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Club membership admin software
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Poll Question: What does your club use to store member details and send out letters?
Poll Choice Votes Poll Statistics
1 [4.76%]
10 [47.62%]
5 [23.81%]
5 [23.81%]
0 [0.00%]
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JohnW View Drop Down
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Posts: 552 		Post Options Post Options   Quote JohnW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Club membership admin software
    Posted: 11 Apr 13 at 3:25pm
One of the plus points of  dedicated sailing club software is that it will best suit the needs of a sailing club.  
However this is also its downfall,  the market is limited and club funds are often tight so development and support are going to be restricted.

Home brew solutions can also work well, but once the club IT guru moves on, such systems often become unsupportable.

The approach we have taken at Maidenhead is to identify an open source CRM system with a large user base and development community that meets pretty much all our needs - there may be some areas that are not fully covered, but the key aspects are there:
Membership & contacts database (including sub groups eg schools, scouts ) , family members etc.
Subscriptions, payments (online and offline).
Email lists
Web site integration.
Reporting
Geocoding

Being a fairly generic CRM and suited for non profit type organisations it can be tailored to meet requirements - it supports custom fields and tags. 
Furthermore we benefit from new enhancements as they come along.   

At the end of the day, whatever system you go for, what you really end up paying for is the  support of the system.  
The open source approach allows this to be provided internally on a volunteer basis, (ie "free") much in line with the ethos of many sailing clubs, however it also has the benefit of being able to outsource the support when a suitable person is not available in the club.
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SUGmeister View Drop Down
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Posts: 265 		Post Options Post Options   Quote SUGmeister Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Apr 13 at 12:33pm
Originally posted by Richard Creer

<SNIP>Clubs will make up their own minds but our aim is to keep the annual sub at less than a pint per member for the average club – not, I suggest, an unreasonable amount for a professionally maintained product.

See www.sailingclubsoftware.com and www.dutyman.biz for details.



That's quite a bit more than you pay for Sailwave
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AlexM View Drop Down
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Posts: 857 		Post Options Post Options   Quote AlexM Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Apr 13 at 11:06am
There seems to be lots of different software out there!
I think our club is considering http://webcollect.org.uk/
Bewl Valley are currently using it
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Richard Creer View Drop Down
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Posts: 5 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Richard Creer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Apr 13 at 10:55am

Seems sailing club management systems are akin to buses – none for ages then several appear at once.

For the record, Medusa has been available since 2010 and is developed entirely for sailors and entirely by sailors. These latter sailors also just happen to be IT professionals and the same people who bring you DutyMan. Medusa is purely for sailing clubs, catering for their many foibles and eccentricities; it is not based on a golf club, gym or any other package.

Medusa is cloud-based with the membership data held securely on our server, desktop access for club administrators and web access for members.

The pros and cons of free vs paid for software have been discussed earlier in this thread and, yes, Medusa does cost money but then so do secure servers! Clubs will make up their own minds but our aim is to keep the annual sub at less than a pint per member for the average club – not, I suggest, an unreasonable amount for a professionally maintained product.

See www.sailingclubsoftware.com and www.dutyman.biz for details.
http://www.sailingclubsoftware.com
http://www.dutyman.biz
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jezza View Drop Down
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Posts: 9 		Post Options Post Options   Quote jezza Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Apr 13 at 7:47am
Hi Doug

Would you like a free trial of the ClubManager service? Please call 01983 241615.

http://www.boxstuff.com/solutions/club-manager-details

ClubManager is web application specifically designed to simplify managing the membership and operation of sailing clubs, yacht clubs and class associations.

Designed by an experienced team including sailors, club administrators and event organisers, ClubManager is easy to use and flexible enough to fit the way different clubs and classes operate.

Start using ClubManager today. All you need is a modern web browser and a broadband internet connection. No software downloads or configuration. The support team will help you with initial setup and importing your existing member, boats and related data.

The system includes the following ‘modules’:

Contacts/CRM

  • full records of all contacts, including members past and present, suppliers, customers, professional services etc
  • store multiple addresses, telephone numbers, emails and records of qualifications, skills and availability
  • facility to record and track history of all communications (phone, email, meetings etc)
  • tagging and list management
  • extensive search and filtering capabilities
  • importing and exporting by csv and vCard
  • secure data storage and backup

Mailings

  • integrated html email marketing facility
  • customisable templates
  • flexible mailing list management
  • delivery reports

Calendar

  • shared calendar for organising and promoting club activities
  • duty roster with automated reminders and notifications
  • publish calendars and duty rosters to club website
  • duty management tools can be integrated in to members area of clubs website
  • bookable events

