New features in IRIS Donor Strategy v4.7 Memberships Module

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1 New features in IRIS Donor Strategy v4.7 Memberships Module Author: Tony Davey Product Manager, IRIS Donor Strategy Date: 23 rd August 2009 Release: IRIS Donor Strategy Introduction This guide is designed for existing IRIS Donor Strategy v4 Membership Module users who will soon be upgrading to IRIS Donor Strategy v4.7. One of the major themes of v4.7 is improvements to the Memberships Module; improvements driven from feedback from a number of clients and some new features we believe will benefit everyone. These improvements will include some changes to the way that Memberships are managed, especially those that pay in instalments as opposed to just one instalment. Contents Introduction... 1 Contents... 1 Changes to Membership Types and Options... 2 A New Membership Wizard... 4 Changes to the Membership Record... 5 Upgrading or Downgrading a Membership... 6 The New Payment Plan... 7 Renewing a Membership... 9 The New Renewal Tools Creating Receipts Existing Memberships How they will be interpreted Reports Web Connect & Online Direct Debit Signup Summary Page 1 of 16

2 Changes to Membership Types and Options > > We have made some changes to the Types and Options to make Financial Accounting easier and to help reduce the effort needed when renewing Memberships. Facility Payment Frequency Min and Max Age Upgrade To Max Renewals Description This new field is one of the most important. Set this to the Frequency of the Instalments that apply to this type of Membership. On this example, the Renewal Frequency shows this is an Annually Renewed Membership where the Payment Frequency shows that it is paid in Monthly Instalments. These fields now restrict the Age of the Member correctly so, in this case, you can only be a member of the Standard Membership Scheme if you are over 18. You can now upgrade (or downgrade) to any Membership Type on any Membership Scheme. This is a new feature that enables you to set and forget. In this example, when the Membership has renewed 10 times, it will automatically be upgraded to the Gold Membership (as set in Upgrade To). Page 2 of 16

3 Membership Options Fee Schedule This area has also benefitted from some powerful new functions. There are new fields such as Option Type that enable you to choose the type of element of each Membership Option line. Based on the Payment Frequency, Renewal Frequency and Instalment Amount you can easily see the Total Cost of the Membership Option for each Renewal Period. You can choose a Nominal Ledger Code, Receipt Type and VAT Code to ensure that the income from each element goes into the correct Receipt. For those who use Web Connect there is also a Web Mandatory tick box, which means when you choose to Publish this Membership Option, the user has no choice but to have this option. The Fee Schedule grid changes according to which Membership Option you have selected in the grid above. It enables you to be able to set price changes for the future, so that when a Membership is Renewed, it can pick up the new tariff for the whole of the Membership (please note, it does not change the tariff mid-year). You could use the Max Renewals setting to automatically up someone s membership on a set anniversary, perhaps to reward them for being a long term member. Thinking of introducing a new Membership Scheme with an initially low Membership Fee? If so, you can use the Fee Schedule to record the two different tariffs simply set and forget. Please ensure that you set the Payment Frequency for all of your Membership Types as soon as you have upgraded to v4.7. My Membership Tariff increases on April 1 st and some people renew in the previous December (on my Monthly Membership Scheme). Does this mean their April instalment will be more than their March one? No. When the Instalments are calculated they are based on the Tariff in place on the first day of the Renewal Period. Can I still override the amount for a specific person or organisations membership? Yes, you can still make local adjustments to a specific Membership. Page 3 of 16

4 A New Membership Wizard Quickly creating a new Membership, with the most essential information collected in one place, is easy using the new Membership Wizard. From within the Wizard you can create a new Member or quickly locate an existing one. By default, they will be chosen as the Renewer too, but if someone else is paying for them it s easy to choose an alternative Renewer. Choose the Membership Scheme and associated Membership Type and choose a Start Date and End Date. The available Membership Options are displayed for you, and you can easily override the Instalment Amount, choose the Options you require and you can clearly see the amount due for the life of the Membership (until the next Renewal). Finally, choose the Payment Method and click. The Membership Record will then be automatically created and you can make any additional adjustments. Page 4 of 16

