AFRA Membership Management System

☰ Contents

1 Executive Summary

AFRA's membership operations run on a Microsoft Access database that lives on a single laptop. It works, but it is fragile, hard to support, and tied to one machine and one set of habits. This proposal replaces it with a secure, web-based system that does everything the current database does for day-to-day operations - and removes the friction your team feels most.

We have reviewed your full requirements package (the Business Requirements Document, the MVP definition, the SAFe user stories, the original Access application, and the National Financial Secretary's own notes on the monthly process). Our recommendation is deliberately focused: rebuild the existing functionality your three users rely on, nothing more, and lay a clean foundation so the board can add online payments, member self-service, and other conveniences after September if it chooses.

2 Our Understanding of AFRA

We took the time to read the actual system, not just the requirements. Here is what we are replacing, in plain terms.

The pain points you told us about

3 Recommended Approach

We recommend a purpose-built web application, hosted and managed by Teknabyte. It is the best fit for three non-technical users, it gives AFRA a system it fully owns, and it is the only option that leaves the door open to the conveniences the board may want later.

4 Why Hosted, Not a Local Desktop App

Your requirements documents understandably ask for "no recurring fees," which points toward installing software on a local Windows PC. We want to be transparent: we believe a local desktop app would be the wrong choice for AFRA, and we would rather explain why than quietly build the cheaper thing.

The risks of staying local

The bigger issue: a local app blocks the future you want

This is the part that matters most. Several items AFRA has already said it may want after the September board change cannot be added to a local desktop app - or can only be bolted on awkwardly and expensively. A local build would force a second from-scratch rebuild to get them. A hosted web app makes every one of these a straightforward Phase 2 add-on:

5 Phase 1 Scope - What You Get

Phase 1 delivers the complete set of capabilities your staff use to run AFRA today, organized into seven work packages. Every item below is included in the $18,000 fixed price.

F-1 · Member records & core data

• Create, view, edit, and deactivate member records with a clean, large-text, easy-to-read form
• Auto-generated unique Member ID; honorary-member and reinstatement handling (same ID returns from the "graveyard")
• Full member fields: name, contact, address, email, birth date, gender, sponsor & sponsor's service, affiliation/eligibility code, membership begin/end, status, memo
• Member → Unit → Region → National hierarchy with roll-up
• Member transfers between units, with history preserved
• Fast search and filter by name, Member ID, unit, region, and status
• Manage units, regions, officers/titles, affiliation and event-code lookup tables

F-2 · Dues & payments

• "Batch entry" daily payment recording, reconciled the way the NFS works today
• Member, amount, date, check number, and notes captured per payment
• Advance payments up to 5 years; membership end-date extends automatically on payment
• Per-member payment history, on screen and printable
• Voids handled cleanly so the financial reports stay accurate

F-3 · Reporting (see Section 6)

• The core operational and financial reports, each exportable to PDF and Excel
• Filterable by date range, unit, and region
• Automated email distribution of Unit and Alpha reports to unit officers

F-4 · Membership cards & mailing labels

• Generate a membership card (Name, Member ID, Unit, Expiration) on demand for any active member or batch
• Export to PDF and to Word mail-merge; mailing labels for bulk mailings (Avery-compatible)

F-5 · Users, roles & security

• Secure login; three roles - Administrator, Standard User, Report Viewer
• Role-based permissions so financial and admin functions are protected
• Administrator can add, edit, and deactivate user accounts

F-6 · Data migration from Access

• Validated migration of all members, units, regions, payments, and history
• Documented field-to-field mapping, reviewed with your team before go-live
• Gap analysis and backfill of missing and placeholder data (e.g. absent emails, placeholder/malformed dates, unnamed or orphaned records, graveyard entries)
• Final delta refresh at cutover so records entered in Access during the build are captured - your data can keep changing right up to launch
• A validation pass with record counts and spot-checks, signed off before launch

F-7 · Administration, month-end & backups

• A guided, on-demand month-end routine that updates statistics, flags past-due members, and produces the reports - with a clear status indicator and the ability to re-run
• Reconcilable unit statistics (the "nose count" matches)
• Admin-managed configuration (dues amount, period dates, units, regions, lookups)
• Automated daily backups with a documented restore procedure (managed by Teknabyte)

6 Reports & Membership Cards Included

Phase 1 includes the core reports your team runs to operate the organization, drawn directly from your MVP definition and the NFS's report notes:

Plus on-demand membership cards and mailing labels. Reports retired by AFRA over the years (e.g. Life Members, the printed-check template) are intentionally excluded; any additional legacy report can be added in Phase 2.

