Elyse Savaki, a MemberClicks solution adviser, shared her notes from a session at ASAE’s Annual Meeting and Expo titled Get Your Data Under Control, which was presented by Kevin Conley, Wes Trochlil and Denise Streszoff.

Your organization’s data can be extremely powerful if you know how to properly harness it. Be sure you’re only keeping track of fields and guidelines you actually need. Not only create, but also executive data integrity reports. Formal training is absolutely necessary to be sure your organization knows how to properly use its database.

For training purposes, create a test environment. Many association management software companies will do this if they offer implementation and training. Additionally, integrating your AMS with your e-mail client (such as Outlook) can be extremely beneficial and save you a lot of time. Create one “source of truth” for your organization by eliminating shadow systems and redundant databases. Having to sort through duplicate information will only lead to frustration, and if you’re a small staff association professional, you need your AMS to save you time, not create more headaches.

Many organizations find it useful to track all volunteer activity — even non-financial and non-volunteer activity and interactions. You can use your “Notes” field to track all of your interactions with individuals, whether on a formal volunteer basis or not.

Be sure to properly utilize the tags feature. If you tag everything by topic, you should have little to no trouble finding data at a later date. By setting realistic benchmarks for data accuracy (such as performing an integrity report at regular intervals), you will ensure that your database continues to be as powerful as possible. It truly can be the backbone of your organization, if you’ll let it.

One major thing that stuck with Elyse was “Pursue success, not perception.” A database can be deceptively organized and almost tidy-looking, but if you can’t find information easily, or if you’re not tracking the right things, it can be a huge mess and a lot to sort through. And as a small staff association professional, you need your database to save you time, money and frustration.

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