Category Archive: AMS Journey

I had the absolute pleasure of attending PCMA’s Convening Leaders Conference for the first time last week. Across the keynote sessions, smaller stages, and 1:1 conversations, we geeked out about igniting performance through personalization and branding, obsessed about developing smarter strategies to keep up with shifting markets, and explored a new reality where efficiency is shaping up to be the ultimate currency.

These conversations all underlined my, and perhaps our collective, key takeaway… technology should be a catalyst for performance, not a friction-filled hurdle.

Which is why, when I sat down for lunch with an events director of a mid-sized association, her experience with their event tech stack stood out so strongly.

She told me about spending her Sunday night manually exporting registration data from three different systems because the automated sync had failed. Again. She needed to send pre-event communications on Monday morning, and the only way to make sure she had accurate data was to do it herself

This wasn’t an emergency. This was her routine workaround.

And this was just one of a dozen conversations I had at Convening Leaders on the same topic.
Weak or nonexistent integrations between event apps and the AMS/CRM are standing in the way of event teams’ success.

If you’re reading this and nodding, you already know the problem. Your AMS holds most of your member data, but it can’t do everything you need for events. So you’ve built an ecosystem of specialized tools for registration, mobile apps, session tracking, and engagement. Each one does its job well. But getting them to talk to each other reliably? That’s where everything falls apart.

The Impact of Bad AMS and Event Platform Integrations

The most problematic symptom of weak integrations isn’t a single issue, but rather an unfortunate reality in which your events team – and every other team, for that matter – misses out on a clear 360-degree view of member engagement. That data lives in silos, and piecing together the full picture requires an extensive manual process.

The lack of transparency has organization-wide impacts, contributing to everything from mis-sent emails to staff turnover to poorly informed decisions that damage member trust.

Operational Problems with Event Management System Integration

The operational problems are obvious and frustrating. Discount codes that don’t apply because the registration platform can’t see membership tiers. Reminder emails sent to last year’s attendees instead of this year’s registrants. Badge printing chaos because data updated in one system but not another. CE credits that require manual reconciliation… The list goes on and on.

The real salt-rubbing factor here is that each of these tasks feels like it should be automatic. But instead, they require a workaround, a manual export, or a prayer that the overnight sync actually ran.

Strategic Impact of Poor AMS Integration

The strategic damage runs deeper. When your data is missing or inconsistent across systems, it creates doubt that, whether deserved or not, can be nearly impossible to overcome. Decisions made in this environment are more likely to impact programming decisions, event revenue generation, and ultimately the organization’s authority and reputation with members.

The Human Cost of Integration Failures

In their session at PCMA, Jay Kiew and Erin Stafford pointed to fragile integrations and manual workarounds as a primary source of burnout on high-performing event teams. Instead of spending their time creating great experiences, event staff are burdened with managing system failures and finding workarounds. This lack of support builds frustration and contributes to higher turnover rates among event staff.

And your members notice, too. Duplicate communications, registration errors, and contradictory information all create a customer experience that feels disjointed rather than engaging.

Why AMS and Event Software Integrations Fail

Most modern event platforms have workable API capabilities and integration features. If yours doesn’t, that’s a separate problem. But usually, the event tools themselves are fine. Instead, the problem lies within how data moves across your entire system.

Common Causes of Integration Problems

Sometimes it’s a configuration issue:

• Mis-mapped fields
• Custom object limitations
• Undocumented or Incomplete Workflows
• API call limits

These are largely fixable, but require the attention of someone who understands the event team’s needs, the organization’s processes and priorities, and the technical intricacies of all involved systems.

The Point-to-Point Integration Problem

The bigger issue is usually something much more systemic – an organizational reliance on point-to-point integrations. The event platform talks directly with the AMS. The AMS talks directly to the marketing platform. The mobile app talks directly to all of them (or, gasp, none of them).

This “old-school” approach to integrations creates a web of one-off connections that presents significant challenges:

• Low Flexibility and Scalability: Removing or adding just one tool requires a sizeable effort and threatens to break existing workflows.
• Security Risks: Multiple direct connections create weak points, a lack of central control, difficulty tracking data access, and the potential for inadequate encryption or authentication.
• High Maintenance Overhead: Each integration has its own configuration, sync schedule, and error handling protocol, requiring a significant amount of individual oversight.
• Decentralized Error Handling: A lack of centralized error handling means a silent failure may go undetected until missing or outdated data causes a noticeable problem.

At its core, this type of strategy is a scalability trap that limits your organization’s ability to adapt to changing needs and requirements while opening itself up to significant security risks.

Each integration has its own configuration, its own sync schedule, its own failure modes. When something breaks, tracking down the problematic connection can take hours. Data inconsistencies compound as information flows through multiple handoffs. And every time you add a new tool or update an existing one, you risk breaking something else.

