Wes’s Wednesday Wisdom

The Rule of 100 and 1,000 and automation I originally coined the rule of 100 and 1,000 in relationship to data conversion (here and here). I extended that rule to ongoing data management here. The rule of 100 and 1,000 can also be applied to automation. Simply put, if you’re managing fewer than 100 records

Once you know, what will you do? I’ve yet to meet a client who didn’t require, in some form or another, some way to analyze their data. Whether it was simple queries or reports, or more advanced dashboards or analytics, everyone wants to be able to analyze their data. And that’s a good thing. But

If it’s not in your AMS, why not? I like to tell my clients they’ll know they’ve reached data management nirvana when the answer to any question about data is “It’s in the database.” And I don’t mean the obvious questions like “How many members do we have?” or “Who has registered for next week’s event?”

Why checkboxes and tags are awesome and dangerous One of the most common functions in an AMS is the concept of checkboxes and/or tags (your system may have both!). With checkboxes and tags we can easily “group” otherwise disparate data sets together. For example, need to create a VIP list of people to invite to

Don’t miss obvious engagement data What I’ve experienced with my clients over the years is that too many associations are not very conscientious about tracking all of their volunteer engagement in a centralized manner. (Because I’m a volunteer myself, I find this particular issue rather grating.) Take the tracking of authors (i.e., anyone who has written

All data requires active management It’s a simple fact of data management that is often overlooked: Any data that is not actively managed will eventually become useless. And it’s truer now than ever. If you take a moment to think about your members, whether they are individuals or organizations, every point of data that you

Documentation is critical for consistency There are so many reasons why documenting your data management processes are so critical to long-term success, but one of the most important reasons is to ensure we process data consistently over time. This is especially true for processes that occur repeatedly but very infrequently. For example, a client of

Consumer demands change and technology changes When I work with clients on the selection of a new AMS, I’ll often hear the client say things like “We feel like we’ve failed because we need to find new technology.” But this may be untrue. Very often, changes in consumer demand will require associations to have technology to

Why I write Thirty years ago, I started a new job as director of membership for a small trade association. It was my first real membership position, having worked in marketing and communications for four years prior at another trade association. While I knew how associations worked, I had no real idea how to recruit, manage, and retain membership.

DAN – The Data Analytics Network I’m a huge fan of users groups (both internal and external!). After all, users groups are just associations by another name, and having spent my entire career in the association space, I know their value. There is a great, informal group called the Data Analytics Network (DAN) for professional and trade