This guide details the ordering process. It includes instructions for initiating, assigning, preparing, and approving an order on the Welfare Resources website.
THE PROCESS
The bishop typically works with the Relief Society president to prepare an order, though others may be involved. A bishop may ask one of his counselors to approve orders when he is unavailable, and other adult ward members may assist the Relief Society president in preparing orders.
The process includes four main steps.
- Initiate: The bishop, one of his counselors, the Relief Society president, or another authorized preparer initiates an order and assigns it to a preparer, if needed.
- Prepare: The bishop, one of his counselors, the Relief Society president, or another authorized preparer meets with the recipient and prepares the order. If the preparer is not in the bishopric, she or he submits the order for approval. The bishop will receive a text message or email when an order has been submitted, if he has chosen to receive notifications.
- Approve: The bishop approves the order. In his absence, one of his counselors may give approval, but the bishop will be notified and approve the order later (even if the order has already been filled). If the preparer and recipient have chosen to receive text or email notifications, they will receive notification of the approval.
- Fill: The recipient or an authorized representative fills the order at the bishops’ storehouse, an approved grocery store, or a Deseret Industries store. Some recipients will pick up their orders at designated Church meetinghouses.
INITIATE
1. To begin a new order, click the button in the upper-right section of the web page that corresponds to the type of order you would like to initiate. (Most units have access to the + Food Order button, and some will also have access to the + Clothing/Household Order button, depending on the Welfare facilities that are available in the area.)
2. In the “# in household” field, enter the number of people in the recipient’s household. This number should include any visitors and non-family members who will be using the commodities.
3. Choose notification preferences by checking the “Text” and/or “Email” boxes. This allows the system to notify the recipient when the order is approved. If the recipient would rather not receive notifications, or if he or she cannot, choose I will notify, and be sure to contact the recipient when the order is approved. Begin typing a name into the “Recipient” field. Ward members’ names will appear. (To help distinguish between members with the same name, members’ ages are shown in parentheses.) Click the recipient’s name. If the recipient’s contact information is on his or her membership record, the appropriate fields will be automatically populated.
- If the recipient’s name is not in the list—whether because you are creating an order for someone who is not a member of the Church or because the member’s records are not in your ward—choose Recipient is not in this list.
- After choosing Recipient is not in this list, the “Recipient” field will change to “First Name” and “Last Name” fields. Enter the recipient’s information here.
4. If the person initiating the order is not going to prepare the order, he or she should select a preparer. The Relief Society president is selected by default, but anyone the bishop has authorized can prepare an order. (Bishops authorize preparers in “Settings.”) The preparer’s notification details will automatically appear in the notifications field if they have been set; if not, the person initiating the order must enter them.
5. When all information is correctly entered, the person initiating the order chooses Assign to preparer. The preparer will receive a notification (if notifications are enabled) with instructions for accessing the form. Alternatively, the person initiating the order may proceed to prepare the order without assigning it to a preparer.
PREPARE
After an order is initiated, it needs to be prepared. Order preparation involves visiting the recipient; selecting quantities of items to be ordered according to the bishop’s instructions; updating the recipient’s notification preferences, if necessary; and adding comments for the approver and instructions for the storehouse, grocery store, or Deseret Industries, if needed.
1. The designated preparer visits the recipient and determines the items and quantities to be ordered. (For instructions regarding this family-needs visit, see Handbook 2: Administering the Church [2010], 9.6.1.) The preparer may use a mobile device if the recipient’s home has internet access, or she or he may choose to print a copy of the initiated form to fill out by hand and later transfer to the Welfare Resources website (see “Printing an Order Form” below).
Bishopric members and Relief Society presidents can find the list of orders to prepare under the “Orders” tab in the “Orders in Process” section. They click on an order to open it. Preparers can find these orders on their list of orders in process.
2. Complete the order form by entering quantities for each of the items chosen. If an order has previously been prepared for the recipient, preparers can use the Copy previous quantities button to insert the quantities from the recipient’s most recent order. Even if the order has been placed previously, the preparer should meet with the recipient to verify that the items and quantities are correct.
