The words, in plain English.The words, in plain English.

Association management system. The rented member database most associations run on, usually with dues, a basic website and events bolted on. Built for the vendor's average customer.

A regional or local group inside an association, with its own members, meetings and often its own chair and dues. On a well-built platform, a chapter is a space inside the system, not a separate website.

A piece of software, or a person with a spreadsheet, that copies data between two systems that do not share a record. Also called an integration. It breaks whenever either system changes.

Customer relationship management, borrowed from sales software. For an association it means one record per member organization and person, with everything that has happened to them. On a member platform it is the record underneath the portal, directory, renewals and events.

The list of things the system knows about and how they relate: organizations, people, memberships, chapters, events, requests. Designed for one association during the design stage.

The searchable list of members, for members and often for the public. In a rented setup it is usually a plugin fed by exports. On a platform it is the member list itself, so it is never out of date.

How and when members pay: annual on a fixed date, annual from the join date, multi-year, per location, per revenue band. Every association has its own, and a platform is built around it.

A copy of your data taken out of a system. The honest questions are what format, how complete, how long it takes and what it costs. A standard database makes an export a command; a proprietary one makes it a ticket.

The days after expiry during which a lapsed member keeps access. Written down and enforced by the system, it is a policy. Unwritten, it is a leak.

The documentation, runbooks and training that let another team run the platform without the studio that built it. A deliverable with a date, not a promise.

A person or firm paid to keep several systems talking to each other. Necessary in a patchwork, unnecessary when there is one system.

A member whose renewal date has passed without payment. Most lapses are leaks, not decisions: reminders sent to the wrong person from the wrong system.

Everything the association knows about one member, in one place: organization, people, status, dues history, chapter, events, requests and notes. The thing a patchwork never has and a platform is built on.

A structured way for one member to ask another for something, a quote, a referral, a partner, from the directory, with a record on both sides.

Moving member data from the old systems into the new platform. Its difficulty depends on how clean the data is, which the audit measures first.

The web framework MemberWright builds platforms on. Widely used and widely hired for, which is what makes a platform easy for another team to take over.

Software that many teams know and no single vendor controls. Next.js, PostgreSQL and Tailwind are examples. The opposite of being built inside another vendor's platform.

The three-week engagement that starts every MemberWright build: every tool, plugin and workaround inventoried, staff and members interviewed, then a blueprint and a fixed quote. Priced roughly $5,000 to $15,000.

The part of the system members log into. Designed well, it is where a member renews, registers, finds another member and updates their own record. Designed badly, it is a database with a login page.

The standard, open database MemberWright platforms store member data in, in an account in the association's name. Any developer can read it, which is what makes the data genuinely yours.

Permissions enforced inside the database itself, so a member sees only the rows their role allows, even if a screen has a bug. Stronger than permissions enforced only in the interface.

SSO. One login for the website, the portal, the directory and events, and for staff, sign-in through Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 so leaving staff lose access when their account closes.

The platform itself, as written. For a rented system it belongs to the vendor. For a custom platform it belongs to the association, in a repository it controls.

The hosted PostgreSQL service MemberWright platforms run on, with row-level security and authentication built in. The account is opened in the association's name.

The one place a kind of data is true. On a member platform, members, dues, events and requests are the platform's; prospects, books and campaigns can stay in the tools staff prefer, connected to it.

The accessibility standard MemberWright targets for this site and every platform it builds, in both themes. Associations are increasingly required to publish a statement against it.