Frequently Asked Questions, The Clubhouse - Online Club Membership Management Software by Simmetrics

No. Anyone with Club Official level access can use the Sent Emails facility to check the contents of emails sent from the website. This includes both automatically generated messages and emails sent from the Send An Email facility. For security, username and password reminder emails are not displayed.

As anyone can register on the site, does this allow anyone access to the site without committee intervention?

Yes and no! Yes anyone can login, but non-members only have access to their own personal details, and the public areas of the site. No access is given to the Member Directory etc. They can sign up for events only if the event is open to guests. To see what access is given to a non-member, login to the demo as “former”. A person will only be granted member access privileges once he has been confirmed on the site by the Administrator as a bona fide, paid-up club member.

Can I customize the fonts, colours, logo etc. to match my club's colours?

Yes. Please fill in a Basic Styles Sheet with your Order/Application Form and email your logo to us and we will sort it out for you. Also, the website header is fully customizable so if you have any additional images (e.g. sponsors' logos) or text you wish to see there, please send us an email and we'll set it up. All this is included in the cost.

Can I view the whole database of members?

Yes. In the Member Directory, leave all search options blank and click the “Show All” button. If your results table has many pages you can select “All” from the Items Per Page drop-down box to see all members on a single page.

Can members pay their subs online using Google Checkouts?

Not yet. We are planning on supporting Google checkouts very soon (it's top of the list)!

Can members, staff and administrators have different levels of access?

Yes. Your staff can each have different levels of access. The roles and access levels can be set up by yourself using "Edit Club Roles" in the "Club Settings" section of the administration panel.

Can our customers pick up memos, messages or other news from the website?

We do not currently have a feature for "Latest News" but this is a priority. Currently all messages would have to be sent out by email or added to the Events Calendar.

Can subscriptions be paid online?

Yes. We now support PayPal so your members can pay online securely with a credit card. You may add a surcharge for online payments to cover the PayPal fees. The subscription table is automatically updated once they have paid and appropriate notifications and receipts are sent. We will also be installing Google Checkouts very soon.

Can the Registration Questionnaire be changed?

Yes. Use the Questionnaire Manager to create your own Registration Questionnaire with whatever questions you like. All clubs have a Registration Questionnaire which appears at the end of the registration process, so you should have at least one question on yours. All questionnaire answers go into the database and can be analyzed. For simple analysis it is advisable, where possible, to provide a list of possible answers – the Questionnaire Analysis Report can then be run and stats and pie charts produced.

Can the system cater for early payment discounts?

Yes. If your organization offers an Early Payment Discount you can enter your Early Payment Discount Deadline on the Club Details page. Administrators can use the Membership Categories Editor to assign different Early Payment Costs to each Membership Category.

Can the system cater for frozen subscriptions i.e. no increase year on year for members reaching retirement age?

No. There is currently no feature for automatically freezing subscriptions. Any membership cost can be modified manually by the administrator(s) before being sent out to the member.

Can the system help with reclaiming Gift Aid donations?

We don't directly support Gift Aid, however, any Gift Aid donations may be noted in the Payments Manager.

Can the system print member details e.g. A completed membership form?

At the moment only the Questionnaires are easily printed. This includes Registration Questionnaire and Parental Consent Forms. A feature to produce Printable Membership Forms (either blank or completed) is in the pipeline.

Can we change the membership categories and costs?

Yes. Club administrators can add, remove and edit Membership Categories from the site. Login and go to the Club Administration panel, select “Edit Membership Categories”. Click “Membership Category Search Results” for the table of existing categories. To edit each one click the “Edit” link in the table.

Does my club need to be registered under the Data Protection Act 1998?

That may depend on what data you collect on your questionnaires. For all UK data protection queries, please contact the Information Commissioner’s Office http://www.ico.gov.uk.

Does The Clubhouse have a system to organize a tournament?

No, at the moment there is no tournament software.

Does the Events Calendar need to be restricted only to events?

No. You can be creative with Event Manager. E.g. You could also use the Event Manager to report meeting minutes or publish newsletters.

Does the system cater for multi-sports clubs?

At the moment The Clubhouse handles multi-sports clubs by setting up different Membership Categories for each of the sports or sport combinations. You can also set up Club Roles for each sports section and a member may belong to multiple sporting sections. We are looking to work with a multi-sports club to expand the system to manage multi-sports clubs in an appropriate manner. So if you are from a multi-sports club and are interested in The Clubhouse, please get in touch!

Does the system cater for VAT? We require different VAT rates for different categories of membership e.g. 17.5% for playing members, 0% for social members etc.

