Non-profit associations

Association Management Software

Significantly simpler and more modern management of the association through the help of software built with skybow.

Users

250

Members

By digitizing the association management with the software built with skybow, the Musikverein Friedensklang Ostendorf has managed to bring structure to the Excel chaos and automate almost all processes. As a result, the data is always up-to-date, the management effort has been significantly reduced and the members are also more satisfied with the association management processes.

Challenge

The administration of members, instruments, billing, and the management of entries and exits was previously handled by using numerous Excel spreadsheets. The maintenance of these tables was time-consuming, complicated and very confusing.

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As a result, information was repeatedly lost or not up to date. Thus, the association management was extremely time-consuming and error-prone.

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For example, it was often not known which instruments had been lent to which member, or when they needed to be serviced or repaired. Also the accounting for the rental of the instruments required a lot of effort and work in the Excel spreadsheets by several members of the board.

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If a member leaves the association or transfers to another of the three orchestras that belong to the association, some steps, notifications and changes have to be made. All of this had to be done manually by the board, with tasks being forgotten sometimes.

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In summary, the management is currently very costly, time-consuming and error-prone.

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How we solved it

First, all the data from the Excel spreadsheets was integrated and updated in various SharePoint lists. Subsequently, the various processes in the association were documented and streamlined. These processes were then mapped in skybow in die association management software with the help of automation actions. This includes for example

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Entry and exit of members
A association management workflow with different tasks, automations and notifications was defined. When the entry or exit workflow is started with the push of a button the member receives automated information via email about the steps necessary for joining or leaving the orchestra. These workflows were built step by step in the skybow Automation Action Builder. The "Send Mail" action was used for this, which is already available by default and only needs to be slightly adapted. No programming knowledge is required for this.

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Information is requested from the member using SharePoint forms. These forms were created with the skybow Forms Designer. With the help of useful functions such as conditional formatting, errors are significantly reduced, no information can be forgotten and the process is significantly accelerated.

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The responsible board members also receive automated information about which tasks need to be completed via email. This includes, for example, the handover of the uniform or the instrument. These are tasks that are also created automatically when the workflow is started in the association management software. These can be marked as completed. This means you can always see what still needs to be done.

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Orchestra change
If a member changes the orchestra, an automated process is triggered in the association management software in SharePoint. The information is updated and the membership fee is changed automatically. The member also receives a new uniform. This is another task that is automatically created and assigned to the person responsible from the board. This can also be easily implemented with the skybow automation action in the association management software.

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Billing
Thanks to skybow's accounting interface, it is also possible to automate the billing process in the association management software. Thus, each member receives from the system the correct invoice for the loan of the instruments and the corresponding membership fee.

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Asset management

In addition to the processes, skybow has also improved the management of the instruments. Because of the documentation feature in the association management software in SharePoint, various documents for purchase, repairs or maintenance can be linked to the instrument. Now they are available everywhere and anytime.

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Dossier of one of the instruments within the orchestra with all the available information and documents in the association management system built with skybow.

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This was implemented with the skybow dossiers. With this feature, a master list can easily be linked to several detail lists. In other words: master-detail-relationship made easy! This means that all the information available on an instrument, an orchestra or a member is bundled in a single source of truth. This makes them easy to find.

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Stefan Grosse-Dütting

Member of the Board and Treasurer, Musikverein Friedensklang Ostendorf

With the help of skybow we have finally managed to bring structure into the chaos of the association's administration. We were able to automate many processes, have much less effort and have all data in one central association management software. The solution was super easy and intuitive to create thanks to the help of the skybow team.

The Solution

The association management software now covers the entire administration of the association digitally. Any changes to the members' data are made using SharePoint Forms. Thanks to the accounting functions, billing is completely automated by the association management software itself.

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A digital workflow was created for all processes in the association, which is automatically run through after its trigger. This means that all members and board members know exactly what needs to be done.

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Overall, the administration has become much more digital, modern and advanced with the association management software. As a result, less effort is required and the potential for errors is significantly reduced. The database is always up-to-date and thus lays the perfect foundation for smooth and effort-less association management.

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