The challenge
This statewide membership association had done what most associations try to do: they moved registration, membership, payments, and eLearning into one association management system (AMS). The AMS was sold as handling board and committee terms too, but it couldn’t. To fill the gap, staff kept a FileMaker Pro database running on its own dedicated server just to track who sat on which board or committee and when each term ended. Every change had to be entered twice, once in each system, and the server added its own costs for maintenance, backups, security, and eventual replacement.
What IGD did
We didn’t tell them to replace the AMS or buy another platform. We replaced the FileMaker database with Board Manager, a web-based application we built around the way staff already manage boards and terms. Then we connected it directly to the AMS. When staff update a board or committee in Board Manager, the change shows up in the AMS automatically.
The results
- Board and committee changes are made once, in one place
- The standalone server is gone, along with the cost to run, maintain, back up, secure, and replace it
- Ongoing costs are significantly lower than before