Slashdot Mirror
DB-based Association Management Software?
BrynM asks: "I work for a professional association that is currently using several Symantec Act! databases to keep track of Membership, Event Registration and Continuing Education. This 'solution' is growing very long in the tooth as Act! is really just a contact database and not a full blown management system and doesn't handle payments for member dues, orders or registration fees at all. I have worked for an Association that used iMIS, which is fully featured but is way beyond my current employer's budget to implement. There's a short list of software in the Google Directory, but foraging the vendor's websites hoping for a demo and trying to get a quote for all of them would be unrealistic. Finding something that uses a database back-end that we can interface other things with would be ideal. I'm OSS agnostic on this one - we just want the most useful and practical solution. What software would you recommend? Do you have any experiences with software to avoid?"
Unrealistic? By which you mean a lot of effort and time? But you want the rest of us to spend our time typing up our experiences and opinions about the software we've used for this? That is very selfish of you, in my opinion. How about you do the work of testing demos and write up your experiences and share it with the rest of us to comment on. That way you will have actually contributed something to the community instead of asking everyone else to contribute to you specifically. That would seem the more honorable route of providing some effort rather than begging for others'.
Stop the Slashdot Effect! Don't read the articles!
SQL Ledger Perhaps this might work? It seems to be more oriented towards billing things rather than maintaining a contact list.
Just run MySQL on a *nix server and take a weekend to learn PHP. Its all free, runs fast, and should be able to scale as large as you can throw hardware at it. It will also be cross-platform and web based, so nothing to install on the clients. With some tinkering you could do automated billing (email .pdf's on the fly), really anything you want. G-luck.
No I didnt spell check this post...
You know, I could tell you all about the relative merits of using GCC vs. IBM's Visual Age for C++ vs. Intel's C compiler vs. MS Visual C++ for .NET or whatever they are calling it.
But software to keep track of your friends and how much they owe you? I'm going to need a little help understanding this concept of 'friend'. What is that?
Or maybe I could just look it up on Google.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
fp
Get a copy of codecharge studio, PHP and MySQL (or Perl or asp or java or whatever) and roll your own custom application. This program makes it really easy to create a web based database application. Depending on your application you may get away with not having to do any programming, at the very least you will do very little coding. Of course, you do still need to know a thing or two about good database design...
-- Senior Software Engineer, Attorney appearance services, locallawyerapp.com.
Act!, its fucking horrible. I mean really unbelievably horrible.
What we'd really like to see is a web-based collaboration package that would let group members work on membership rolls, newsletter, event calander and mailing list.
She's involved with a ski club, Toastmaster's and a church, and in all three cases there is *no* good way to share the work of supporting the organization.
Just about all the members have broadband ethernet and she'd love to have a software package that would allow multiple members to share the work without stepping on each other's toes or corrupting the database.
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
Could someone translate this Slashdot article into English? I don't know what language it's in, but I didn't follow it one bit.
"Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/
I work fo' some professional associashun dat be currently usin' several Symantec Act. Right On! databases t' keep track o' Membership, Event Registrashun and Continuin' Educashun. Dis 'solution' be growin' real long in de tooth as Act. Right On! be really plum some contact database and not some full blown management system and doesn't handle payments fo' memba' dues, orders o' registrashun fees at all. What it is, Mama! Ah gots worked fo' an Associashun dat used iMIS, which be fully featured but be way beyond mah current employer's budget t' implement. Dere's some short list o' software in de Google Directory, but foragin' de vendor's websites hopin' fo' some demo and tryin' t' git some quote fo' all o' dem would be unrealistic. Sheeeiit. Findin' sump'n dat uses some database back-end dat we kin interface otha' dings wid would be ideal. What it is, Mama! I'm OSS agnostic on dis one - we plum wants de most useful and practical solushun. Whut software would ya' recommend? Do ya' gots any 'speriences wid software t' avoid?"
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
I used to work for a lodging association in Sacramento and we used a vendor over near Rancho Cordova to help us implement a package.
They were a reseller for a national software package. They were also developing a home grown association management package. Right now I can't remember their name but I've e-mailed someone I used to work with back then to see if they could remember.
If I find out the name I'll post again.
"War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left"
Steven Wright
http://www.membershipadmin.com/
I haven't tried this one personally, but it does have the ability of letting you use different back end databases. A demo copy is available for download. From the FAQ:
"Can this membership software database integrate with other databases?
Yes. The default database engine is dataflex, which has ODBC support. Other backend database engines are also available-at a cost. We support MS-SQL, Oracle, mySQL, Pervasive, IBM-DB2. The worst case scenario is to use the import/export functionality.
Further information on the database capabilities see http://www.dataaccess.com"
You could try http://clubdata.sourceforge.net It is very rough around the edges - but seems to work. the only problem I've had is that much of it is written in german. We started using it - but only very very recently (and with quite a bit of tweaking.)
Check out Saraf Solutions' Aviansus:
http://www.saraf.com/Aviansus_Home.html
It's built on OSS technologies, including Apache, Tomcat and Postgres, IIRC. I'm working with a Chamber of Commerce which is in the middle of migrating to it from an old IMIS system. They should be going live on it soon. Contact me if you want me to put you in touch with the end users for a reference / first hand account of how it works.
I'm helping to work out a web portal for an international nonprofit org, and we sure could use some packages to help with admin.
We're not pro coders, just interested neophytes. So far we've rolled out own with PHP/MySQL based site, with self made template main pages, phpMyAdmin, phpbb conferencing, LinPHA photo album, and some other stuff.
Getting it all to work together and getting the config for each done has proven to be a great DIY project, but it sure is a long road. It's been in process for quite awhile, and we're still not ready to open to our public.
It would have been great to have a package to start with, so that we could use it to create a site to do the stuff that our nonprofit was created to do. As it is, maybe we'll be able to contribute back to the OSS community by virtue of releasing a finished site, if we ever get that far. Yeah, I know this is a whine.
fwiw, we looked at Compiere ERP + CRM, http://sourceforge.net/projects/compiere//
Lots of features. Too business oriented.
OK, so I went off and checked out the InfoCentral online demo. It looks like it might fulfill some of the requirements.
It's another web based MySQL front end. OSS too. Mostly weighted to member management, it seems to have some financial stuff. It's designed to be a church membership management thing, but plenty of customizing ability is built in.
Check it out: http://www.infocentral.org/