[chapter-delegates] Re: MemeberShip System

Mon Feb 28 11:18:04 PST 2005

Dear David,

At the presentation of the 'GO Members' membership system at INET in 
Barcelona, it was clear that the system was far from being perfect, eg. 
it had some US-centric features build in. The fear was also that bank 
charges related to back and forth overseas charges will eat up a 
substantial ammount of membership fees. Hopefully this has been fixed up 
and we, at chapters, are eager to test the GO system.

Recently, several Open Source solutions for governing NGOs (including 
membership handling) have been announced. With the overall support which 
ISOC gives to OSS, I would find reasonable, that some small working 
group takes a look at them. The fact that ISOC has already bought from 
the relatively unknown company the software, which is 'good, coming and 
near to test phase' should IMHO not prevent us from serious look into 
OSS solutions.

With the best regards,
Jacek Gajewski
ISOC-PL

David McAuley wrote:

>Dear Chapter Delegates:
>
>Before investing much time in looking at membership systems, I should
>reiterate my message of below. ISOC did a comprehensive survey of membership
>system needs, including among chapter delegates, and then in early 2004
>purchased a membership system from GO Members.
>
>The new system is sophisticated and involves the complexities you would
>expect with such a system. Nevertheless a great deal of progress has been
>made and chapter testing is about to begin (just a few more conversion
>wrinkles to iron out). This is a good system, it is coming, it is near and
>we cannot now look at new or different systems.
>
>Thanks and best regards,
>
>David McAuley
>Membership Director
>Internet Society
>703-326-9880, ext 104
>703-963-5887 (mobile)
>mcauley at isoc.org
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Alan Levin [mailto:alan at futureperfect.co.za] 
>Sent: Monday, February 28, 2005 8:20 AM
>To: chapter-delegates at lists.isoc.org
>Subject: [chapter-delegates] Re: MemeberShip System
>
>Hi Franck and others
>
>On 16 Feb 2005, at 00:11, Franck Martin wrote:
>  
>
>>Which one you want?
>>    
>>
>
>Thanks for taking the time to find this out.
>
>  
>
>>http://sourceforge.net/projects/zebraz/
>>http://sourceforge.net/projects/sitehelm/
>>http://sourceforge.net/projects/infocentral/
>>http://sourceforge.net/projects/clubdata/
>>    
>>
>
>I went through them and I'm not sure which is most suitable. They don't  
>have any list management integration but zebraz may be easily extended.
>
>I like Gene's idea of obtaining some agreement on a spec. I'm certainly  
>happy to take comments and expand on what we started but I agree with  
>others comments that ISOC HQ should be doing this.  [note: From my  
>conversations with other chapters we all have the same membership  
>management needs, and tracking of payments is not one of them  
>(obviously with some exceptions].
>
>  
>
>>Can we as Chapter Delegates make an evaluation and decision and inform  
>>ISOC HQ for implementation?
>>    
>>
>
>Yes please, although I have some concerns about these emails:
>
>Begin forwarded message:
>
>  
>
>>From: Andreu Vea' <andreu at veabaro.info>
>>Date: 17 February 2005 12:54:06 GMT+02:00
>>To: 'David McAuley' <mcauley at isoc.org>
>>Cc: chapter-delegates at lists.isoc.org
>>Subject: RE: [chapter-delegates] Membership System
>>Reply-To: andreu at veabaro.info
>>
>>Thanks David,
>> 
>>Your words sound great to me.
>> One year of silence, is quite equivalent to: "we have forgotten the  
>>project..."
>>Effectively as former President of ISOC- 
>>CAT (in Catalunya - Barcelona) I offered our help to Nelson (Feb.-16 
>>-2004 just a year ago today) but never heard anymore about that. We  
>>supposed you already covered your needs with other Chapters.
>> 
>>I would suggest to open the beta-testing of the Membership Management  
>>as soon as possible to the chapters. I have been involved in many big  
>>ERP systems deployment, and I think a year of "customization" of a  
>>"off-the-shelf" product is a little bit too long... 
>> 
>>            andreu
>>
>>De: David McAuley [mailto:mcauley at isoc.org]
>> Enviado el: miércoles, 16 de febrero de 2005 9:13
>>Para: chapter-delegates at lists.isoc.org
>>Asunto: [chapter-delegates] Membership System
>>
>>Andreu is correct. In the first quarter of 2004 ISOC entered into an  
>>agreement with Go Members (http://www.gomembers.com/) to use their Q  
>>System Membership management system and financial system. It was a  
>>major step.  This was announced to the chapter delegates list in  
>>February 2004 along with a request for chapter volunteers for testing.
>>
>>Subsequently in 2004 we have been working with GoMembers on the  
>>implementation of the system – it is quite detailed as you can imagine  
>>for an organization with members, chapters and organizations around  
>>the world. We have encountered a few unforeseen difficulties with the  
>>financial system implementation and that has had an impact on the  
>>overall schedule. But we are working through that and will separately  
>>release the membership system despite the fact that it will not, when  
>>released, integrate to the new financial system.
>>
>>A great deal has been done and a number of chapters have responded to  
>>Nelson’s call for volunteer testers. We cannot take all volunteers but  
>>have chosen a number who represent diverse chapter characteristics,  
>>locations and activities. We will release the membership system to the  
>>first of these testers within 2 weeks.
>>    
>>
>
>David, just a reminder that it's now 2 weeks, any news?
>
>  
>
>>(We have done a great deal of internal testing already.)  Depending on  
>>what we find in this round of testing, we expect to release the  
>>membership system to general use in April.
>>    
>>
>
>I assume this is April 2005 you're referring to.
>
>Tjeers,
>
>aLan
>
>---------------------------------------------
>Alan Levin
>Tel: +27 21 409-7997
>
>
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