17 February 2016 | St Albans, UK [Audrey Andersson/tedNEWS] Always on the cutting edge, the Netherlands Union Conference (NUC) is the first in Europe to implement a new membership database that will increase accuracy, facilitate rapid membership transfers, and reduce the workload for church clerks and Executive Secretaries.
The implementation follows years of consultation, planning and design with input from specialists across the world. On Wednesday, 10 February, some of those specialists from the Trans-European Division gathered at NUC headquarters in Huis Ter Heide. Five union executive secretaries, two conference executive secretaries, a union administrative assistant, and the TED Executive and Associate Secretaries were joined by Sherri Ingram Hudgins, Director of Adventist Membership Systems (ACMS), and Tiago Moises Silva dos Santos, the Chief Programmer. Between them they ran a two-day programme as part of the first ACMS implementation in Europe.
Why is such a system important? A check of many church membership lists highlights the need for more accurate membership records and that is more than just number crunching. It is part of the transparency and integrity which should characterise the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
As part of a strategy to improve membership retention the NUC decided to implement ACMS, a membership system made available to the world church by the General Conference.
In preparation for the transfer the Netherlands Union carried out a membership audit over a number of years. This identified deaths which had not been recorded and missing members. On the positive side, it also identified 500 members who somehow had never made it onto the church books.
The road to implementation was longer than anticipated. It took several years of discussions, programme adjustments to accommodate EU privacy laws, and testing. In mid-January the Netherlands Union Conference closed their existing membership system and sent a data file to ACMS.
Then came the two days of training, the first day was open to other unions interested in implementing the system in their countries. The training provided an overview of the system, as well as hands on, how to enter new members, transfer membership, record deaths etc. During the first morning Sherri asked the participants to brainstorm and create a wish list of everything that they would like to see in a membership system. At the end of the day when the wish list was reviewed against the system 99% of items were already included.
A global software package offers many practical advantages. ACMS was originally developed by the South American Division and then adopted by the world church. Today there is a team of eight people constantly working on developing and improving the system, ensuring that it is compatible with current rapid technological developments. In the past local entities have developed their own software packages, only to find they do not have the capacity to maintain the system or become dependent on one or two people. This system, ensures a seamless continuity when people leave or change positions. It is provided free of charge, the only cost being the computer to run the programme.
Next up to implement the software is the British Union Conference, with a tentative implementation date of September this year. Watch a tedNEWS video that explains more of the history and the advantages of ACMS. [tedNEWS]
tedNEWS Staff: Victor Hulbert, director; Esti Pujic, editor
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