Wes's Weekly Wisdom Archives

The three “buckets” of contact data Broadly speaking, when collecting data on contacts (individuals or organizations), there are three “buckets” of data being collected: Contact information (name, address, phone, email) Transactional information (stuff they’ve purchased) Demographic data (information about the individual or organization, e.g., lines of business, areas of interest, professional status, etc.). Of these three, the most […]

Balancing what is possible with what is realistic When I work with clients on technology projects, I’ll tell them “These are blue sky discussions. Nothing is off the table.” I’ll usually follow that up with “But just because we discuss something doesn’t mean you’ll actually get that something.” Because even if what is being discussed […]

“Humans want to be surrounded by beauty.” “Humans want to be surrounded by beauty.” – Susan Cain Susan Cain was a keynote speaker at ASAE’s Annual Meeting this past August, and when she uttered these words, I immediately thought of data management systems (stick with me here…). One of the most common complaints I hear from […]

Data managers vs data consumers When I work with clients on any data management project, I’ll often point out that there are two broad audiences on staff when it comes to the AMS: data managers (those who frequently use the system for processing data and financial transactions, querying, etc.) and data consumers (those who only […]

Another universal truth There are many universal truths in data management. Some examples: You will always have duplicate records. Your business rules are the easiest thing to change to improve data management. Reporting and querying is always a challenge. In a recent conversation with a client, I was reminded of another universal truth: No matter […]

Don’t miss this year’s DAN Science Fair! I’m taking a break from my weekly tips to make the following important announcement: **The third annual Data Analytics Network Data Science Fair is coming on Tuesday, October 7, 2025!**  This is a FREE in-person event in Arlington, VA, taking place from 3pm-5pm (with a happy hour sponsored by Higher […]

Just start. And it’s never done. Last week I had the opportunity to lead a panel discussion about data clean up at the quarterly NetForum Users Group meeting. (Quick plug: If you’re not a member of your AMS users group, join now! And if there isn’t a users group, start one!) At the end of […]

Don’t ask if you’re not going to answer! In the past week, on three different occasions, I’ve filled out forms on websites requesting more information from the company about their services. These forms are on their websites explicitly for potential buyers to complete so that the company can provide a quote or more specific information about […]

Seek forgiveness rather than permission “Seek forgiveness, not permission.” I can’t remember when I first heard it, but it made so much sense to me. Rather than asking for permission to do something (which may then require a lot of discussion and haggling), just do what you’re going to do and see what kind of response […]

Is a 360 degree view necessary? “A 360 degree view of our members should NOT be our goal.” – Joe Colangelo, CEO of Bear Analytics For years, nay decades, I have talked about the desire to have a 360 degree view of our members and customers. It is the holy grail of data management, to be […]

Why data matters I write about data because managing our data effectively will help us better manage our organizations. Better data can lead to improved marketing and communications, improved revenue, and ultimately help us achieve our mission. Which is why I become so frustrated when I receive email marketing messages from organizations that clearly demonstrate the organization […]

It’s about process I’m in the midst of adding an AI agent to my website that will allow visitors to query all of the content I’ve created over the past quarter century. I asked the agent what my most common themes have been, and one of the answers I received was “business process.” This doesn’t […]

Data integrity reports I speak and write a lot about data integrity reports. So I was pleased to see a post recently on ASAE’s Collaborate from Shaun Holloway, Director of Information Technology, at the American Motorcyclist Association, outlining a list of what he called “data hygiene checks.” As a reminder, the purpose of a data integrity […]

The most important training tip I’ve been sitting in a lot of database training sessions recently, and I’ve been reminded of the following: whether you are doing the training yourself, or you use your vendor or a third-party for training, when you’re teaching a process… Tell them what you’re going to do Do it Tell […]

Be careful about getting tangled “We had done a lot to tangle ourselves up.” – Bridget Walsh, Chief Operating Officer at Emergency Nurses Association In a discussion at AMS Fest this week, this is how Bridget Walsh characterized what their AMS of 17+ years looked like as they worked to move from their legacy system to a […]

Discipline. Always discipline. I’ve been producing a newsletter in some form for over 25 years now. I’ve found that certain topics are evergreen; they come up all the time and I feel compelled to write about them again and again. One of those topics is discipline. A quick search of my blog posts shows I’ve […]

Simpler is better Recently, a client of mine was discussing how they manage membership reinstatements. For example, if a member doesn’t renew within the grace period, is dropped from membership, and then rejoins in less than a year from dropping, are they called a new member, a renewed member, or a reinstatement? After several minutes […]

Baby Steps A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. You have to walk before you run. Baby steps. Just do it. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. (My personal favorite.) My clients often lament how overwhelming it can be to think about cleaning up their data. […]

Sometimes what you’re using IS the best option I love technology and I’m inherently lazy, so I love it when technology can do the work for me. But sometimes, there is no technology to do the task at hand, or the technology is too expensive or “too big” for the job. For example, I was […]

Do they hate the system? When an association asks me for help finding a new AMS, I always ask if there’s any chance the association would be interested in keeping their current system (perhaps upgrading it to the latest version). Fixing what you have is almost always less expensive and less disruptive than implementing a […]