5 Changes to the Membership Record As standard, we have re-arranged the screen to make details much clearer. Basic Membership details are shown in the Membership Info group. You can now easily see all of the chosen Membership Options, the Instalment Amounts and other vital payment information in the new Membership Options group. We have removed the link to the Regular Transaction from this tab altogether, because now there is a dedicated and integrated Payment Plan tab. If you chose a Start and End date that are shorter than the usual duration of the Membership Type, the Wizard easily detects this and understands you wish to pro-rata the Membership: Where a partial payment would otherwise exist, it can also make an automatic adjustment. Page 5 of 16

6 Upgrading or Downgrading a Membership The Scheme > Membership Type enables you to automatically move a all Members from one Membership Scheme to another, on the Renewal Anniversary set in the Max Renewals field, as we have already learned. In addition to this functionality, you can automatically upgrade (or downgrade/move) a single Membership from one Membership Scheme and Membership Type to another. On the tab, you can set an Upgrade To. This means that when the Membership is next renewed, the Membership will be automatically transferred to the Scheme and Membership Type of your choice, regardless of the current Scheme. On actioning this, the Upgrade To field is cleared. Consider using this facility to: Move someone to another scheme when they reach retirement Allow someone to be on a lower rate scheme for a year to keep them on-board, putting them back up to the normal rate next time Great feature, but I want to move them to the renewal after the next one. How could I do that? The best practice answer is to set yourself an Expiry Alert for some time after the next renewal, reminding you to change it in time for the following one. I want the Membership to just stop on expiry and not Renew. Can I do that? You could set a Category to help you select these, set yourself an Expiry Alert or even set a dummy Membership Type of Stopped that they automatically Renew to on next Renewal. Page 6 of 16

7 The New Payment Plan Previously one of the less useful features of the Membership Module was its dependence on Regular Transactions and yet it was not fully integrated. As a result, you could change the Membership Options without any change being made to the Membership Instalments. When you renewed a Membership, you would also have to recreate a new Payment Plan by hand. If you didn t use Regular Transactions with Memberships at all, forecasting reports could prove difficult, as could attributing the correct financial information. We have addressed these obstacles by integrating the Regular Transaction into the Membership under the new Payment Plan tab. Here you can see all of the essential elements together, in one easy to interpret screen. View Instalments at a glance in the Payment Schedule grid and easily see what is due and what has been received. If the payment has not yet been received, you can easily alter the Due Date. This will tick the Overridden field, so you can identify the details have been changed from the default. If you wish to see the Regular Transaction, you can still click on the more traditional view. button for the Page 7 of 16

8 If the Member needs to cancel their current Payment Plan and start a new one, you can use the proceed: button. If you click this button, you will be asked to confirm you do wish to The Current Plan will then be cancelled and you can now create a new one. If appropriate, go to the tab and make any necessary adjustments. On the tab, make sure you have recorded the necessary Bank Details, etc. When you click the latest information available. button the new Payment Schedule will be generated using the Now that there is a Payment Schedule on each Membership Record, does that mean I have to enter more details (like Bank Details) even when someone is paying by Cheque? No. The Wizard is designed to collect the first important elements of information. If the payment is due by Direct Debit or Standing Order then Bank Details will be needed. However, payments by other methods (such as Cheque) do not need this level of information. Page 8 of 16

9 Renewing a Membership You can renew a Membership using the like this: button as before, which will show a screen This will Renew the Membership but will also create the new Payment Schedule automatically: As you can see on the screen above, there are tabs at the bottom of the Payment Schedule for the Current Plan and the ability to view earlier plans too. Page 9 of 16

10 The New Renewal Tools Using the button within or by choosing the new button from the Navigation Bar will take you to the new suite of facilities available within the Renewal Tools. Here you can choose a Membership Scheme, Membership Type, Membership Status, Renewal Status, and Payment Method. You can also choose the dates between which the Memberships are due to Expire. This selection (the majority of which default to All ) offer you the maximum available flexibility. The Renewal Status is a new feature, governed by the new facilities available within this option. As standard, they include: Renewal Status Description No Request Made None of the Renewal Correspondence has been generated for this Membership (or the option has not been run with output suppressed) Renewal Requested The Renewal Correspondence has been generated for this Membership (or the option has been run with output suppressed) 1 st Reminder The First Reminder Correspondence has been generated for this Membership (or the option has been run with output suppressed) 2 nd Reminder The Second Reminder Correspondence has been generated for this Membership (or the option has been run with output suppressed) 3 rd Reminder The Third Reminder Correspondence has been generated for this Membership (or the option has been run with output suppressed) Use to display a list of matching Memberships. From the list, Select the Memberships you require. Within the new Renewal Tools option the following facilities are now available: Option Description Use this option to generate a Renewal Request ahead of the expiry of the Membership. This can be by or in a Letter. Use this option to generate a first, second or third reminder Letter or for a Membership. Page 10 of 16