What Good AMS and Event Platform Integrations Look Like

Real-Time Data Synchronization

When data is consistently up-to-date across systems, it opens the door to:

• A member updates their profile and sees it reflected across all systems within minutes.
• Event registration triggers marketing automations, updates the membership record, and updates app access all at once.
• Scanning into a session posts CE credits automatically, updates engagement scores, and feeds personalization engines.

Common-Sense Workflows

Strong integration strategies support workflows that make sense for the end user. Ideally, this looks like your event team performing the vast majority of their job within the event apps. When the right data is in the right places at the right time, it enables your team to build smoother workflows that don’t require bouncing between systems.

Middleware Solutions for Association Event Management

Instead of tool-to-tool connections, middleware centralizes your data into a “single source of truth”, handling translation, mapping, and routing.

We’re big fans of a specific type of middleware, Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS). This modern evolution maintains a central data repository while allowing different applications to communicate without necessarily funneling all data into a single, cumbersome database. Instead, the iPaaS passes only essential data between the central repository and external tools while allowing more transactional data to move directly between applications as needed. This iPaaS setup lets associations choose the best applications for each task without impacting the general flow of the broader system.

Is Your Organization Ready for iPaaS?

The largest indicator that your team is ready for a middleware solution? Your recognition of the importance and power of centralized data.

If you know that data problems are holding your organization back, it’s time to make the move to a modern integration strategy.

Supporting symptoms that you’re ready for the move include:

• You’re experiencing regular integration limitations or failures.
• Multiple departments are hurting from the same problems.
• You’re planning to add more tools or consolidate existing ones.

iPaaS Solution Options

For associations and nonprofits, iPaaS is the best way to improve data consistency and trustworthiness while reducing complexity and the need for custom coding.

Some best-in-class iPaaS options for associations include:

• Salesforce Data Cloud: Best for organizations using or considering a Salesforce-based AMS.
• MuleSoft: High flexibility for complex enterprise needs.
• Informatica: Strong for data quality and governance in larger organizations.
• fusionConnect: Purpose-built on Mulesoft for association tech stacks.

For tighter budgets, consider looking at lighter-weight tools like Zapier, Workato, or Boomi.

It’s important to note that these are enterprise-level investments and should be considered as part of your organization’s holistic data strategy. One-off use of a tool like Zapier might fix one failed integration, but will not address larger issues around data visibility and insight actionability.

How to Get Buy-In for Better Event Integrations

Integration issues aren’t just an ‘Events Issue,’ and while the entanglement of other departments’ systems and processes makes this a more complicated issue, it also offers important validation to your ask for systems that communicate better.

Unreliable data is an organization-wide concern. Marketing needs reliable data for campaigns and segmentation. Membership needs it for engagement tracking and renewals. Finance needs it for revenue recognition and forecasting. Leadership needs it for strategic decision-making.

Recognizing the widespread implications of an antiquated integration strategy is a great first step, and builds common ground from which to secure organization-wide movement.

Getting the IT Team on Board

Of course, the events team rarely owns the CRM or AMS. That’s the purview of your IT or operations teams. Which makes your IT team strong partners.

IT cares about:

• Security and compliance
• Reducing support burden (they’re as tired of your integration fires as you are)
• Scalability and maintainability

Start the conversation with these questions:

• What system is the source of truth for member data?
• What integrations do we have now?
• Are we using any middleware or integration platforms for other departments?

Implementation Roadmap: Fixing Your Event Tech Integration

Phase 1: Assessment

You can start this tomorrow:

• Map your current systems and data flows
• Document recurring failure points and their business impact
• Calculate the actual cost in staff hours on workarounds, revenue lost, and opportunities missed

Phase 2: Building the Business Case

Frame this as a cross-departmental initiative:

• Quantify outcomes: Improved member experience, better sponsor value, accurate reporting, staff efficiency, revenue protection
• Include IT needs: Reduced support burden, better scalability, improved security
• Show cross-functional impact: How this helps marketing, membership, finance, and leadership

Phase 3: Planning Your Integration Solution

Convene stakeholders from all affected departments:

• Evaluate middleware options or interim solutions based on your organizational readiness
• Design your integration strategy: What connects to what? How often? Who owns what?
• Establish governance structure for ongoing management

Phase 4: Implementation and Adoption

Start with your highest-impact use cases:

• Begin with core flows: Usually event registration to AMS to marketing automation
• Built-in monitoring: Set up alerting and error tracking from day one
• Document everything: Create clear documentation for the next person
• Plan for governance: Define who maintains mappings, who troubleshoots, and how new systems get added

The end of Your AMS Journey is in sight – you have undergone testing and training, and are now ready to prep for launch. In fact, preparing for go live is something the team has to keep in mind throughout the entire project. Here are some important items to consider:

Constituent Communication

We recommend that the association begin informing their constituents of the new AMS at least 3 – 4 months before the desired go-live date. The first communication should inform them of the fact that in 3 – 4 months time, they will be a new system and state a few advantages they will directly benefit from. One month from go-live, a second communication should go out to give more details around the date, potential down time, specific benefits as well as drum up enthusiasm about the new system. A third communication should be sent out to state the exact dates and any additional information needed ahead of launch.

