Hey Folks!
So, i pretty much know the deal here. Pledges only, not through the API, use the utility, RTFM. Right, i know. But that doesn't translate well to management. And I always like a good challenge :)
Oh, did I mention i'm on TNEW!
Right now, if I wasn't to provide a method to opt out, I was thinking of having every online membership contribution (Gift) create a CSI, which would prompt a local user to create a corresponding pledge. If a person phoned to opt out, we could suppress them from the auto renewal utility with an attribute and only run the utility on a list, filtering that attribute.
Does anyone have any thoughts on that process? Like it or don't?
So, then to complicate things; i'm also exploring the option to opt-out online. But the 2 methods i've thought of both have their own issues;
1: re-purpose TNEW's checkbox on the membership "Decline Benefits" to be "don't auto renew"
That's kinda okay, but it is membership specific in record, although i could search for any on that person.
2: LWP Validate Cart
I could write a procedure which prompts the user to accept, more an opt in, and store that as an attribute. But it doesn't guarantee that they actually complete the order.
I hope that is clear. I'd really like to talk with anyone using the auto-renew utility, and discuss processes and workflow. Or hear from anyone on the above.
Thanks,
James
Hi James,
To track all new online donations, we have scheduled a daily run of the CSI Tracking Report, with Category parameter Online Donation. CSI Category/Activity, etc for this CSI are identified in LTR_TNEW_CONTRIB_TYPE.
Development staff review the report and then process both gifts and pledges, based on the information contained in each CSI. Online donations are put On Account, with staff manually creating the contributions. For the Monthly Giving Circle, a pledge is created with 12 payments scheduled. The On Account value is then applied to the pledge as the first month’s payment.
Duane
From: Tessitura Technical Forum [mailto:forums-technical@tessituranetwork.com] On Behalf Of James Boncek Sent: November 15, 2011 11:32 AM To: Duane Woods Subject: Re: [Tessitura Technical Forum] Online Membership Auto-Renewal
Thanks for sharing Duane! So, could you elaborate on how your org handles your "Monthly Giving Circle"?
Do you have a process for reviewing these contributions daily and creating corresponding pledges? or do you have an automated job/procedure?
From: Duane Woods <bounce-duanewoods8158@tessituranetwork.com> Sent: 11/14/2011 11:43:47 AM
Hi Nicholas,
In the final version we decided that we wanted to keep things as simple as possible. For each of the four funds available for donations I was able to re-purpose the messaging using just one address type slot for each fund to collect all of the information we need to at the time of donation. You can view our Contributions page here:
https://tickets.grandtheatre.com/dev/contribute.aspx
It took a bit of creative thinking beyond the examples in documentation to achieve this. Perhaps you could look at it this way?
You do not need to use all 6 slots if less will capture all the information you are collecting. Remember you can use any combination of the three types of slots and arrange them in whatever order you want and with whatever content you want, in the system table I mention above, LTR_TNEW_CONTRIB_TYPE_CONTROLS. For example, you could have one Notes slot, an Address slot and then two Checkbox slots.
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Thats what i figured. Thanks Duane.
On a similar but different note. The actual process of running the membership auto-renewal utility, in conjunction with opting out - Considering we're on TNEW, I'm looking at using a keyword/interest, with its own category for the handling of people who opt out. This way, anyone can login to their account online and opt-out at anytime. Presumably, i could also suppress those people with the list feature of the utility.
So, the CSI on the contribution would just be for the sake of being on the same page, and we'd uncheck their interest accordingly.
Thanks again, duane. very helpful.
Hi All-
I've taken over for James at FTC and I am currently in the process of running through this. I've found this thread to be extremely helpful in deciding what to do so I thank all of you.
To cut to the chase, here is our plan and flow:
JavaScript Option (understandably not the only option):
1a) User utilizes a page on our main site to donate towards a membership.
2a) Membership level and Auto-Renew data is passed to our TNEW Contribution page
3a) TNEW page automatically fills the form, including the CSI checkbox for auto renewal and submits the form
(continues to cart and checkout)
Non-JavaScript option:
1b) User selects from a list-based donation page on our main site
2b) Membership level is passed to the TNEW contribution page
3b) User has the Auto-renew Option available as a CSI Checkbox, and submits the form manually
4) Daily we will be running report called 'Auto Renewal Data' indicating those who have the 'Auto-Renew' CSI attached to a membership [as well as other criteria defined below]
5) B/O staff will manually change the membership level on an incremental basis based on our current levels (L10 will be changed to L11, and so on...) for anyone selecting Auto-Renewal
6)B/O staff will manually select a TNEW interest on the customer's account for 'Auto-Renewal' [to allow a member to opt-out on the web later]
7) To follow this 'Auto Renewal Data' will also report any actionable data associated with the interest 'Auto-Renewal' (L11 Member without the 'Auto-Renewal' interest, etc); B/O staff will then change the accounts accordingly
8)'Auto Renewal Data' will then finally report all members with the interest 'Auto-Renewal' and a Membership level of Lx1 who are expiring within the next week.
9)B/O staff will then renew the membership manually according to the report.
I believe that performing this, though it will not be "automatic" for our staff, will allow our Org to manage the auto-renew process more effectively than using the batch utility. We also will be avoiding many of the pitfalls that we have encountered along the way (changing membership price, expired cards, etc) as well as allowing us to use our basic reporting techniques by membership level to review auto-renewal data.
Additionally, allowing the donation page to live on our main website will help in making auto-renewal a much more opt-out process, allowing the ability to control the content laid before the user a bit better than in the CSI fields of TNEW.
I'd love input on this if anyone has any suggestions. I'd still consider myself new to Tessitura so I hope I'm on the right track with this.
Christopher