Kavi Help CenterKavi® Members Help
| Chapter 21. How to Set Up Membership | ||
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Part I. Kavi Members Concepts and General Instructions | 
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Table of Contents
If the Membership feature is enabled on your organization's website, you'll configure the membership application forms and add one or more membership types with defined duration, rules and application processes. These may include Company Membership Types and Individual Membership Types, depending on whether this is a company-based, individual-based or mixed organization. The Membership feature offers a rich set of options that allow the organization's business rules to be encoded into the membership acquisition process, automatically assign types through membership to classify account holders and grant an appropriate level of website access, and set consequences for lapsed memberships.
Back to topBefore you can set up memberships, you need detailed requirements that describe the organization's membership structure and the specific membership types you need to add, plus rules governing membership acquisition and member participation. The online help discusses options used you can use to configure signup forms and define membership types, but it cannot describe how to apply these options to fit every possible membership acquisition, billing, moderation or expiration scenario. An organization's membership structure may be simple or complex, according to the organization's goals and other factors. It is quite simple to set up membership for an organization that offers only one, free membership type to everyone who wants to sign up for an account. It is more challenging to correctly encode multi-tiered, billed, moderated memberships with complex rules governing membership acquisition, renewal, fee proration, varying degrees of site access, etc.
The Super Admin is responsible for matching each of the requirements with the appropriate Kavi Members configuration option or options. You may not be aware of all the options that are available to you or understand how to successfully complete membership setup until you have read through the Concepts documents on membership and compared them against your requirements. If you need more help than this online help is able to provide, you may wish to contact Kavi for expert advice on configuring or customizing Kavi Members to suit your organization's requirements.
Some Questions the Requirements Must Answer:
Are all memberships at the same level or are there multiple membership levels?
How does the organization calculate membership terms? Do all membership terms start and end on pre-specified dates, or do the start and end dates of memberships vary according to the date each membership is acquired?
Should a Terms and Conditions agreement be part of the online application process?
Are any members billed? Are any membership fees going to be collected online? If the organization prorates fees in cases where memberships are acquired or cancelled mid-term or replaced by a different level of membership, what are the proration rules? Is bill payment strictly enforced before membership applications are processed or not?
Do any membership applications require moderator approval? What about membership renewals? If memberships are also billed, are membership applications moderated first then billed, or is it the other way around?
How are membership renewals handled? Should they be auto-renewed? Do they need to be moderated or are they approved automatically?
What consequences should apply to members when memberships expire without being renewed? Will the organization provide a grace period or immediately revoke website access or do other measures apply?
Most of the options that are used to define membership rules are set in membership types, but before you can set up membership types there are some global settings that require attention.
Does the organization offer company memberships, individual memberships or both? The Organization Type is defined in Set Organizational Properties. If the Organization Type is company-based, company memberships are enabled. If the Organization Type is individual-based, individual memberships are enabled. If the Organization Type is mixed, both company and individual memberships are enabled. Note that this tool is also used to select certain required and optional data collection fields for both companies and users that are displayed on membership application forms, as well as Admin Area tools used to add companies and users.
Super Admins can click here to visit the Set Organizational Properties tool and review or edit the organization's settings.
Your organization may provide online application forms or memberships may be added by administrators. Most organizations use a combination, allowing some members to signup but adding others manually. If there is a tiered membership structure, lower-level memberships may be applied for through online signup forms while higher-level memberships are invitation-only. Some organizations disallow online signup altogether. If your organization doesn't want to provide online membership application forms, skip the membership application form configuration steps.
Global configuration options for membership application forms include:
Data collection fields, as described in the preceding section Company Memberships or Individual Memberships?
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Privacy opt-outs that may be enabled through Configure Privacy Options.
Super Admins can click here to visit the Configure Privacy Options tool.
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Text blocks displayed on the top of the organization's membership listings plus end-user instructions displayed on the Membership Info page are added through Configure Global Membership Applications.
If Kavi® Billing is installed, you must also configure the Membership Workflow. This is explained in the Billed Membership Workflow Configuration section of the Billed Memberships Concepts document.
Super Admins can click here to visit the Configure Global Membership Applications tool.
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The last step in configuring global application form options is to set up options that apply specifically to company membership applications or to individual membership applications. This is where the Terms and Conditions agreement and post-application URL are configured.
