Membership Manager

The Membership Manager add-on manages basic membership processes typical for associations and nonprofits, such as automating the join and renewal process, maintaining membership roles, and administering the access of members to restricted content on your website. It also provides access to online sales and automated billing through Invoice Manager.

Getting Started

To install Membership Manager please contact Contensive.

Membership Manager is based on the account structure created by Invoice Manager. It adds new fields and new tables that represent membership features like; membership type, join date, expiration date and anniversary date.

Use the Membership Manager addon to add, modify and report on membership accounts.

A Membership Account can represent one or more individuals, and/or one more more organizations and the individuals associated to the organizatioon. A single individual and a single organization can only belong to one account.

An individual is part of a membership organization when they are listed in the People tab of the membership details. They can also be associated as the primary or billing contacts, but these positions do not by themselves provide membership privileges. Note that this association between an individual and an account is unrelated to how the person might purchase from the website. The associate to an ecommerce account may be different.

Terms

See the basic terms in Invoice Manager

Membership Account 

An account from Invoice Manager, that has a valid Membership Type set

Join Date 

The date when the account last purchased a membership type and previously had no membership type. If an account has no membership type, and one is purchased, this date is set. It is not set for renewing accounts

Expiration Date 

The last date of the current membership's period. On the following day, this account will be expired if it is not renewed. The Grace Period starts on the day after the Expiration Date. The Cancellation Grace period starts the day after the Grace period.

Anniversary Date 

The anniversary date is the upcoming date which represents another year of membership. When the account pays for a membership invoice that covers a period beginning on or past the Anniversary Date, the Anniversary Date is automatically set to the next year and the account is added to the Membership Kit Fulfillment report. For example, if the Anniversary Date is 2/5/2010 and a membership invoice is paid which covers 2/1 to 2/28, the Anniversary Date does NOT change. In this case, the next invoice covering 3/1/2010 to 3/30/2010 would automatically change the Anniversary Date to 2/5/2011. Another example, if the Anniversary Date is 5/1/2012 and a membership invoice is paid that covers 5/1/2012 to 5/31/2012, then the Anniversary date DOES change because this invoice period begins on (or after) the Anniversary Date.

Join Date 

This represents the date when this account was last converted to a membership account. This happens when a Membership Type is purchased and the account does not already have one set.

Grace period 

Settable in Membership Settings, this is the number of days after the account expires the users still have access to membership privileges. When the Grace Period is over, users will be removed from groups.

Cancellation Grace Period 

Settable in Membership Settings, this is the number of days after the Grace Period that the account will remain expired and users will NOT have site privileges before the membership is cancelled, and membership invoices are cancelled.

Roles

See the basic roles in Invoice Manager

How-To

This is a short list of common tasks.

Sending Manual Invoices or Statements.

If you need to send a manual invoice or statement, click on the MANAGE ADD-ONS folder. Next click on the MEMBERSHIP MANAGER folder and then click on MEMBERSHIP MANAGER. From here you will click on the INVOICE MANAGER tab. Next click on the NAME of the account and the PURCHASE HISTORY tab for that account. Click on the box next to any invoices you want to send and then click SEND INVOICES. If you want to send a statement, which shows all outstanding charges for the account, click the SEND STATEMENT button.

If you need to send statements to multiple accounts, click on ECOMMERCE and then INVOICE MANAGER. Place a check in the box next to all accounts you want to receive a statement. Next click SEND STATEMENTS.

How to Update Accounts Upon Renewal.

If the member elected to auto renew their membership, their credit card is automatically charged for renewal. If the member receives an invoice, he can choose to mail in a check or pay by credit card over the phone or via the mail-in application.

In order to mark the invoice as paid for payments mailed in or phoned in, log in and go to ADMIN. Click on the MANAGE ADD-ONS folder. Next click on the ECOMMERCE folder and then click on INVOICE MANAGER. From here you will click on the TOOLS tab and then select ENTER PAYMENTS/CREDITS. Select the account from the drop down menu. Choose check or credit card for payment. You can then enter the check number or credit card information and amount of payment. Click OK to save changes. Once they have paid, their expiration date will be updated automatically.

