Temple Ready Online

Rolling out TempleReady Online

By Michael De Groote

MormonTimes.com
Published: Sunday, Jun. 15, 2008

Preparing ancestors’ names for temple work is getting easier with the implementation of an Internet-based process designed to replace the TempleReady computer application.

The new process is temporarily being called "TempleReady Online" after the more complicated, older "TempleReady" desktop computer program. The older process requires church members to go to LDS family history centers to process the names for temple work and put the information in an electronic file. The member then takes the file on a disk to the temple where temple workers print name cards used to do temple ordinances.

"TempleReady (Online) is going to let you do that from the convenience of your own home, totally online," said Paul Nauta, FamilySearch public affairs manager. He said the online program will make the process quicker, easier and help eliminate duplication and errors.

"You can print a temple ordinance sheet at home that you can take to the temple where they can scan it and print a card there," Nauta said. "The neat thing is that all the work you do will be updated immediately in real time. This eliminates duplication by several people getting cards under the current system. Before you can get home from your temple experience, your data is going to be updated."

But there has been some confusion. Because FamilySearch, the LDS Church's genealogy brand, is working on several projects, some people have mistakenly thought the rollout of TempleReady Online is the totality of the "new FamilySearch."

The confusion comes in part from the Web site URL that FamilySearch has been using to introduce TempleReady Online as it is rolled out in individual temple districts.

"People are thinking that that is the new replacement for familysearch.org and that it is the new familysearch.org that is coming, and that is so far from the truth," Nauta said.

Many changes are coming to the LDS Church's popular www.familysearch.org Web site -- and TempleReady Online is only one part of the new FamilySearch changes.

"New FamilySearch is going to be a wiki, a new search engine, an indexing program which allows us to index records worldwide and an online family tree -- where people will actually be able to add, manage and share their family history online in real time, kind of like a desktop program but without all the bells and jingles, Nauta said. "Those are all different features and benefits that are coming under what we call the new vision of FamilySearch."

TempleReady Online is really just one of the functions of the larger Family Tree online program that is designed as an alternative to the church's older desktop program Personal Ancestral File or PAF. Nauta said Family Tree will make it convenient to manage family history files online and share them with other people. Many of the features of the new FamilySearch can be test driven at labs.familysearch.org -- including Family Tree.

"People will still be able to use PAF if they wish to do so," said Nauta. He also recommended that people continue their family history work instead of waiting for the new programs and services.

Meanwhile, TempleReady Online is being introduced systematically to every temple district in the world.

"I think the Wasatch Front (Salt Lake area) is going to be the last," Nauta said, "mainly because we are the biggest market. They are rolling it out (first) to smaller- and medium-sized temples; a mixture of domestic and international, so we can test all the different applications and complexities that deal with foreign-language conversion."

Although FamilySearch has no official list or published schedule of the rollout, an un-official map at the Ancestry Insider blog keeps track of TempleReady Online's implementation.

MormonTimes.com is produced by the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, Utah.
It is not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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Question

Presently, the "Temple Ready" and "Online IGI/Ordinance Index" databases are seperate and require lookup individually or require a user to use PAFInsight or other software products coupled with Temple Ready for clearance of names. How soon will the databases be merged, the program updated, and submissions from home or remote locations be available?

Answer

The new FamilySearch which is now in beta testing has current "Temple Ordinance Status" built into the web application. Additionally, you will be able to print out a Family Ordinance Record (FOR) to take to the temple after names have been qualified on the new FamilySearch Web site. When your nearest temple is current on the new system you will use the new FamilySearch Web site for both the lookup of the ordinance status and the processing of names for the temple work. For the online Temple District, the new FamilySearch Web site will replace both the IGI ordinance search and the Temple Ready program. The sequence of temples coming online has not been made public but will take about 18 months from when the first temple is put online.