If you have company memberships, you'll also set which contacts are collected through the Company Membership Application form.
If you have individual memberships, you'll configure the way in which Individual Members are assigned to a company. Applicants may assigned to a default company, allowed to select their company from a list or may be presented with a text field so they can enter company information themselves.
- Assign to a default company
Set the default company in the pull-down list, then set 'Select Company from List' to 'No'. No list or text field are displayed on the form. All individual membership applicants are automatically assigned to the same default company.
- Select company from a list
Set the default company in the pull-down list, then set 'Select Company from List' to 'Yes'. The applicant can leave this value set to the default company or can select their company from the list if it is present.
- Enter company in text field
Set 'Select Company from List' to 'No' and set 'Allow Individuals to Request New Company' to 'Yes'. The default company is ignored.
Super Admins can click here to visit the Configure Company Membership Applications tool or Configure Individual Membership Applications tool.
Every Company Membership Type needs to be associated with at least one Company Type, and every Individual Membership Type needs to be associated with at least one User Type. The Company Type and User Type are used to classify members and confer roles that provide members with an appropriate level of access to the website. There may be more than one Company or User Type assigned through a membership type, but there is usually at least one that was created specifically for that membership type so that it can be used to retrieve this members of this type in searches and reports. This Company or User Type must exist before you can add the membership type. For more information, see Company Types or User Types.
Super Admins can click here to visit the Manage Company Types tool or Manage User Types tool.
Back to topWhen configuring a membership type you set basic information that is printed on webforms for prospective members to review. This information includes textual descriptions, eligibility rules and benefits for each membership type. If there is a membership fee, the fee is displayed along with the membership type name and duration.
Super Admins can click here to visit the Manage Company Membership Types tool or Manage Individual Membership Types tool.
Before Adding a Membership Type:
What is the name of this membership type?
Does the companion User Type or Company Type already exist or do you need to add it now?
You need a plain-text or HTML description of this membership
...and a plain-text or HTML statement explaining eligibility criteria.
...and a plain-text or HTML description of benefits.
What level of access should be acquired through this membership and which types need to be associated with it to classify members and confer the necessary roles and access?
Is the membership type always available or only available for a limited time period? Availability dates include the date that the membership type becomes available and the date after which it is no longer available. You can leave these empty if availability is completely unrestricted, set both to create a date range, or set one or the other for a partially bounded date range. The settings you choose are based partly on the duration of the membership type. For example, a free membership type that uses a Fixed Duration could be always available, whereas a new billed membership type that is added to the system because membership fees have increased needs to become available as the older membership type is phased out. The older membership type would be edited to set the date after which the old membership is no longer available.
To whom is the membership available? Is it available to all applicants through public online membership application forms, is it only visible to logged-in members who are renewing memberships, or are links to add this membership only displayed to administrators when managing an individual's or company's memberships?
If there is a membership fee, what is the price? Are memberships prorated? What proration rules apply?
If applications are moderated, are renewing applicants moderated or only new applicants? What instructions should the applicant receive when the membership application is submitted? Are there prerequisites for application approval that the applicant needs to know about? For example, applicants may be directed to download membership agreements or other legal forms that need to be signed and submitted to the organization before the membership application can be approved.
There are two kinds of availability settings. One controls the dates that the membership type is available, and the other determines who can see it by controlling how links to add the membership type are displayed.
- Dates Available
There are two date fields labeled 'From' and 'To'. There are four possible options here. You can leave these fields empty if availability is not restricted by date. You can enter just the 'From' value to set the date at which the membership type first becomes available in Kavi Members tools and application forms. You can enter just the 'To' value to set the date at which the membership type will no longer be available in Kavi Members tools and application forms. Or you can set both the 'From' and 'To' fields to create a bounded date range during which the membership type will be available. Note that the 'From' date is often set when a membership type is added, while the 'To' date may not be set until the membership type is to be retired.
- Application Form Availability
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Although there are only two checkboxes, there are four possible settings. For more information on the way these settings affect membership acquisition processes, see Public Applications, Self-Renewals, Auto-Renewals and Administrator-Managed Memberships in the Membership Application and Renewal Processes Concepts document.
- Available to both new and renewing members
Select both checkboxes. Links to apply for this membership are displayed in the public membership listings. A logged-in Individual Member who clicks the 'Renew' link on the Manage Memberships page will see this membership type listed as an option. If this is a Company Membership Type, a logged-in Primary Contact or other company administrator can access this type through the renew link on the Manage Memberships page in the Company Area.
