This month I am excited to inform you of another change that the Bar has been working on since this time last year. With the ability to take advantage of resources to update our technology, we were finally able to move forward with a project that I believe will make interactions with the Bar easier for our members, easier for our staff, and will provide us with the data we need to learn which of our member benefits are most often utilized and appreciated by our members. This will also free up time to give our members the personal service that we always try to provide.
As the Bar has grown over time, we have added technology solutions that were developed to complete specific functions. Our Lawyer Referral Service (LRS) needed a database that could register attorney members, track client cases as well as assign clients to our LRS members based on a specific panel rotation so everyone on the panel had equal opportunities to be referred clients in a specific area of law. For attorneys making donations to our Foundation or signed up for our various giving programs, we had a separate database that was designed specifically for those needs. When we needed the ability to have listservs for committee and section communications and community, we acquired a solution that would manage those activities.
Our main membership database is the workhorse of our Association and stores all our membership and firm address information, tracks which attorneys work for each firm, processes their membership dues renewals, records section and committee participation and attendance at our continuing education programs. Although we have been able to build some integration between our website and the database to assist our members, each transaction, purchase, donation or registration is completed through an email delivery process and requires a hand entry by staff into the appropriate (corresponding) database. None of the five databases, including our accounting system, was integrated and all depended on individual re-entry of data to try to keep the systems current and accurate.
Once we determined we could take this leap into more modern all-encompassing database systems, we began the process of researching possible solutions. We hired a consultant to help us determine our needs and objectives and to reduce the number of potential solutions to only those that made true business sense for us. We listened to recommendations from other Bar Association staff, and finally arranged individual presentations with each company to learn how their Association Management Solution (AMS) fulfilled KCBA’s needs and objectives. After the several month process, we selected an AMS product by MemberCentral that we are all excited to launch a little later this spring.
Why did we select the MemberCentral AMS? Because it will allow us to stop utilizing four individual databases that are not integrated and instead have everything handled within one cloud-based technology solution with two new websites that will complete payments and updates in real time. In addition, members will be able to enjoy a streamlined online renewal process and manage their dues, donations, events, LRS referrals and update their profile all in one convenient hub. Lastly, they will be able directly to update their committees and sections online, quickly register for events in a few clicks and engage in their new Section and Committee E-Communities.
I want to thank the following member services, operations and administration staff: Jessica Adair, Casey Almas, Jordan Brock, Betty Flojo, Patty Fraser, Emily Lake, Austin Lawhorn, Tom Lockyear, Anh Nguyen, Jennifer Oliver, Sophie Petersen, Janette Scott, Bridget Schuster, Mayra Vidrio, Eric Voytko, Paul Young, and Camille Zahajko who have been working extremely hard over the past few months to extract and compare data, to ensure data are connected from each of our multiple databases and to establish new policies and learn a complete new system, all in time for a successful launch.
Please watch for our emails later this spring that will let you know when our new database is up and running. At that time, all members will need to establish a new account through the member portal, but the payoff will be well worth the minor inconvenience. Now everything will truly be under one roof!
Kathleen Jensen is KCBA’s Interim Executive Director. She can be reached by email at (kathleenj@kcba.org) or phone (206.267.7053).
