One of the most common complaints I hear from my clients about their AMS is something along the lines of "There are all these fields on the screen we never use. They just get in the way and are annoying." This is what I call "screen noise."

Why does screen noise matter? Because anything that makes users think "this is annoying" when using the system will lower user adoption. And user adoption is key to long-term success.

The good news is, many (not all) AMSes will allow you to determine what fields are visible to users and which fields are hidden. Some products even allow an admin person to design the entire screen (meaning you can not only determine which fields display, but where they display on the screen).

Oddly, in my experience, many organizations do not take advantage of this. They often roll out the system "as is" and never take the time to reorganize screens in a manner that will be more beneficial to users.

So if you're unsure if your AMS will support this, check with your vendor. You might be surprised to learn you can tailor your views and minimize or eliminate the noise.

Bonus tip: Create different screens for different staff users. For example, membership staff will likely want a view of data that is different from the events staff.