Winmill helps a School Employee Union grow with eMembership

Background

This West Coast School Employees Union is one of the largest classified school employee union in the United States, representing nearly 250,000 school support staff. The union is democratically governed by members at various levels including an Association Board of Directors, 10 Areas, 100 Regions and nearly 800+ Chapters throughout the state.

The Challenge

The union was using a desktop-based computer system that was more than ten years old. It was difficult to use, difficult to update, difficult to get data in, and difficult to get data out.

Difficult to Use: As a desktop system, it had to be installed on each user’s computer. Every time it was updated, it would have to be deployed to 300+ user computers! It could not be accessed from outside the office. And the user interface was showing its age.

Difficult to Update: The system served the union for a long time, but as the organization’s needs changed over the years, the system had a hard time keeping up. It became so customized that it was nearly impossible to make a change here without breaking something there. In order to avoid the time and difficulty of system modifications, more and more processes were being handled outside of the system. This just made things worse, as data was now located in multiple places, and standard operating procedures became more and more complicated.

Difficult to Get Data In: The union receives member and payroll information from 800+ chapters every month. They would have to manually manipulate each file in order to get it into the requisite standard form, and then upload the files. Then they would undertake a multi-step manual process to reconcile the input data with their system data. Data import processes were long, tedious, and error prone.

Difficult to Get Data Out: Like any union, this one has ever-changing reporting requirements. Their legacy system did not have an easy-to-use reporting tool, and every new report required a programmer. Further, it was becoming extremely difficult to get consolidated reports, since some key data was being stored in spreadsheets outside of the core system.

The Solution

We began our implementation like we always do, with a Discovery Project. We used the Discovery to confirm the project scope, cost, and schedule.

Next came the implementation. This included migrating all of their legacy data into eMembership. We configured (and customized, where necessary) eMembership to meet the specific business processing requirements of the Local.

Easy to Use: eMembership is a browser-based solution, available to authorized users at any time, from any location. This was particularly effective during the pandemic, as users could work from home just as easily as in the office. eMembership boasts a modern user interface that is both easy to use and intuitive. Also, because eMembership supports cradle-to-grave union operations, it eliminates the need for manual processes, ancillary systems and spreadsheets.

This union has unique requirements around tracking member event attendance and training. For example, Stewards must complete multi-class training. This data used to be managed offline in spreadsheets, but today it is incorporated directly into eMembership. Similarly, managing events such as bargaining unit meetings or bargaining unit leadership meetings used to be handled offline, but by incorporating the eMembership Events module, these are now managed completely within eMembership. This includes event creation, registration, invitations, communication, and attendance tracking.

Easy to Update: Because eMembership is built exclusively for labor unions, out of the box it met most of the union’s base requirements. But we understand that no two unions are alike, which is why we designed eMembership as a flexible architecture that can be configured and customized to suit any union’s unique requirements. Further, authorized users are able to make extensive changes using eMembership’s powerful administration tools.

Easy to Get Data In: One the union’s biggest challenges with their legacy system was the monthly importing of data from 800+ chapters. The data came in all different formats, and the union struggled to get it all into a single designated format that could be imported. With eMembership, they can create unlimited “import templates” that match the data format of each school district. That means each file can be uploaded with the click of a button, with zero pre-formatting or file manipulation. eMembership then automatically reconciles the import with core system data, highlights discrepancies, and allows users to set reconciliation rules for future imports.

Easy to Get Data Out: eMembership ships with loads of canned reports, and this union included a dozen additional reports as part of their initial deployment. But reporting requirement change daily, which is where the eMembership QueryBuilder comes in. QueryBuilder provides easy access to all data in your system via reusable queries. Non-programmers can create queries using a simple checkbox and picklist interface. More advanced users can use all of the expressive power of SQL to extract data from eMembership. Query results are exportable into Excel, where they can be refined or analyzed. Queries can also be deployed as infographics using the eMembership Dashboards module!

Results

• With eMembership, the union has a platform that not only supports all of their organizational requirements today, but that is flexible enough so that it can grow and support future requirements as well.
• The union is saving enormous time and effort by having all data consolidated in a single system, as a single source of truth, including.
• Processes that used to be manual, like Event Management, Member Training Management, and Grievances, are now integrated into eMembership. Automated workflows save time and ensure that nothing falls through the cracks. The eMembership homepage has a “to do” list for each staff member.
• The ability to upload member and payroll files in their original format has dramatically reduced the time required for month data loads. eMembership’s powerful reconciliation tools, including custom reconciliation rules, ensures that all data is “clean” before it gets into the system. No duplicate members, no incorrect addresses, no missing data fields.
• eMembership has been a dream come true for the union’s IT department, who no longer has to deploy system updates to 300+ desktops. And because eMembership runs in a browser, authorized users can access the system from home or on the road.
• The reporting capabilities of eMembership have been a game changer. Query Builder allows users to formulate their own reports at any time. And our customizable dashboards allow the users to see a graphical snapshot of the data that is most important to them.

Back to Articles