3. Some bishops’ storehouses that serve a large geographical area deliver orders to pickup locations near the recipients. In these areas, leaders may choose a pickup location from the drop-down list. If no pickup location options are available, the order should be picked up at the location specified on the form.
4. The people initiating and preparing the order can include comments and instructions to everyone involved in preparing and approving the order. Enter these in the “Comments to preparer/approver” text field. These comments will be recorded in the “Comments history” section. These comments will not be included on printed versions of the order form.
5. The preparer or the bishop can also provide comments to the recipient and the staff. Enter these in the “Instructions to storehouse and recipient” text field. These are included on the order form that is printed at the time the recipient fills the order.
6. When the order form is complete, the preparer chooses Submit for Approval. The bishop will receive a notification (if the bishop has specified his notification preferences in “Settings”) that the order is ready for approval.
- Alternatively, preparers may choose Save to save the form to be completed later. Close will close the form without saving changes.
APPROVE
The bishop must approve all orders. If he has a question about an order, he should communicate with the preparer to resolve the concern before approving the order.
Counselors in the bishopric may approve orders as a contingency when the bishop is unavailable, but these orders must be reviewed and approved by the bishop as soon as possible, even if they have already been filled. To review and approve orders that have been approved by a counselor in the bishopric, the bishop navigates to the “Orders” tab then looks under “Orders for Review.” The bishop opens the order, reviews it, then clicks Approve. Once he does so, the order is no longer listed under “Orders for Review.”
To approve an order:
1. The bishop receives a notification (via text message and/or email, if his notifications are enabled) that an order is ready for review and approval. He can open the order in a browser using the link in the notification or by navigating to the “Orders” tab on the Welfare Resources website.
- Bishops can find orders that are ready for approval in the “Orders” tab under “Orders in Process.” They are labeled “Needs approval.”
2. Review the order. Leaders can open an order by clicking on it.
3. To approve the order, use the Approve button at the bottom of the page.
- If there are concerns with an order, a bishop may:
- Modify the order, then choose Approve.
- Describe needed changes in the “Comments to preparer/approver” field, then choose Assign to preparer. This changes the order status to “Assigned for Preparation,” notifies the preparer of the comments, and allows the preparer to make needed changes before resubmitting the order for approval.
- Delete the order by choosing Delete, then OK. No notifications are sent when an order is deleted. It is best to determine with the preparer whether an order should be deleted before doing so. Orders are typically deleted if they were created accidentally or if the recipient’s needs were addressed in another way.
4. After the order is approved, its status will change to “Ready to be filled,” and the preparer and recipient will both be notified according to their notification preferences.
FILL
After the order is approved, it should be picked up at the location and time indicated on the order form. If no specific location is identified, a food order can be picked up at any bishops’ storehouse, and household supplies orders can be picked up at any Deseret Industries store.
CHECKING ORDER STATUS
The “Orders in Process” section under the “Orders” tab lists the statuses of orders in process. The current status of the order is indicated in the first column of the list. The statuses are defined as follows:
- Initiated: The order has been initiated and saved, but no preparer has been assigned.
- Assigned for preparation: The order has been initiated and assigned to a preparer. It has not yet been submitted for approval.
- Needs approval: The order has been prepared and submitted to the bishop for approval.
- Ready to be filled: The bishop has approved the order. The recipient may pick up the order at the designated location.
- In progress:
- If no delivery location was selected, the recipient has checked in at the designated location and the order is being filled or finalized.
- If a delivery location was selected, the order is in the process of being filled, loaded, delivered, or finalized.
Bishops can view the details of any order on this list, including delivery location and time if applicable, by clicking on the order.
PRINTING AN ORDER FORM
It may sometimes be useful to have a printed copy of an order form to use as a reference or a worksheet. To print a copy of an initiated form, follow these steps:
- Initiate the order using the + Food Order or + Clothing/Household Order button.
- Input the recipient’s name and number of people in the household. (See “Initiate” section above for instructions on how to do this.) Leaders can open an order by clicking on it.
- If needed, click the Print language field and choose the preferred language.
- Click Print. The printable PDF file will be downloaded and available in the Downloads section of your browser window. (This is usually found at the bottom of the browser window.)