Kavi Help CenterKavi® Members Help
| Chapter 13. Membership Workflow | ||
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Part I. Kavi Members Concepts | 
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Table of Contents
Workflow technology helps automate business tasks by electronically routing the right information to the right people at the right time. The membership workflow can ensure that users are notified when their membership applications are received and when bills are issued, and help administrators route membership approvals through the system quickly.
The workflow consists of a combination of configurable states and transitions that define the membership process, and which must be followed from the time a membership is requested until it is finally archived.
Back to topKavi Members has a predefined workflow for processing membership applications and renewals. Configuration options allow each organization to tailor how a membership moves through the process, but the basic process itself is common to all organizations.
Figure 13.1. Standard Membership Workflow
This simplified workflow diagram shows the order of states in the membership workflow. Each membership starts out in the 'New' state and terminates in the 'Archived' state.
Before a new membership becomes current, it needs to pass a series of tests. These tests include checks to make sure the membership has been approved, paid for and is scheduled to start. For each membership type, the organization can decide whether approval is required and whether a bill will be issued or not. If a membership is neither billed nor moderated, it will automatically pass all the tests on the way to becoming current. The organization can also decide in which order to bill and moderate memberships: either bill first then moderate, or moderate first then bill for each type of membership.
These options give an organization a lot of flexibility in defining its process for managing memberships. Once the process is defined, the workflow technology ensures that the process is always followed. This can be a big help if the organization needs to train new staff to manage memberships, as the system will reduce the risk of the new administrators inadvertently breaking any of the organization's business rules regarding membership management.
The table below describes all the states in the standard membership workflow and the tests a membership must pass to move on to the next state.
Table 13.1. Membership Workflow States
| State Name | Definition | Destination State |
|---|---|---|
| Start | Memberships enter the Start state as soon as they are added. A membership may be added when a new members applies for membership, when an existing member renews, or manually by an administrator. | After the start state, the web site may be configured to send a membership through the moderation state first then the billing state, or the billing state first then the moderation state. |
| Moderate |
Memberships in this state are sent for administrative approval, or automatically approved if this is an unmoderated membership type. The administrator may need to wait for the receipt of signed legal forms or the formal acceptance of the application by the organization's board before approving the membership. The organization can define membership types that don't require approval. When these memberships enter the moderate state, they will automatically pass the moderation test and move on to the next state. |
If the organization is set up to bill first then moderate, memberships that pass the moderation test will move to the Approved state. If the membership was moderated first, an approved membership will now move to the Bill state. Denied membership applications will move to the Rejected state and be automatically deleted. |
| Bill | Memberships in this state are issued a membership bill unless the membership is free. Depending on configuration, the membership may move automatically to the next state, or may remain in this state until the bill is paid. | If the organization is set up to moderate first then bill, memberships that pass the billing test will move to the Approved state. If the membership was billed first, the membership will now move to the Moderate state. |
| Approved | Approved membership applications have successfully passed moderation and billing tests. Memberships don't rest in the approved state, but instead move directly to the next appropriate state. | Approved memberships will become Current, unless they need to first wait for a prerequisite membership or their start date. |
| Pending Prerequisites |
Memberships in this state can only be passed if the member first acquires a primary membership with the organization. For example, Forum membership may only be available to current Steering members. The dependent membership will sit patiently in the queue until the primary membership is passes both the moderation and billing states. Dependent memberships become current once the primary membership becomes current, unless their start date is in the future. For more information about primary and dependent memberships, see the chapter on Using Membership Type Groups to Set Business Rules. |
Pending Prerequisite memberships will become Current providing the prerequisite primary membership is current, unless the start date of the membership is in the future. |
| Pending Start Date | Memberships in this state will go current as soon as their start date arrives. Typically, these are membership renewals initiated before the member's current membership expires. For example, if a company's current membership is good through the end of December 2005 and the company begins the process of renewing this membership before it expires, the company's new membership will be set to start in January 2006. Assuming this new membership is approved and paid for before the end of December when the old membership expires, the new membership will rest in the Pending Start Date state until January 1st, when the old membership will expire and the term of the new membership will begin. | Pending Start Date memberships will become Current on their start date. |
| Current | Memberships in this state are active. | Current memberships will enter the Expired state on their expiration date. |
| Expired | Memberships in this state are past their expiration date, but have not yet been archived. Typically, organizations allow a grace period between a membership's expiration date and the day when the membership benefits are officially revoked. The membership will rest in the Expired state during this grace period. | Expired memberships are moved to the Archived state once the grace period has elapsed. |
| Archived | This is the final state of a membership. Archived memberships are retained for historical records, but do not actively convey benefits to the member. | Archived memberships do not move to other states. |
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| Chapter 12. Using Membership Type Groups to Set Business Rules |  |
Chapter 14. Membership Renewal |