06 Jul 06 iMIS Upgrade – Background

We plan to upgrade our iMIS Association Management System while evaluating our future direction. We have been reluctant to upgrade our iMIS system and have in fact not done so since July 2002. We have not taken advantage of enhancements, such as the improved fund raising module, nor have we taken advantage of fixes to various components, such as those to the iMIS web components (iMIS Business Objects). In the past, we felt that the changes to the user interface were enough of an impediment to Member and Customer Service (MACS) that we could not move forward. With the introduction of our Online Dues Renewal System (Dues Manager) and Online Meeting Registration System (Event Manager) there are fewer transactions processed by MACS, reducing the impact on MACS. We feel that the benefits from a software viewpoint (fixes and enhancements) and ease of use for the majority of our iMIS users produce a more compelling reason to upgrade. The iMIS upgrade is scheduled to take place later this summer.