We are wrapping up the design phase for membership transaction processing for Import-O-Matic, and need the input of our users on a few issues. If you work with The Raiser's Edge7 membership module, please give us your feedback on these questions:

1) Expiration Dates: Do you typically have the expiration date value to import? If not, is there any special processing around calculating the expiration date of a membership. For instance, do you add a year and two weeks to the transaction date to account for time "lost" processing the membership? If a renewal, does the renewal always expire one year after the previous term expired, or if it's been more than x months, does the expiration date get reset?

2) Category and Program: Would you like an option that could automatically pick program based on matching the transaction amount to the price range of any given program defined for that category. This will work fine if your programs do not have overlapping dues amounts (ie, they should be like "10-19.99" and "20-39.99", not overlapping like "10-25" and "20-40").

3) Upgrades and Downgrades: Would you the option for IOM to automatically classify a renewal as a upgrade if the transaction amount puts it in a program that has a higher price range than the previous program? For instance, they singed up for "adopt a llama" last year at $45. This year the amount is $65 which falls in the "adopt an elephant" program, whos range is higher than the "adopt a llama" program? Again, this would depend on your programs not having overlapping dues amounts.

Thanks!
Jeff

1: We choose from different expiration dates based on whether the person is renewing a membership prior to lapsing vs renewing a lapsed membership or joining for the first time. We also extend all to the end of the month of the gift, so a gift made on May 5, 2011 would likely have an expiration date of May 21, 2012 (unless it’s a member renewing early). Our files don’t have expiration dates on them.

2: Yes, that would be great. Our dues amounts do not overlap.

3: This would also be great!

Hope this is helpful.

-Wendy

1. We have expiration dates in our files, but having the option to automatically calculate might be nice.
2. We have 2 different membership groups - designated by Program. Then the Categories are different for different amounts. So, a $1,000 gift can get a membership in either program, but within a program it can only match to one category. So, we would prefer it if we designate a program and let it auto-pick a Category.
3. Sounds good.

When is this feature to be added to Import-O-Matic? I was just going through looking at the forums for info on membership. We would love to be able to do this!

Hi Gina,

We've been working on it over the summer and it is to be released in the next major release of IOM, version 1.9.2. We expect that to be in the next three months (but hopefully even sooner!).

Jeff

Thanks Jeff! Looking forward to it!

Hi Jeff,

In case it's not too late to put in our two-cents:

1) We would typically import the expiration date, as various promotions might add additional time to the membership. In cases where it's a standard timeline, it would be the last day of the purchase month the following year (e.g., anyone renewing in October has an expiry of October 31 the next year). I know - some people effectively get a 13th month membership, but we found the consistency of expiry dates makes the renewal process easier.

2) We have a number of programs that overlap, so would need to include the program as part of the import. Also, a specific promotion might put someone membership fee into the range of a different program.

3) Having the system assign the Upgrade/Downgrade classification would be VERY helpful - we currently have to manually add these memberships as the RE membership import only works for those at the same level.

One other thing you might consider (in case you haven't caught it already) - the import should have the option of automatically setting the Membership Card Status to "Not Printed" - you currently can't do this through the RE import, so they have to be changed manually after the import.

Looking forward to the next release - and would be interested in beta testing if the opportunity exists!

Darrell

Darrell,

Thanks for the information. Definitely never too late as we'll continually be adding to the functionality. For the first iteration of Membership in Import-O-Matic we'll be handling the areas that were outlined (Expiration date, Category/Program, Upgrade or Downgrade, etc.) by allowing those fields to be imported. Additionally we'll be allowing the Card Status value to be imported (nothing currently to set a default value for an entire file) as a field as well.

A couple of things we hope to consider moving forward:

- A logic "matrix" to be able to assign the appropriate program and/or category based on values being imported. As you know RE currently allows for suggesting the appropriate value based on the dues, but it does not require that the dues levels be "exclusive" or non-overlapping.

- Logic for computing/assigning expiration dates. We can start by using the default settings from the category themselves, but realize there may be more complex rules that RE doesn't currently allow for (based on other factors).

- Additionally we hope to hear from everyone moving forward on additional defaults/settings and general functionality that we can enhance the process with.

Thanks again for the response!

Shane

Member Cards/Number of members on a membership/Number of cards to print --

We assign 0, 1 or 2 member cards (number of cards to print) to a membership based on a number of factors.  Also, the "total number of members on this membership" does not always match the number of member card records (rows on the Other Members and Cards screen). 

0 -- Certain Membership Program/Category combos always get zero cards "printed".  Even when we don't print cards, we do record Member Card information...

1, 2 -- Other Membership Program/Category combos get one or two cards depending on the membership level.  Some membership categories only allow one member.  Some allow 2.  Some allow up to 8.

When a membership level allows for 2 or more members, AND we have a spouse for the Constituent who is the Primary member, then we record two member cards with "number of cards to print" = 1 on each card and "name on card" = Constituent Name on one card and = spouse name on the other card.

When a membership level allows for 2 or more members, AND we do NOT have a spouse for the Constituent who is the Primary member, then we record one member card with "number of cards to print" = 2 and "name on card" = Constituent Name.

When a membership level allows for only 1 member, AND we have a spouse for the Constituent who is the Primary member, then we record two member cards.  On the Primary member's card we record "number of cards to print" = 1, "name on card" = Constituent Name and "type" = Primary.  On the spouse's card we record "number of cards to print" = 0, "name on card" = Spouse Name and "type" = Inactive.

Bottom line:  Are you making any provision for "Member Cards"?

Hi Jeff, any ETA on the initial roll-out of this new functionality?

Hi Mara,

We're actually actively seeking beta users right now... ready to sign up?? :)

Jeff