Dues Setup

The first and most critical step in setting up the membership module to meet your organization's needs is dues configuration. Dues drives all aspects of memberships and it is essential that you both understand the components and set them up correctly based on your business rules.

Dues Cycle

The dues cycle is the starting point for setting up the dues structure. The cycle defines the duration of your dues and can be based on any period of time or time interval. 

For more details on the Dues Cycle entity including field descriptions, click here.

Master Query

1. Click the Master Query button in the Dues Cycle ribbon.
   
2. The Advanced Find window will launch for the query. From this window, you can add criteria starting from the membership record to limit which memberships will be included in this cycle.
   
    
3. Click Save and then click  to close the query window.

Dues Schedule

 click here

Dues Schedule Query

The query tied to the dues schedule defines all of the memberships that will be included in the schedule. In the example below, we're looking for primary, REALTOR® members that do not have a subclass of RE or DRE.

1. Click the View Query button in the Dues Cycle ribbon.
2. The Advanced Find window will launch for the query. From this window, you can add criteria starting from the membership record to limit which memberships will be included in this cycle. 
   
    
3.  Click Save and then click  to close the query window.

Note - It is important to not have overlapping dues schedules. RAMCO's Dues Generation Wizard will stop you from generating dues if there is overlap (it will also stop you if you do not have schedules that cover the master query), but you should think this through as you create your schedules.

Dues Option

Dues options are a link between the schedule and the products that will make up the dues items/orders. This entity also allows you to provide multiple options to your members when they renew their dues. This is primarily used if you want to give members a choice to renew for more than 1 year. This this case you would have one dues option with a one year duration others with a longer duration. 

For more details on the Dues Option entity including field descriptions, click here.

Note - Dues options are also used to setup payment plans. Cobalt and RAMCO are currently overhauling this functionality for the 2014 dues cycle after piloting this functionality with 2 RAMCO customers in 2013. 

Dues Product

The dues products are the final step to setting up your association's dues. This entity ties the products in the CRM product catalog to the dues options. These products will be added to the orders when dues are generated. Dues products also allow you to prorate dues items for new members based on join date and create optional products to allow flexible PAC contributions and/or donations.

For more details on the Dues Product entity including field descriptions,

 click here

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Dues Proration

For more details on the Dues Proration entity including field descriptions,

 click here

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Dues Proration Schedule

The screen below is the associated view for dues proration from the dues product. It gives you a quick view of how the dues will be prorated.

Conclusion

Now that you've setup your cycle, schedules, options and products you're ready to generate your dues.