Hindsight is 20/20 I’m currently working with a client that is moving from their legacy AMS to a new system. Their legacy system is a completely custom build that has been used for nearly 30 years. As a result, the system contains a very large amount of data and data fields that the association no longer […]

Cheaper now; costlier later. Most of my clients are very cost-conscious, understandably. After all, who among us has an unlimited budget? But over the years, I’ve run into many situations that I would describe as “Cheaper now, costlier later.” Here are just a few examples: Developing software internally rather than purchasing off-the-shelf software or using […]

The unified shopping cart: Dreams vs. reality One of the more common requests I hear from my clients is “We want a unified online shopping experience. We want our members to be able to renew their membership, register for an event, buy a booth, buy sponsorship items, buy products, buy anything, all in the same e-commerce […]

Don’t forget to celebrate! Truth be told, I’m not a big celebrator. (Maybe it’s because I grew up with eight siblings and birthdays were so common!) But we really should celebrate wins when we can, especially if they are big wins, like the go-live of a new AMS, a new website, or some other major […]

Three thoughts on duplicate records Duplicate records are a reality in any database of any size, so as database managers, we always have to deal with them (or should deal with them!). So here are three thoughts on managing duplicate records: Duplicate records will always exist. Always. Unless you’re managing only a tiny number of records, you […]