How organized is your data?

I was reading Wes Trochlil’s latest article, Why Benchmarks Matter, and it struck a chord with me.

For one thing, you can’t improve your data management system if you have no set benchmarks. There has to be something already started if you want to improve upon it. Wes gives a few great starting points for keeping track of actions within your database.

For another thing, how organized is your database currently? What do you keep track of? More data isn’t necessarily better, but the more useful the data you track is, the better.

Do you keep track of those members who are active in listservs? Those who consistently volunteer? The amount of time it takes to process new memberships?

My two cents?

Know who your most active members are. Who participates in studies or focus groups? Who are the active volunteers and leaders? These people can be the evangelists to other members. They can be the ones to step up and help the organization institute changes.

Use your data and implement changes based on your findings. There’s no point in all this data collection unless you actually do something with the information.

Stop collecting data you don’t use. It’s a waste of space and a waste of time. Do you need to know how long someone’s been in their current job or the size of the company they’re with. Perhaps. But be sure there’s a clear reason for your data collection.

Technology can help you keep track of many things, but having a disorganized database is definitely not ideal. The technology can only help you so much – you have to be able to put it to good use.

Photo credit: Flickr

Happy Friday! Unfortunately, the weather is pretty dreary in Atlanta — I hope everyone else’s Friday weather is more uplifting!

To begin what I hope will turn into a recurring Friday feature here, I’m going to share a few of my favorite association-related links from the week.

Maddie Grant compiled some comments from people who couldn’t attend ASAE. Budgets seemed to be the biggest concern, which wasn’t too unexpected. Some people also said ASAE didn’t provide education for their core duties, which may or may not have been true. Regardless, I think the number of learning labs at ASAE was great, but there weren’t enough time slots. Offer fewer learning labs at a time, and the problem is (hopefully) solved.

Over at TechSoup, they discussed why small- to medium-sized organizations should care about cloud computing. This is basically what our membership management software provides, and we think technology can really help small organizations become more efficient and organized.

Peggy Hoffman wrote about how chapters can leverage social media, which I loved because this is one of my objectives. Every organization has different needs, but social media is a great tool to keep your members more engaged and recruit new ones, as well.

With what I thought was a great metaphor, Wes Trochlil compared new processes in data collection to the failed “Clash for Clunkers” program. Launching a new initiative can be difficult and time-consuming, and it’s important to do the right amount of testing and research.

In a comment on a previous post here, Robert Swanwick referred to one of his blog posts about a virtual meeting. There are some great tips and thoughts about hosting a virtual meeting on a tight budget that small-staffs can absolutely learn from.

Have a great weekend, and feel free to share more links below!