New Initiatives Stage 1 Launches

IF YOU ARE A MEMBER
YOU ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT!

Set-up Login Name & Password HERE

There are even Video Tutorials Available HERE

As you may have heard in the January E-Notes, NEON, our new membership management technology is here! If you have had a membership record between January 1, 2006 and now, then you already have an account in our record. As long as that record has a current email address in it then you can quickly and easily set up your Login Name and Password to visit the new AGEHR online membership management pages using the Forgot Password? Get Help link! If your email needs to be updated in the national office please shoot us an email or call us between 9-5EST at 1.800.878.5459.

This initial release of the new technology, has some exciting new features available for you to take advantage of ranging from registering for NATIONAL SEMINAR online to actually getting to create your own unique Login Name and Password that is good across the board, no matter if you are logging into view Overtones online, visiting our forums or shopping in our web store to purchase the 2011 Priority Music Club.

To help in the introduction of these new opportunities we have created some quick Video Tutorials to serve as our welcome to the neighborhood tour. Even if you are sure that you can figure it out, I fully recommend that you take this opportunity to watch them due to the AMAZING voice over talent that really adds to the entertainment value of these videos. Rumors have it that there is already Academy and Grammy Award buzz surrounding these outstanding performances. If only it wasn’t an anonymous performance. . . ;>)

So, if you haven’t already, take a moment now to login to explore the blossoming fruits of the New Initiatives Campaign that is being made possible by the on-going generosity of our members like YOU!

Regards,
Katie

Gentlemen start your. . .Training!

NEON training has begun for our team in the office. We spent yesterday in a couple of meetings that focused on giving us an overview of the system and how it will work for us. Emily our trainer set up a meeting on-line yesterday to provide us with a guided tour and first look at our test data in the database that they have set up for AGEHR.

While the day was a whirlwind tour it was fascinating. We began by looking at how we will now begin managing our national events. I know this may not sound all that exciting but rather than two databases that don’t communicate, we will now have just one. I know we have been saying this for months but to actually see it in front of us was very cool. This means that we as an office will be more productive and able to more efficiently serve all of our members. It also means that our entire team will have access to the event data and will be able to cross train in order to better assist our members with information regarding their event attendance. There also was this cool new feature that is going to let us. . . oh wait that is a surprise for next month! ;>)

In the afternoon we focused on general membership data management. How our current data will populate the new system, how we renew memberships and create new records for new members. The new system is more intuitive than our current system. It allows us to quickly and easily have access to the information in the system because it is powered by newer and faster technology than our current dinosaur. All of which will once again help our team to help you.

But all of that is behind the scenes and while some of you may be tech wonks who just find this as thrilling as I do, I am guessing most of you have a big “so what’s in it for me” going through your minds. So, here it is. We also got to check out the new user side of the web site. Members will log in and have access to their membership record like never before. With the ease of a dropdown box you will be able to do a variety of activities including create and review your profile (even upload a picture if you would like!), renew your membership, view your payments, change your password and the like. Simply, easily.

Just what you would want and expect from one of your favorite websites. The best part is that this functionality is being integrated within our web site and promises to be a seamless change over that will be the base of your membership experience with our website that will only get better and better as the plans of our New Initiatives Campaign continue to come to fruition over the next 2 years thanks to your continued generosity and support!

Happy holidays to you all! Talk to you next year!

Input, Output. . .

I am excited to report that even now we are still receiving support for the New Initiatives Campaign (NIC). People are still sending in their “I’m On Board” and “NIC Pledge” forms. We have even begun to process Matching Funds from corporations who support their employees’ generosity. It is really quite humbling to experience this level of support from so many people in our community at so many different levels.


So, now that it is our new fiscal year and we can officially begin implementing our three pronged plan. The first step is the administrative aspects of preparing to move all of our data from one system to the next. I have personally been working with Anne Potter of Extreme Consulting who is helping us to organize our data for this transfer. She and I have been going through all of the data field by field working to determine what information we use, what information we need and how best to map that data to NEON’s standard and custom fields.


We are also working to clean up the data in the database. We want the data to be as pristine as possible by eliminating duplicates or errors that have developed over the years. This means that we are going through and comparing member records and have had a volunteer working on things like standardizing how we input our data. For example, we have now standardized the way we enter the names of churches. This may sound silly but imagine that you work at Saint Peter’s United Methodist Church and have had a membership with AGEHR for many, many years, but you happen to have lost your member number. You call our office and we can’t find your record. Why? Because in our record your church is listed as St. Peters UMC and if you have ever worked with data bases you know we will never find Saint if we are searching for St with a period. Also is it UMC or United Methodist Church? Is there an apostrophe in Peter’s or not when it was entered? By taking the time now to set this standardization up, we are creating ways to improve our data management efficiency which will in the long run benefit you and your membership because we, in the national office, will be set up for success when providing you with the support and service that you need and deserve.


As of right now, we are still on target for our projected delivery date of a complete upgrade of our technology which has been listed as 6/2011. Knock wood, but the administrative process seems to be running smoothly so far. Of course we expect some bumps and kinks to work out as we go, but as this new technology begins to expand your abilities to manage your membership and membership benefits better via the web site, I know our end results will be well worth the efforts.

21 Century here we come!

"I applied for membership online using my credit card on Sunday. I was
hoping to get on-line into the members only section of the website. When can I expect to receive access???"

All too often, I come into the office on Monday morning and find an email or voicemail like the one above. I can hear the frustration and completely understand. However, until we are able to manually process their membership in the office, this new member is out of luck. Has this happened to you? Nice way to treat new members, huh. {sigh}

This issue is not limited to new members. If your membership expires even by a few hours and you renew your membership online, you are still stuck until the staff gets into the office and has time to process your membership. What about this, has it happened to you? If not can you imagine the frustration? Again, nice way to treat our loyal members, huh! :<(

Needless to say, this is NOT how we in the office want to treat our members. In fact we pride ourselves on serving our community of handbell and handchime ringers to the best of our abilities. Unfortunately, that means that our best is all too often weighed down by the albatross of our current technology.

So, I am VERY excited about the new Neon member management system. By combining all of our records down into one singular data management system, we are able to join the 21st century and finally meet the basic expectation that if you can take my money right now I should have access right now and the ability to begin enjoying my member benefits right now!

The coolest part is that this is only one small part of all the exciting new opportunities opening up to us via the Neon system because of your generosity via the New Initiatives Campaign. What part of the New Initiatives Campaign are you excited about and why??