7 Deferred to Phase 2 - The Roadmap

To keep Phase 1 focused and affordable, the following are intentionally out of scope now. They are exactly the kind of additions the board may consider after September, and the hosted architecture makes each one a clean, incremental project rather than a rebuild.

• Online dues payment by credit card (Stripe), with automatic receipts
• Member self-service portal - members update their own contact info and pay online
• Unit officer access - officers view and edit their own unit's data
• Fully automated month-end check/payable generation with bounced-check debiting
• Advance-dues revenue recognition (actualizing multi-year payments by membership year for budgeting)
• Officer/title historical lineage by year
• Remaining rarely-used legacy reports, on request
• Audit trails, multi-factor authentication, and detailed activity logging
• Automatic status changes driven purely by payment logic, and duplicate-detection rules

Nothing here is required to run AFRA day-to-day. Listing it now simply gives the board a clear menu and protects the Phase 1 budget.

8 Solution & Data Migration

How it is built

The system is a modern web application: a clean browser-based interface backed by a secure, reliable relational database, hosted on professional cloud infrastructure managed by Teknabyte. Your staff simply open a web address and log in - there is nothing to install and nothing to update on their PCs.

Migrating your data

We have already exported and analyzed the structure of your Access database, so migration is not a leap into the unknown. The process:

1. Map every Access table and field to the new system and review the mapping with you.
2. Migrate into a staging copy first - members, units, regions, payments, transfers, events, and titles - with a log of records processed, succeeded, and flagged.
3. Gap analysis & backfill - identify missing, placeholder, and inconsistent values (e.g. members with no email on file, placeholder dates such as 01/01/3000, the malformed payable dates, records with no name, and "graveyard" entries) and backfill or correct them using agreed rules and any supplementary information AFRA provides.
4. Validate with record counts and side-by-side spot checks against the live Access data, cleaning known data issues as agreed.
5. Final delta refresh & sign-off - because AFRA keeps working in Access right up to launch, we re-run the migration at cutover to capture every record added or changed during the build (new members, renewals, the April 1 cycle, monthly closeouts), then sign off on a final validation report. The migration is re-runnable, so this can be rehearsed as many times as needed before the real cutover.

9 Project Plan & Timeline

Approximately 10-12 weeks from kickoff to go-live. We work in short cycles and show you working software early and often, so there are no surprises at the end.

10 Investment

What the monthly fee includes

Suggested payment schedule for the build

Phase 2 enhancements (Section 7) are quoted separately when and if AFRA chooses to pursue them. There are no per-member or per-seat fees at any point.

11 Value vs. Off-the-Shelf

AFRA's own vendor comparison makes the case. A custom-owned system at $125/month sits well below the subscription products - and unlike them, it fits AFRA's structure exactly and never charges per member.

12 Assumptions & Dependencies

• The provided Access database (front-end + back-end) is the source of data for migration. AFRA may continue using it during the build; we run a final delta refresh at cutover to capture interim changes.
• Backfill covers gaps that can be resolved from the existing data or from information AFRA supplies. Net-new data that must be researched or collected from members (e.g. emails not on file anywhere) is provided by AFRA.
• AFRA staff are available for a discovery session, periodic check-ins, validation, training, and UAT.
• Phase 1 reflects the MVP scope in this proposal. Reports or fields beyond those listed are handled through a simple change process and may affect price or timeline.
• The streamlined month-end definition is confirmed in the Week 1 discovery session.
• Email distribution uses a sending service configured during the build (an AFRA or Teknabyte-provided mailbox/domain).
• Online payments, member self-service, and other Phase 2 items are not included in the $18,000.

13 Why CloudPeakLabs + Teknabyte

14 Acceptance & Next Steps

1. The Membership System Committee reviews this proposal and asks us anything.
2. We hold a brief call to confirm scope and answer questions.
3. If AFRA accepts this proposal, we issue an official quote for formal sign-off - the document that authorizes the project and locks in scope, price, and the payment schedule.
4. On signed acceptance of that quote, we schedule kickoff and begin the Week 1 discovery session.

We would be glad to walk the committee through this live and to demonstrate the on-demand card printing and automated report email - the two changes we think will matter most to your team.