Membership defines a member's relationship to the organization; the benefits the member receives and the member's obligations to the organization. Membership types are typically defined in the organization's bylaws or constitution, have a cost, a limited duration and grant privileges to the membership holder.

Each organization has rules determining which types of memberships are available to which classes of potential members, and how many memberships of a given type a member may hold at any one time. Once a membership has been acquired according to the organization's rules, the membership can automatically assign one or more company or user types to the member to grant web site access and classify the member. Unlike other user or company types, types and access granted through a membership cannot be removed without disabling the membership or deactivating the member's account entirely.

Figure 7.1. User Types Granted Only through Membership

When Fred's Sponsor memberships becomes current, he's automatically assigned the Sponsor user type. This will ensure that Fred shows up in any rosters or searches for sponsors. When Fred's Board membership is archived, his Board type will be automatically removed.

Each type of membership is associated with a user or company type having the same, or similar, name. When a membership is acquired, this type is automatically assigned to the member, and can then be used to retrieve and manage members holding this type of membership.

The process for acquiring and renewing membership can be complex. Because membership information is so widely published and the process so important, Kavi Members tools allow membership types and processes in the membership layer to be defined in far greater detail than other classification layers in the system. The following pages clarify how Kavi Members supports and helps define an organization's process for managing membership signup and renewal.