- Available to new members only
Only the 'Available to new members' checkbox is selected. Links to apply for this membership are displayed in the public membership listings.
- Available to renewing members only
Only the 'Available to renewing members' checkbox is selected. A logged-in Individual Member who clicks the 'Renew' link on the Manage Memberships page will see this membership type listed as an option. If this is a Company Membership Type, a logged-in Primary Contact or other company administrator can access this type through the renew link on the Manage Memberships page in the Company Area.
- Administrators Only
Neither checkbox is selected, so only administrators can see this membership type. It is displayed in the tools used to manage companies or users, providing the company or user Purpose is Member Company or Individual Member. This setting is used for exclusive, invitation-only membership types, and is usually reserved for use with the top-level membership typess in organizations with tiered membership structures.
The duration of a membership is usually defined in one of three ways: 'Annual Fixed Term', 'Fixed Duration' or 'Lifetime'. There is also a 'Fixed Dates' duration that can be used if an organization needs to define a membership term with specific start and end dates that can't be set through any of the usual durations.
Membership Duration and Term
- 'Annual Fixed Term' Memberships
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'Annual Fixed Term' memberships begin on the same dates each year. The membership term usually coincides with the organization's fiscal year or the calendar year. The membership End Date is one day before the Start Date of the next membership term, such as January 1 through December 31 or April 1 through March 31. The membership term automatically increments every year. The Start Date of new memberships acquired partway through the membership year reflect the date that the membership went current, but all memberships have the same End Date. If there is a fee for this membership, the fee may be prorated according to organization rules. All renewed memberships have the same Start and End Dates.
This duration is often used with billed membership types scheduled to coincide with the organization's fiscal year.
- 'Fixed Duration' Memberships
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'Fixed Duration' memberships last for a specified timespan, such as one year or two years. The Start Date of the membership term is set to the date the membership goes current and the End Date is set for the specified period of time from the Start Date. For example, the membership term of a membership that went current on October 6th, 2006, would be October 6, 2006 - October 5, 2007. Terms for subsequent memberships have the same Start and End Dates except that the membership term is automatically incremented every year. Because the Start Date is based on the date the member acquires membership, there is no need to prorate these memberships.
Free memberships often have a 'Fixed Duration'.
- Lifetime
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Memberships with a 'Lifetime' duration do not expire, so they have a Start Date but not an End Date.
This duration is usually reserved for founding members or others whose sponsorship funds the organization.
- Fixed Dates
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The 'Fixed Dates' duration is seldom used. Unlike the 'Annual Fixed Term' or 'Fixed Duration' memberships, the membership term does not auto-increment, so new membership types have to be created for subsequent years. 'Fixed Dates' memberships begin and end on specified dates, and these can be any dates whatsover, so this duration can be used in special cases where exact dates are required and none of the other durations are appropriate.
Only used in special cases.
This membership type may be auto-renewed if desired. For more information, see the Concepts document on Auto-Renewal.
When memberships reach the End Date of their membership term, they expire and are eventually archived. If the membership is renewed before it expires, it is automatically archived on the End Date as the next membership in the series becomes current. But the rules that govern what happens when a membership is not renewed are configured in the Membership Type. For information on configuring membership expiration, see the Membership Expiration Concepts document.
If there is a fee for this membership type, you may set the fee and any additional text that you want to be added to the bill and enable proration for fixed term membership types. The hardest part of billed memberships is understanding workflow configuration. For more information, see the Billed Memberships Concepts document.
A moderation step passes control of the application process to a moderator (i.e. Organization Admin) to provide human oversight of application approval. A moderation step gives the organization the opportunity to collect hardcopies of signed documents, a vote by the board of directors or simply review the applicant data to verify whether eligibility criteria was met. Moderation is most effective for smaller organizations or more exclusive membership types, since the Organization Admin has to review every application submitted for a moderated membership type.
Before setting these options, you may want to refer to the configuration options set in Configure Global Membership Applications to see how moderation can affect the membership application and renewal processes and membership workflow.
Super Admins can click here to visit the Configure Global Membership Applications tool.
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| Chapter 20. Membership Workflow |  |
Chapter 22. Billed Memberships |