Page 10 - 2018 AMA Summer

AMAHQ
TRANSFER OF
MEMBERSHIP DATABASE
ACROSS TO TAHDAH
By Roy Davies
At the 2016 AMA AGM it was agreed to migrate our, rather antiquated, membership management system to that provided by an external contractor called Tahdah. Tahdah are a Welsh company, based in Llandudno, who also provide the professional service seen on the Mountain Training (MT) website and are responsible for the digital logbook capability MT users have access to. The need to change from our current management system comes from the necessity to comply with new European regulations that dictate how personal information is managed by businesses; we are legally obliged to comply with data andinformationprotectionrules,namely General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). Tahdah enables this compliance.
‘For those who already have an MT account, it is possible to link the accounts to allow access to both from a single log-on’
The AMA has been able to negotiate a service with Tadah for its members and would permit integration with all the services found with Mountain Training without having to register as an MT user.
The first step is to migrate the current AMA membership over to its new home and this is taking a little longer than ever anticipated. However, the plan has been reviewed and will continue with the current membership period (ending in Jan 19) being the last under the existing process. Below is a short update on how the transition will be managed
Firstly, quotes for a new annual membership card are being sought. We will then put in place a contract that will enable membership cards to be produced and sent direct to members within a month of the new member’s direct debit payment being taken. For current members, the membership cards will arrive prior to the start of each membership period. Membership cards will have an expiry date to prevent any abuse of membership privileges. Details on the membership card will be extracted direct from the membership database hosted on Tahdah.
Next will be to bulk transfer Direct Debits from the current manual system which Emma, in her role as AMA Secretary, conducts every year for every member, to the automated Tahdah system. This will be conducted over the next few months. Members might, depending on their bank be separately notified of the change by their bank. The Direct Debit will not be taken until Jan 19 in line with the current Jan to Jan membership period. No action is required by members; current
Direct Debits will be cancelled as part of the transfer period to ensure no double payment is taken.
When the system is live, new members will establish their Direct Debit details as part of the set-up, payment will be taken within 14-days and once payment received their membership card will be sent directly to them.
‘Membership cards will have AMA and the individual member’s details on the front, including an expiry date. On the reverse will be the details of at least one of our leading sponsors’
Once these steps are completed and a trial period has been conducted, a copy of our database will be transferred onto the
Online assistance is available 24/7 if the user requires
Shop - this is the MT shop but it is where any e-commerce can be conducted for bits that the AMA may wish to sell in the future - note the ‘Need Help’ link
10 / ARMY MOUNTAINEER