Yes. If your organization is VAT registered you can enter your VAT Registration Number on the Club Details page.
Administrators can set up VAT Codes and VAT Rates by clicking "Edit VAT Rates" under "Club Settings" in the Administration panel.

Use the Membership Categories Editor to assign different VAT Rates to each Membership Category.

Does the system handle Family Memberships so that a whole family only receives a single invoice?

We are hoping to develop this soon. At the moment you can handle family memberships by adding each family member separately (as usual) and then applying the family discount in the Pending Subscriptions Manager. If you wish your famiy to receive only one invoice you can set the total family membership fee to one subscription and set the other subscription costs to zero. When the family subscription has been paid, mark all family subs as paid. You would have to remember to do this manually for the "free" subscriptions.

Does the system produce invoices for annual subscription renewal?

The system automatically produces invoices by email for all membership renewals. For those that don't have an email address on the system (or if you prefer to send by post) there is a Mail Merge facility. This allows you to download a comma separated text file of selected members and their subscription details which can be imported into any number of programs on your computer. E.g. if you have an invoice template saved as a Microsoft Word document, you could use the Mail Merge features of Word together with this data file to import the names, addresses and membership information into the document. It will produce and print one document per member.

How easy is it to import data into your system (e.g. from an Excel Spreadsheet)?

If you have an existing customer database in a suitable electronic format, we can import that into the system for you. This is normally charged by the hour. There are currently no options to import data into the system yourself. However, you can download/export customer details in CSV format (comma separated) files that can be automatically imported into Excel, Outlook etc.

How flexible are the Email Distribution Lists?

Totally flexible! You can create lists that are static, dynamic, or a mixture of both. The static part is a list of members, selected by you, that never changes unless you edit it manually.
With the dynamic part you can be creative. The lists are created on the fly (by searching the database) each time they are used. E.g. if you create a list of members under the age of 16, the ages of members are checked each time the list is used. Also, members can subscribe and unsubscribe at their will.
Dynamic lists save you from sending out blanket emails which are largely irrelevant to most of the recipients or from the time-consuming process of selecting individual recipients each time.

How important is it to keep the membership subscription details updated on The Clubhouse?

Subscription data is vital for the system to keep track of who is a current member as non-members do not have proper access e.g. they cannot access the Member Directory. Other important uses are:

1. Various searches can be done for members based on subscription criteria – useful for email distribution and mail merge lists.
2. To find out and chase up those who have not renewed their membership.
3. To find out current membership numbers and total subscription income.
4. Facility to handle temporary memberships and subsequent extensions.
5. Allows you to renew all subscriptions just before the start of the new season – note: this creates a new subscription for each member with an unpaid status. The secretary can then automatically send an email to each member with proposed dates and cost of the new membership.
6. Also sends automatically generated receipts by email.
7. Can also be used to track membership cards.

How much does The Clubhouse cost?

It depends on the size of your club and whether your club is a commercial organization. Please see http://www.the-clubhouse.co.uk/pricing.aspx for full details.
Keywords: prices, pricing, costs, costing, costs, fees, licences

Is there an area where administrators can place documents for our members to download?

Not currently, but this feature is a high priority. Club officers can send out documents as attachments by email.

Is there an option to pay subscription fees by instalments?

The option to pay by instalments is not currently recorded in the database. With the current system I can suggest three ways to handle payments by instalments:

1. Enter one subscription per instalment per member, each with dates to cover the period of the instalment so that there is no overlap. Split the cost between them. When the member pays his first instalment, mark the first subscription as paid, when he pays his next instalment, mark that one as paid also etc.
2. Enter only one subscription per member with dates to cover the whole period. Mark the cost as the value of the first instalment, when paid, mark it as paid. When the next instalment is paid, change the cost value to the total cost paid so far for both instalments and so on for each subsequent instalment within the period.
3. Just put in one subscription for the whole period and enter the whole cost. When the first instalment is paid, mark the subscription as paid. You will need to keep a separate record of which members owe further instalments.

Should I ever delete a subscription?

As a general rule NO! You should never delete a subscription that has been paid for.
You may delete unpaid subscriptions that have now become irrelevant. But you may wish to keep them in case you ever hear from that member again.
Never delete a subscription that has been paid for unless it was a duplicate or some sort of mistake. All paid subscriptions, even if they have expired, make up very useful information for your club. Subscription history is used to monitor membership levels over past years and can be broken down by many factors including Membership Category and Cost.

Shouldn’t the Parental Consent Forms require a hard copy signature? If so, what is the point of having them on the database?