For accounts on auto pay, their expiration date will be automatically updated once payment has been received.

If an account has a renewal fee of $0, their renewal will be automatic and no invoice will be sent.

How to Set Up Membership Types

When you are logged on as an Administrator, you will click on the ADMIN button, and then you will click on the MANAGE ADD-ONS folder. Next click on the MEMBERSHIP MANAGER folder and finally click on MEMBERSHIP TYPES. From here you will see a list of all available membership types. Click ADD to include a new membership type. Information necessary to set up the membership type includes:

Details Tab: Here you will enter the name of the membership group, the maximum number of individuals and/or companies that can be associated with an account of this type, and a description of the membership type.

Pricing Tab: Here you will enter the membership price to join this group.

Fulfillment Tab: Here you will specify if anyone needs to be notified upon fulfillment of an order and which group should be notified.

Subscription/Renewal Tab: Here you will enter information about membership renewals, such as the expiration period type (calendar or periodic), number of days or months until expiration, and month of expiration (if duration type is set to calendar). You will also set the group that this member type is added to. Click here to learn more about how to add new groups to the system.

• Periodic memberships are those that end after the specified number of days or months after the initial purchase.
• Calendar memberships start in a month that you specify and must be renewed the following year before that month. When a customer pays for renewal of a membership based on a calendar year, their expiration date will be updated. However, if they pay for an additional year more than 6 months before the current membership expires, it will be applied to the current membership period.

You can also choose to automatically renew memberships by clicking on the “Renew on expiration” box. If you choose this option, you will set a renewal price and the number of days before expiration that a bill is sent, as well as the grace period for bill payment before their memberships becomes inactive.

Purchase Tab: Here you will check the box if you want custom copy on the receipt for this membership type and enter the custom text you want on the invoices sent to members in this group.

Click OK when you are done entering information to save changes.

How to Edit Membership Types

You can edit a membership type by clicking on the MEMBERSHIP MANAGER folder and then on MEMBERSHIP TYPES. From here you will see a list of all available membership types. Click on the paper/pencil icon next to the name of the membership type you want to edit. You can make changes to any of the information that you input when you added the membership type. Click SAVE when you are done making changes.

How to Create New Accounts

Prospective members create new accounts online by filling out a registration form. To access this form, click the REGISTER or JOIN button on the website. After entering all required information, including payment information, click NEXT to access the thank you screen.

If the member pays by credit card, and your MEMBERSHIP MANAGER SETTINGS require you to authorize new accounts, they are added as a member with a PENDING status. To move them to an ACTIVE status, go to ADMIN, click on the MEMBERSHIP MANAGER FOLDER and then click MEMBERSHIP MANAGER. Click on the PENDING choice and all PENDING accounts will be displayed. Click on a specific account and choose ACTIVE from the drop down list for status. Click OK to save the change.

If the member pays by credit card and you have chosen automatic activation in MEMBERSHIP MANAGER SETTINGS, then they are added as an ACTIVE member.

If the member chooses to pay by check, they are added as a non-member. They are moved to PENDING or ACTIVE status (depending on your MEMBERSHIP MANAGER SETTINGS) with the MEMBERSHIP TYPE specified when joining once you have received their check and you have marked them as paid.

To mark the invoice as paid, log in and go to ADMIN. Click on the MANAGE ADD-ONS folder. Next click on the MEMBERSHIP MANAGER folder and then click on MEMBERSHIP MANAGER. From here you will click on the INVOICE MANAGER tab. At the top of the page select TOOLS and then click on ENTER PAYMENTS. Select the account from the drop down menu. You can then enter the check number and amount. Click OK to save changes.

If a prospective member sends in a paper application, you can create the new account by logging out and clicking the REGISTER button to fill out the public join form. Make sure you are logged out so that you are not changing information on your individual account.

