We would like a TN SME to provide some high-level details on functionality of both memberships as products and memberships as contributions. Features and drawbacks of each. Do both allow for house-holding, naming individual members, scanning of each member for attendance, discounting, rankings, etc.
Memberships as Products and Memberships as Contributions are the two options for processing memberships in Tessitura. Both options create a membership on a constituent record and follow the rules set on the membership organization and level in membership setup. The Memberships as Products Add-On creates membership records based on the sale of performance tickets. Memberships as contributions are created when a qualifying contribution is processed either using Ticket Orders or Contributions.
The most common reasons for an organization to choose Memberships as Products include the ability to apply a promo-code based discount and the ability to designate a 'recipient' which makes for easier tracking of the member within a household if the membership does not cover all household members. The most common reasons for choosing Memberships as Contributions include the general philosophy of these transactions as philanthropic in nature and the option to use standard contribution functionality such as pledges and contribution based reports.
Both methods of membership creation allow for the scanning of membership cards for attendance and the application of a rank for access to a member mode of sale online.
If there are further questions, standard membership documentation can be accessed in the help system here and memberships as products documentation can be requested via consulting@tessituranetwork.com.