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During one session I attended at the ASAE Tech Conference, the issue arose of testing in the AMS during implementation. Testing is a key step during the implementation of a new AMS. After all, you either test the system before you launch it (with test case scenarios, discussed below) or you test ...

At one session I attended, an audience member asked the question quite plaintively: "How do we deal with the fear and pain of selecting a new association management system?" First, you're not going to eliminate the fear. People will be worried/concerned/scared. You can't change that. Second, ...

I can't remember who said it, but along the way I heard someone say something simple yet profound. When it comes to selecting and implementing a new association management system (AMS), staff need to modify their expectations. That is, they cannot expect the system to be all things to all people. ...

I'm a huge proponent of internal users groups, which I've written about here and here. At a session I attended, Jamie DeSimone of the Independent Electrical Contractors asked how one should go about setting up an internal users group. Here are my suggestions: Identify the key players, who are ...

Over the course of the next couple of posts, I'm going to write about several things I heard at ASAE's Tech Conference last month. These will be in no particular order, but all of them arose from discussions I had with attendees at the conference. First item on the list is how and why to choose ...

Avectra is running a series of guest blog posts for the next 12 days. You can find my post here, on my predictions for data management in associations in ...

I was speaking recently with Frank Wolfe, CAE, CEO of the Hospitality Financial Technology Professionals, in Austin, TX. Frank had a great idea for some simple but highly useful functionality in an AMS: when viewing an individual's record, display the current time in that individual's time zone. ...

I'll be speaking twice at the ASAE Technology Conference this week (Wednesday, December 7). My first session, with Rene Shonherd, is "Data Management Tips Every Association Needs." My second session is "AMS Selection for Smaller Associations." You can learn all about the tech conference ...

I’ve posted a new article on my website. A few years ago one of my most successful clients told me that with all the advice I had given her for improving the management of her AMS, the single best piece of advice was to have her organization create an internal users group. My advice was ...

I've noticed an uptick, lately, in the amount of free education being provided by AMS vendors. This is a promising development, as any real and useful information (i.e., not advertising) is welcome. Here are just some examples of vendors providing online education, very often for free. These are ...