How to Find Information about Member Accounts

When you are logged on as an Administrator, you will click on the ADMIN button, and from the ADMIN page you will click on the MANAGE ADD-ONS folder. Next click on the MEMBERSHIP MANAGER folder and finally click on MEMBERSHIP MANAGER.

Displaying Account Information: The ACCOUNTS tab lists all accounts that meet the criteria you have selected from the menu on the left of the list. Options include ALL ACCOUNTS (not just memberships) or MEMBERSHIPS, where you can choose to include ALL, ACTIVE, EXPIRED, DEACTIVATED or PENDING.

To get detailed information for a particular account, click on the NAME for that account. This opens a record, which provides the account name, account status, primary contact, billing contact, membership type, join date and expiration date. You can edit the account name, contact information, membership type or status; click SAVE when you are done making changes.

NOTE: To change the expiration date on an account, you must first click on the box that says "Clear the expiration date.." and then click OK. This will remove the current expiration date and associated recurring purchase for the membership renewal. You will then be able to edit the member's expiration date. Once you enter the new expiration date, click OK to save the change. At this time a new recurring purchase will be set up to renew membership at the time of the updated expiration date.

If you click on the NOTES tab, you can add information to track membership activity. To add a NOTE, click ADD and type the text of the note. You can highlight this note/account by clicking on the ALERT box. This account will then be highlighted in yellow until you get rid of the alert by clicking on it and then hitting the CLEAR SELECTED ALERTS button.

You can also see which organizations and people are associated with this particular account by clicking on the ORGANIZATIONS or PEOPLE tabs.

How to Export Information about Members

When you are logged on as an Administrator, you will click on the ADMIN button, and from the ADMIN page you will click on MANAGE USERS and then PEOPLE. You will see a list of all people in your database. To get information about a specific member group, click on the FILTERS >> at the left of the list, and then click on the member group you want information about. To choose which fields of information you want, click on SET COLUMNS and then click ADD by any fields you want to add, and click DEL on any fields that you don’t need right now. Click OK and then click on EXPORT.

Here you will set the file name, choose the format and click REQUEST DOWNLOAD. To retrieve the information, from the ADMIN menu, click on TOOLS, then DOWNLOAD MANAGER. You will see a list of all downloaded files. Find yours, and when it is ready, you can click on AVAILABLE to download the information.

How to Create Membership Accounts for People Already in Your Database

The IMPORT TOOL tab allows you to create membership accounts from people records already in your database. The name of the account is created from the first and last name in the current people record; all new accounts are set to bill through email.

Click on the MANAGE ADD-ONS folder. Next click on the MEMBERSHIP MANAGER folder and then click on MEMBERSHIP MANAGER. From here you will click on the IMPORT TOOL tab.

Using this tool you will select the group that contains the specific members you want to import. You will also specify whether or not to create a recurring purchase or to check for duplicates. You may also select the field in your database that contains the membership type for each person and the membership expiration date. Click CREATE MEMBERSHIP ACCOUNTS when you have entered all required information.

How to Close Accounts

Click on the MANAGE ADD-ONS folder. Next click on the MEMBERSHIP MANAGER folder and then click on MEMBERSHIP MANAGER. From here you will click on the INVOICE MANAGER tab. You will see a list of all accounts or only open accounts if you check the OPEN ONLY box. To close any accounts, click the check box by the account name and click on CLOSE ACCOUNT from the menu.

How to Deactivate Accounts

Click on the MANAGE ADD-ONS folder. Next click on the MEMBERSHIP MANAGER folder and then click on MEMBERSHIP MANAGER. You will see a list of all accounts of the type specified in the menu to the left of the list. To deactivate an account, click on the account name and choose DEACTIVATED from the drop down menu in the STATUS field.

Revision History

January 29, 2016

• Added account directory, organization directory and group directory to membership manager (waiting next publish cycle)

January 30, 2016

• Added filters to Membership Report

January 31, 2016

• Migrated the account verify functions and all tables to Invoice Manager (Account Manager)