Each club will individually decide the purpose of its Parental Consent Form. Club Administrators can set the questions for the form using the Questionnaire Manager. Some clubs use it to gather emergency information and consent for activities or medical procedures from the parent. In the case of consent a hard-copy signature would be advisable. This is why Officials can print off the “List of Parental Consent Forms” and get the parent to sign it when the child first visits the club. It is also advisable to keep a hard copy of all forms on the premises whenever a junior session takes place for emergency information. It can be useful to have the forms on the database because (a) the parents can check that the information is up-to-date (b) you have a backup copy that can be accessed quickly in an emergency. Parents should be reminded regularly to update the forms and inform the club of any changes. Note: Please check whether your club needs to be registered under the Data Protection Act http://www.ico.gov.uk/.

The Apply for a New Subscription page seems to allow members to choose their own start and end dates but our club only allows fixed season dates. How can this be prevented?

This is only an application for membership. It is to let the secretary know that someone (usually a former member) is interested in re-joining. The dates and cost can be changed by the secretary or the treasurer before an offer of membership is made to the “member”.

Yes. You can set up subscriptions for each customer to run for a fixed time period e.g. one term or one week. The system allows you to send automatic subscripion reminders/invoices and receipts by email.

What about Data Protection?

All membership data is kept in a secure database with access only through a secure SSL connection. Member contact details are available to other verified members on a permission only basis. To find out if your club needs to register under the Data Protection Act, please consult the Information Commissioner's Office at http://www.ico.gov.uk.

What are the advantages of the Past Events calendar.

Event reports, with photos, are available in the public area of The Clubhouse. As well as being fun and interesting to existing members, this has been found to be useful in attracting new members looking for a club with a thriving social scene or stong participation in competitions. Anyone in the committee can upload photos, then associate them with an event.

What is the difference between Add New Member in the Club Officials section and Register Another Person in the Tasks section?

The only real difference between the two is that Register Another Person defaults to the address of the person adding it (assumes it is likely to be a family member) whereas Add New Member is for Officials to add members who have no internet access or who are un-willing to use it.

What is the difference between Email Distribution Lists and Mail Merge Lists?

There is no difference between the lists themselves or the way they are created. Any list flagged as an Email Distribution List will appear in the Send An Email facility. Any list, whether flagged or not, may be downloaded and saved on your computer as a comma separated file (*.csv). This file can be opened in many programs such as Excel or Outlook Contacts. Currently the file contains a member’s contact details, latest membership category and latest membership end date. This file can be used to add names and addresses to letters or envelopes created in Word or similar programs. Useful when you need to use snail mail! You may also find there are some occasions when you need to send letters to members who have not provided an email address, use the Mail Merge Manager to create a list of members with no email address, then download the csv file and use it to send out your letters.

What is the purpose of the League Matches & Results page?

This is purely a reporting facility. It requires the team captain to keep it up-to-date. It is available in the public area of The Clubhouse so that non-members can also check your club’s standing in competitions.

What is the purpose of the List of Parental Consent Forms?

Allows a list of selected forms to be printed, each on a separate page in black and white. Printed forms may be stored at the premesis and a parental signature may then be obtained if deemed necessary.

What type of emails can I send using Send An Email?

Anyone with committee level access has the power to use the Send An Email facility!
Currently emails can be sent in plain text with attachments if necessary. The emails can be sent to any combination of email distribution lists in the database and individual email addresses can also be added or removed manually.

Why doesn’t the link to My Parental Consent Form work?

The link only works if you are under 16 (or the Junior age designated by your club); login as “Junior” on the demo and you will have access to your Parental Consent Form.

Why is it necessary to include the option to unsubscribe from email distribution lists? Surely the fact that a member has provided his email address can be taken as subscribing?

As the database holds the full history of members, whether current or former, it is possible (and can be very useful) to create an email distribution list that includes former members. The distribution lists are dynamic and therefore always up-to-date. E.g. On the first day of the new season, a list of “Current Adult Members” will, no doubt, be reduced to the small number who have renewed on time! Provision of email address does not equal subscribing because a member may provide his email address and wish to receive personal messages (e.g. receipt of payment messages) but may not wish to be bothered with general emails sent to the whole club so he may unsubscribe. A former member may unsubscribe and therefore no longer receive emails of club news etc. some former members like to be kept in the loop – especially if they still wish to attend social events or are looking to re-join the club after recovering from an injury or illness. By default, all members are subscribed to the lists unless they specifically unsubscribe.

Why is the My Membership Subscription Details page useful?

Not terribly important but allows a member to see what details the club holds and check if his sub is up-to-date.