It’s impossible to measure progress if you don’t know your starting point.
This sounds axiomatic, but too often it is overlooked by associations looking to improve their data management.
Measuring progress requires setting initial benchmarks. The new year is a perfect time to establish your data management benchmarks. Some ideas:
- How many data integrity reports do you have and how often do you run them?
- What’s your current bounce rate for email and snail-mail?
- How quickly can you produce common reports like membership counts, event registration, and a/r aging? And are they accurate?
- How much (or little) does staff trust the data?
- On what percentage of members do you have key data points?
Set these benchmarks now, and measure them again in six months and a year to measure progress/change.