Wes's Weekly Wisdom Archives

“Different” isn’t necessarily better or worse. One of the biggest challenges I face when working with my clients is getting them to think differently about things. Whether it’s a wholesale change of systems (e.g., a new AMS) or a change in how data is processed within an existing system, thinking about things differently is difficult. […]

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 […]

Process before technology In a conversation with a client recently, I was reminded (yet again) of how important people and process are when it comes to managing data. As we discussed their technology options, the client said, “You know, even if this technology is free, it won’t do us any good if we haven’t established […]

Opting out and communication preferences Last week’s newsletter discussed the need for associations to collect mobile phone numbers for use in communications. Several readers noted that I didn’t address opt-outs. Opting out should be implicit in all our data management, but I’ll address it explicitly here. As a rule, we need to provide our members, customers, […]

Are you collecting mobile phone numbers? You should be. Are you collecting (and using) the mobile phone numbers of your members? If you aren’t, it might be time to consider doing it. Here’s the thing about mobile phone numbers: For a certain demographic (e.g., ME), the mobile number is sacred. Only the most important people […]

Spend less time on data management and more on higher value activities Data management is very often tedious work. It’s important, but it’s tedious, and can also be time-consuming. And any time staff spends on managing data is time they are not spending on higher value activities like interacting directly with members, creating new programs and […]

Change anything you want, except your name! This is an oldy but a goody, but since it came up with a client recently, I’ll share it again. As a rule, you should allow your members and customers to update any of their primary contact information (e.g., address, phone, etc.) online, EXCEPT for their name. Why? […]

If you don’t trust your vendor… When I start an AMS selection project with a client, one of the first questions I ask is: “Would you be willing to stay with your current provider if they can do what you need them to do?” In most cases, the client says “no,” because they’ve already decided […]

Your RFP should go to no more than five vendors! As a rule, when I send an RFP to vendors on behalf of my clients (for a new AMS, LMS, or other software product), the RFP goes out to no more than five vendors. Why only five and not 10, or 20? There are several reasons, […]

Be concise! I started a monthly newsletter almost 25 years ago (which I recently discontinued). And almost six years ago I started writing these “Wednesday Wisdom” missives. I’ve received more compliments about my Wednesday Wisdom in six years than I have for my monthly newsletter in nearly 25 years ago. Why? Because these missives are […]

A great example of a data integrity report! A couple months back I discussed the importance of data integrity reports. One of my past clients and a longtime reader, David Churchill at Grantmakers in Health, offered up this idea, which I think is fantastic and should be added to any association’s list of data integrity reports. […]