11 Option Description Use this option to Renew the Membership and automatically create the next Payment Schedule. Use this option to Extend the Membership, with the new, additional ability to be able to generate Extension Correspondence ( or Letter). Like Status pre version 4.7, this option enables you to set the Status of the selected Memberships to Lapsed. In addition, you can now also generate Lapsed Correspondence ( or Letter). Like Status pre version 4.7, this option enables you to set the Status of the selected Memberships to Cancel. In addition, you can now also generate Lapsed Correspondence ( or Letter). You can process the Membership Payments in the same way as you used to within pre v4.7, without having to leave the Membership area of the system. This option enables you to associate Letter Reports (for Printing or ing) for: Renewal Requests Renewal Reminders 1 st Renewal Reminders 2 nd Renewal Reminders 3 rd Renewal Lapsed Cancellation Extension Should I Lapse or Cancel? What s the difference? In many ways there is little difference between the two and you may use them however you choose. The best practice is: LAPSED Following reminders, the Member failed to respond and their Membership has come to an end. CANCEL The Member requests that their Membership is cancelled or you pro-actively choose to cancel their Membership. Page 11 of 16

12 Many of the new Letters/ s work in the same way. Here you can see how to issue a Renewal Request for those paying by Cheque: Choose the Letter Report that has the wording most appropriate to the letter you wish to generate. Then choose how you wish to generate the document or send the . You can choose if you wish to change the Renewal Status but don t want to generate any output. If you wish, you can also choose. When you are ready to proceed, click. You will then see a window like this, which summarises what you are about to do: If you wish to proceed, click. Page 12 of 16

13 The letters will then be generated: Your letter can list the instalments and the dates on which they will be due: or just give one overall amount: Page 13 of 16

14 If you choose to update the correspondence history, you will be able to see the letter (as it was generated) on the tab: Page 14 of 16

15 If you use the option within you will see a screen like this: This offers you the standard facilities available pre v4.7, with the added ability to be able to run a Mailing. Creating Receipts You can create Receipts (mark the payments as received) using the option within or from within. If you have set your Membership Options correctly, each Receipt element that is generated will be attributed to the correct Receipt Type, Nominal Ledger Code and VAT Code. If you have set the correct Receipt Payment Method within the Payment Plan it will also be associated with the correct Payment Method. If a Membership has more than one Membership Option, how many Receipt lines will be created? In this new version, because each Membership Option can have its own Receipt Type, Nominal Ledger Code and/or VAT Code, there needs to be a Receipt for each Membership Option. However, they are grouped together within Regular Transactions and Direct Debits for ease of use. Page 15 of 16

16 Existing Memberships How they will be interpreted Where a Membership was linked to a Regular Transaction before v4.7, the Payment Method and Payment Type of the new Payment Plan will be set to that of the Regular Transaction. However, if you have Memberships that before v4.7 do not have a linked Regular Transaction, the Payment Method for the new Payment Plan will be set to UNK (for Unknown ) and the Payment Type to OTR (for Other ). This is because without a linked Regular Transaction there is no reliable way to know what else these should be set to. We recommend that where UNK and OTR are used and not required, you adjust your Membership records over time. If there are consistent rules that can be applied, we may be able to update them en-mass for you. Reports In addition to the new Letter Reports, we have introduced some useful library reports: These can be located in Reports > Memberships > Analysis and Reports > Memberships > Renewal Process > Listings. Web Connect & Online Direct Debit Signup We have made a significant change to Web Connect too, by providing you with an additional purchasable option to process Online Direct Debit Instructions. This functionality has also been extended to non-membership Regular Transactions. The way in which you can signup for the different Membership Options has altered too, in accordance with the new fields available within the Membership Types > Membership Options, in that some items are now Web Mandatory. Summary The new facilities available within the IRIS Donor Strategy Membership Module in v4.7 offer a significant enhancement to the existing facilities and introduce some valuable new tools. Page 16 of 16