feel like seeing everything in English, why not use this trick to quickly and easily change the default language of MLS:
1) Locate the file MLS.properties, which is normally in the C:\Program Files\LDS_Church\MLS\ directory
The "." is very important.
2)Open MLS.properties with notepad or another plain text editor
3)Find the line:
Language=en
Change the "en" to the language you want. The codes are:
da=Danish ko=Korean
de=Deutsch(German) nl=Netherlands ?
en=English no=Norweign
es=Espanol(Spanish) pt=Porteguese
fi=Finnish sm=Somoan ?
fr=French sv=Svengali ?
it=Italian to=Tongan ?
ja=Japanese zh=Chinese
4) After changing the two-character code, save it. Be sure it doesn't save it with a .txt extension.
Now the next time you load MLS it will be in another language.
Q: Phone numbers and e-mail addresses need to be associated to the individual NOT household associated. Phones are changing to cellular phones, each spouse having a different phone number, anymore land lines to house are not being installed.
Q: To anyone familiar with the settings in mls.properties, are the MNLS and MXLS settings equivalent to the Initial and Max memory settings used with a JVM? We've increased our ward computer's memory 3-fold and are hoping to get some gains in speed by bumping up the initial/max JVM memory settings used by MLS.