A Step-by-Step Guide To AMS Software Replacement

By Bob Alves

No executive likes to overhaul the association management system (AMS), let alone face the panic this causes the IT team. It's a complex undertaking that has the potential to disrupt the entire association's day-to-day activities. If you're thinking about it, it means your organization is having major issues and you have to deal with the problem soon. How to plan? Who needs to be involved? What to do first? These questions need to be grappled with and often seem so daunting that details are missed and the overall project suffers. If taken one step at a time, however, an AMS replacement shouldn't cause you any more stress than a typical day in the office.

The first step is to determine the impetus of the organization's pain. Does the existing AMS fail to efficiently manage day-to-day activity, or is there an operational management shift at the business level that the existing AMS can't support? This seems like a basic question, but understanding the problem will save you a lot of time and effort. A major overhaul may only be worth the time if your organization is expanding its operational scope. If your organization wants to reduce operating costs, expand geographically, or move member relations activities to the Internet, a new AMS may be more effective than integrating several disparate solutions into your current systems. Having multiple vendors can create many problems when you want to upgrade, expand and update data records from one system to the next.

Build a strategic plan with financials in place that suggests the scope of the AMS you really need to support the association's new operational objectives. Define what your staff needs to accomplish in order to reach those goals. Does your team need a more efficient way to reach prospective members? Do you need an automated member management system complete with online dues and fee payment capability? Is your organization going to launch events and do you need an events management tool? Assign to each of these strategic functions an ROI in terms of dollars, market share, member retention, or some other representative metric.

Now you're ready to get buy-in from all departments in your association. Assign a champion in each department, colleagues that will be tasked with keeping the project on track. Your champions will help you refine the strategic vision and streamline its conversion to reality. For this to be effective, bring them into your thinking. Brief each champion on the association's operational goals and ask them to brainstorm what their departments need to reach those goals. Do they need new technology, expanded lists, more staff, broader geography, or greater management involvement? Ask them to think in terms of a perfect world, not the one they currently work in. Your role in this brainstorming will be crucial; you'll need to keep them focused on the operational objectives during this process. This information is going to help you, the executive, to decide what solution you need to accomplish your goals. Your colleagues will also feel more involved in the organization and accept responsibility for their pieces of the project.

Because all wish list items may not be fulfilled, ask your champions to prioritize them and defend why they're on the list. This process should include a rethinking of how the department currently operates; this is a great time to tackle long overdue efficiency issues within the organization. At this point, you're going to have a lot of material to sort through and some tough decisions to make. All this valuable feedback will need to be laid out over your strategic vision to create a rollout plan. What are the main objectives? How aligned are they with the strongest ROI metrics? Which things need to happen first while making sure key day-to-day operations are minimally disrupted?

With this planning well thought through, you'll be ready to make the technology decisions, choosing what type of solution you need. Some considerations that should go into choosing a new AMS are:

• Upgradeability: Is there a standard implementation timeline for upgrades? Is there a standard process for upgrading? The cost and ease of product upgrades is going to have a significant impact on how well your initial investment is preserved over time.
• Integration Capability: Is there a shared database that can be accessed by all of the applications used by different departments? Ability to integrate data across all parts of the association is a crucial part of aligning strategies between departments.
• Training and Support: How much will it cost to train people to use the new AMS? Are there people in the organization who are already trained? Is local technical support available? The relative complexity or simplicity of training users and getting support will be a key factor in determining the total cost of a solution.

The final step in planning will be establishing a set of metrics that will show your board the AMS switch was worth it. There are two ways to look at this: with a long-term and short-term view. The latter should include concrete data, such as if the new AMS was completed on time and within the budget you originally established. How many employees have been successfully trained? Does the association have access to all the functionally originally outlined in the proposal? There will be others, but these will put you in the right frame of mind to think this over. The long-term metrics will take more time and should map closely to the original business plan objectives behind the AMS switch. The board will also want to see that there is a long-term evaluation plan in place.

Replacing an AMS is no small task. However, with the right planning, preparation, and thought it can be a smooth undertaking. First, understand the motivation behind the change; do you really need something new? Then create a strategic plan including metrics for ROI with the help of your colleagues, making sure to include their knowledge in the process. Now you're in a position to understand what type of solution will best suit your association's needs. With these considerations in place, replacing an AMS can be as easy as changing a light bulb.