Vinay Kumar of GRC Direct had a great post on one of the ASAE listservers a few weeks back about a service from Melissa Data called mCOA. In a nutshell, mCOA is designed to augment the US Post Offices's NCOA (National Change of Address) service. As Vinay pointed out on his post, this is a […]
I'm off to ASAE's Annual Meeting in Chicago. I serve on the ASAE Technology Section Council, so I'll be in that meeting on Saturday, and then generally wandering around for the rest of the conference. (This is one of those rare years that I won't be speaking at a session.) If I see something of
ASAE's Annual Meeting Read More »
In the storage room of my house is a box from a printer that reads "Data Processing Forms." The picture on the outside of the box is of paper that has those "tractor feed" pinholes on the sides, for feeding through a dot matrix printer. Mind you, this box is no more than 15 or 16
How far we've come… Read More »
A colleague of mine tells me that his hard drive on his laptop has crashed, and it’s unlikely he’ll be able to recover it. The kicker is that he hasn’t run a back up on that drive for almost a month, so he’s probably lost a month’s worth of work. What’s amazing is that even
It just keeps happening… Read More »
After nearly 20 years of working with associations on their databases, I’ve come to one conclusion: No one loves their database. OK, that’s an overstatement; I’ve met three or four people over the years who truly loved their databases (these are strange people). The reality is, most of us tolerate our database programs, and many
Everyone's experience is the same (Or, It's just as bad everywhere else) Read More »
I recently conducted an unscientific poll of my clients and contacts, asking them one simple question: What database issue are you being challenged with right now? I received over 120 responses to this question. Interestingly, the answers fell almost evenly into five broad categories: Reporting/querying – 26% Data integrity – 20% Web Integration – 20%
What's bugging associations? Read More »
I've been a long-time user of X1 Technologies desktop search (more here). There used to be a free version of X1, but now they only sell the "professional" version for $50. I'm telling you right now, it's the best $50 you'll ever spend. I know Yahoo and Google provide free desktop searches. I've tried them
Don’t forget, in addition to all of these brilliant blog posts, you can find a bevy of free articles on my website. I’ve recently added two new articles to the list. I typically add one new article per month. You can sign up to receive notices as new articles are posted by clicking here.
Free Articles (Shameless Plug) Read More »
The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article (subscription required) a few days ago talking about the trend in "management by data." In a nutshell, large corporations have figured out that if you analyze the behavior of your customers you can leverage that information into better performance. The dark side, according to the article, is
Management by Data in the Wall Street Journal Read More »
In this tip, I discuss how considering “worst-case” scenarios can help you decide whether or not to do something. There has been an interesting thread on one of the ASAE listservers about the “risk” of putting the membership directory online (and ceasing publication of a print directory). Anecdotally, about five associations said they had moved
Taking Prudent Risks Read More »