Managing Phone Service

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Phones and phone lines have generally been provided in meetinghouses to enable members to call for emergency support, to provide a published phone number for a leader, and to enable control functions for DSL internet connections, fire alarms, HVAC systems, and other internet-enabled appliances. This article teaches how to remove unused phone services within the stake. While phone services are generally managed by the local facilities management group (FMG), you may be called upon to gather information and help add or remove phone services.

To ensure that phone services in your meetinghouses are being managed properly and meeting the needs of local units, technology specialists work with financial clerks and physical facilities representatives (PFRs) to do the tasks below.

Please send any questions to the Church’s Global Telecommunications Management Services (GTMS) group at [GTMSinventory@ChurchofJesusChrist.org] or 801-240-9966 if you live in North America. If you live outside North America, please contact your area ICS or your FMG to discuss phone options.

STEP 1: GATHER PHONE SERVICE INVOICES

1. Locate a recent full month of phone service invoices (including internet services) for all units in the stake or district.
   • There are two sources of phone service invoices:
     • Telephone service providers
     • Internal records of purchase (IROPs)
   • These are statements of telecommunication services that are assigned to your unit. The transactions for these services are noted along with corresponding credits in the requesting unit’s monthly unit financial statement. For most of these transactions, the IROP is generated and sent to the local unit as an e-document that is accessible in MLS.

Local units should periodically audit phone IROPs (see below) to ensure they are paying only for services that are being used.

STEP 2: COMPLETE THE SPREADSHEET

1. Download this spreadsheet containing fields that represent the phone lines associated with your stake or district.
2. Collect the following information for all meetinghouse telephone services used in your stake or district (enlist the help of ward or branch clerks if needed):
   • Lines needed for DSL internet connections, fire alarms, HVAC systems, or other internet-enabled appliances. Two tricks for tracking down a phone number are (1) to call it and see if anything rings, or (2) to call out from it and see what caller ID says the number is.
   • Additional remarks
   • Status (whether the line is in use or can be disconnected)
   • Service provider name (such as CenturyLink)
   • Phone number
   • Type of phone line (office, hallway, fire alarm, and so on)
     • Unit name or number
     • Meetinghouse location (address or property number)
3. Input the data into the spreadsheet.

STEP 3: REPORT YOUR FINDINGS

1. Scan a copy of your most recent telephone service statements.
2. Email your spreadsheet and the scan of your telephone service statements to the GTMS group at [GTMSinventory@ChurchofJesusChrist.org]
   • Please make sure you are not requesting disconnection of any lines needed for DSL internet connections, fire alarms, HVAC systems, or other internet-enabled appliances.

Once this information has been properly submitted, the GTMS group will remove the phone service from the building.

STEP 4: CONFIRM THE PHONE SERVICE HAS BEEN DISCONNECTED

Going forward, check phone bills to ensure that the proper amount has been removed from the monthly service charge.