Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for trade associations.
A checklist built from how trade associations work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Member firm register
- Dues and renewal runs
- Applications and admission
- Committees and working groups
- Events, conferences and sponsors
- Consultations and position papers
- Voting and annual meeting
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For the director general and board
- For membership officers
- For policy and committee secretaries
- For events and sponsorship staff
- For member delegates
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Members by class, sector and region, with joins and lapses
- Dues invoiced, received and in arrears, by firm and class
- Applications by stage and committee decision date
- Committee seats by group, with vacancies and expiring terms
- Conference registrations by rate type against the badge list
- Sponsor benefits promised and delivered, by package
- Voter roll with weights, arrears removed and proxies recorded
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- SMS and messaging
- Payment gateway
- Accounting export
- Video meeting links
- Website member area
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Is the firm or the person the member?
- How are dues worked out?
- Can we show a public directory?
- How are committee seats kept?
- Can events have different rates?
- Can members vote through it?
- How do consultations work?
- Can we move our member list over?
- Who owns the member data?
- What does it cost for a membership of our size, and can we see a demo?
- How long before the secretariat runs the register in it?
- What should the secretariat gather beforehand?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Contacts are held per person, not per firm
- Dues follow class rules by hand
- Committee membership is scattered
- Event registrations do not reconcile
- Voting rolls are built the week before
Prefer to talk it through? See the trade associations page.