Boats

  • full records of all boats associated with the club or organisation (e.g. kept on club mooring or in boat park, owned by members etc)
  • each boat can be linked with one of more contacts (e.g. owner, part-owner, skipper, crew)
  • store photos and all relevant details about a boat

Moorings

  • full records of all moorings, hard standing and storage spaces owned and/or managed by the club/organisation
  • allocate spaces to boat
  • issue renewal notices

Membership

  • records of all memberships, past and present
  • define multiple membership types (e.g. single, family, cadet, group etc)
  • details of all members on a membership
  • issue renewal notices
  • reporting and analysis for financial planning

Projects

  • project management tool with task lists and to do items assignable to admin users

Website Integration

  • easy integration with existing website with secure member login
  • authorised and logged in members can:
  • update own contact details
  • update own boat details
  • check status of membership, confirm renewals and pay bills
  • check duty rosters and confirm availability/request swaps
  • view member list and send private messages

Invoicing

  • sales ledger for managing the invoicing of all memberships, mooring allocations and ad hoc items
  • VAT accounting if required
  • invoices, credit notes, statements and automated reminders by email
  • track payment status and record payments
  • optional integration with 3rd party accounts packages

Multi User System

  • create multiple user accounts
  • access from any web enabled device (desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone)

ClubManager is designed for teams – everything you do is logged with time and user, which makes it easy to track what’s going on in your business. It also lets you share information between your staff, improving internal knowledge of your customers, suppliers and products

Additional modules available:

DME (Digital Media Exchange)

  • A Virtual Press Office and Digital Media Library for storing and distributing photos, videos, audios files and text documents

Website CMS

  • a best in class Content Management Solution making it easy to keep your website up to date

Integrated Webmail

  • each admin user can access their email account and store sent and received emails with contacts and projects

The solution is entirely web based and requires no software installation (other than a modern web browser). The service can be accessed from any device with a modern web browser and a good internet connection. Access is controlled by username and password and all activity is recorded.

Databases are backed up daily, weekly and monthly.
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marke View Drop Down
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Posts: 211 		Post Options Post Options   Quote marke Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Apr 13 at 9:05pm
Doug

Yep  I got the first release out just before Christmas to do this years annual renewals - just in time development (or as I'm sure some of the officers at the club would say "cutting it bloody fine" code development).

Currently it supports:
- membership records management
- mail merge for template letters and labels
- renewals process (custom forms, reconciliation etc.)
- sailing programme development/management (links to race management software) - including display on website
- rota/duty management
- berth management
- asset maintenance records
- 'interest' lists (fleets, qualifications etc.)

Its web based, php/mysql, and has a security model to allow the various club officers to access different information.

Right now I'm working on integrating our online open meeting management code into it - as it fits better in this application rather than the race management application.  This generates the customised SIs and NoR from templates and provides an event web page with online entry and such like.

Next release 'might' have
- email reminders for duties
- mass emails from templates
- a visual berth map

We are still debating how far to go with the online stuff for members (payments, duty swaps etc.).  I expect we are typical of most clubs; about 20% of the member emails routinely bounce, less than 50% of the members are regular (weekly) users of the website - so whatever we do online is only going to be a part solution (at least in the near  to mid-term).  Our approach will be to tread carefully with this.

I'm having a bit of a break from it now while I do some new features on the race management code (get dead heats to work properly - grrr).

I did look at GroupSpaces before I started this development and for a smaller club I think it could be made to work pretty well.

Mark
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iGRF View Drop Down
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Posts: 6499 		Post Options Post Options   Quote iGRF Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Apr 13 at 8:36pm
There should be another option

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Kev M View Drop Down
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Posts: 346 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Kev M Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Apr 13 at 8:28pm
At the moment we;re trialling an access database we've built.  We tried running it from a PC at the club using remote access software (Teamviewer) but the PC contracted that thing that seems to kill all PCs over five years old and that combined with a dodgy broadband connection killed that idea off.

So now we're trialling Office 365 to run the database which gives us a five user license for the key users for £80 a year in total.  Looks good so far except it doesn't work on any PCs running Vista or older.

Someone reccomended a specific sailing club software website but the license is £500 a year and there's no way a club our size will stomach that sort of cost on an annual basis when we've lived without it for 111 years.
Successfully confusing ambition with ability since 1980.
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Doug Roberts View Drop Down
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Posts: 2 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Doug Roberts Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Apr 13 at 6:15pm
Smile
My current evaluation is that it will work as a wed site but not as a membership database for a sailing club. However still investigating
 Regards

Doug
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Doug Roberts View Drop Down
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Posts: 2 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Doug Roberts Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Apr 13 at 6:13pm
 Mark

Have you developed your new membership software? We are looking for a new internet based system.

Best Regards

Doug



Edited by Doug Roberts - 09 Apr 13 at 6:17pm
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