Sometimes it’s a process issue When I work with clients on developing a needs list for functionality in a new AMS, one thing that often comes up is the need to track award winners. Whether it’s awards for individuals or organizations, the association (rightfully) wants to track who the winners were, so that the history is captured and …
First ask: “How will I use this data?” Whether it’s during data conversion, adding a new data field, or reconsidering a given process, one of the first questions you should ask is “How will we use that data?” Put another way, just because we can manage the data doesn’t mean we should! For example, I …
I’ve posted a new article on managing volunteer data. Click here to read it. One thing that distinguishes associations from almost all of their for-profit competitors is volunteers. Whether it’s your board of directors, committee members, speakers, or writers, associations have a strategic advantage in that their “customers” are actually developing the products and services …
“We run the report three times and get three different results.” “We run the same report three times and get different results.” In my 21 years of consulting, I’ve probably heard this (or something similar) dozens, if not hundreds, of times. What the user is usually saying is that when they run two different reports …
“We run the report three times and get three different results.” Read More »
How do you know if you’re making progress? We all want to improve our data management, making it better than it was yesterday. But how do you know if you are improving? Showing progress requires two things: a benchmark and an objective. Your benchmark tells you where you are right now. Your objective tells you where …
Don’t move too quickly OR too slowly This may sound like a big “duh!” but I’ll say it anyway: When it comes to selecting and implementing a new AMS, don’t move too quickly or too slowly. If you move too quickly, you are very likely to overlook things. During the selection process, this means overlooking functionality …