Data Freeze Date

As part of preparing for the go live, determine a date on which all transactions in the system will be halted. This means that there will be no new transactions in the legacy system after that time. All transactions that need to occur will be recorded manually to be applied into the new AMS when it comes online.

Final Data Conversion

The final data migration begins on the data freeze date, and is expected to go until all the data is migrated to the new AMS and has been validated. The cycle 1 data migration that occurred earlier would have provided guidance on how long this activity should have taken.

Portal User Accounts

As part of the final data migration, all portal user accounts need to be created. Additionally, passwords need to be set to what they were in the legacy system, or a communication must be sent out to constituents asking them to reset their passwords.

Go/No-Go Decision

Once all the data is migrated, auditing of the data is complete and is deemed ready to move forward, the go, no-go decision is taken. This decision relies heavily on what items have been reported that the association can live with, have work arounds for and can fix post go live and those that are go live blockers.

Contemplate a Soft Launch

Considering the new AMS will be new to staff and your constituents, if your situation allows, you can contemplate taking a longer time to turn on the constituent facing portal and give staff time to get acquainted first. This splits the stress that staff will have to face day one having to answer an irate constituent on the phone, while still not being totally confident of where in the new AMS to get the information.

By this stage of Your AMS Journey, you have made all the crucial decisions regarding choosing a new product and implementation partner. With your platform and partner selected, now it is time to roll up your sleeves and get to work. To begin, you will engage in a discovery.

Clients are often unable to understand the need for a detailed discovery. Organizations will believe that their conversations with a salesperson, or even the RFP responses, should be adequate for the project to begin. Unfortunately, that is not usually the case.

The discovery is an opportunity for the implementation teams of both the client representatives and the Systems Integrator (SI) to learn about the tactics needed to implement the AMS and see what is needed to bring the vision to reality.

In the previous post, I mentioned concentrating on the ‘what.’ This is the time to get into the ‘how.’ Here are some items to think about as your begin the discovery phase:

The point of a discovery session is to highlight what you have, what your organization wants, and what you need to move forward. Remember, the discovery is an opportunity for the implementation team of both the client representatives and the systems integrator to learn about the tactics needed to implement your new AMS platform.

Do not hesitate to reach out to fusionSpan for additional resources, and stay tuned for the upcoming blogs as we jump further into the implementation process!

You made your product selection, and are excitedly looking forward to implementing your new AMS platform. Now comes the decision to select an implementation partner.

Look carefully at who you plan to use to implement your chosen product. You want a team that understands your business, knows how to integrate all the best of breed systems that you plan to use, and is experienced. The implementation team from the product company could be a great fit, but evaluate if they possess the experience to be your comprehensive systems integration partner.

Far too often, we see associations make the product selection and expect the implementation partner to take them to the finish line. That can be a recipe for failure. Here are some areas that need consideration as you get ready:

Assemble Your Implementation Team

• The Project Manager (PM): Identify a project manager for the new AMS implementation. Implementing an AMS can be time-consuming, requiring a lot of coordination, organization, and communication, and might require up to 20 – 24 hours a week on average. This time commitment will be higher in the beginning with discovery, will be slightly lower during the build/execution phase of the project, ramp back up at user acceptance testing, and go live. Frequently we see associations assigning people to the role who are unfamiliar with project management, are unaware of what an implementation requires, and, more importantly, already have a full-time job. If you find yourself in such a predicament, we recommend hiring a part-time external project manager to help. The expense will pay for itself ten-fold with a successful implementation.
• The Project Sponsor (PS): Identify a project sponsor for the implementation. This person is usually someone from the executive team who keeps a finger on the pulse of the project and is responsible for the project’s success. The PS usually meets with the implementation partner’s PS monthly and ensures that the project is on track. The sponsor check-ins are usually held independent of the project manager’s check-in and gives the sponsors a chance to discuss items that either side sees and that the PMs are unable to handle. This is also an escalation point for the PMs and the members of the core team on either side as it relates to the project progression.
• The Core Team (CT): Behind every successful implementation is a great core team. Your core team should consist of staff members from every department that will be using the AMS or will be impacted by its implementation. Having a mix of a power user (staff person) and a manager (decision maker) per department represented is crucial to success. Having only the staff person will result in the system being designed for today while having only the manager will result in the system being designed for tomorrow disregarding the nuances of today. Lastly, select people who will want to own their piece of the implementation and will be your champions across the organization. This will have a direct impact on adoption.

Develop a Timeline and Mutual Processes

• Kickoff: Have a formal kickoff meeting with all of the staff that will be using the system and the systems integrator. This meeting should have Association leadership in attendance and the Executive Director laying out how the AMS will tie into the strategic vision. This helps clarify to staff the importance of the project and also ensures their participation and commitment.
• Communication: While there are many aspects of a project that will be discussed during the kickoff, we would like to highlight the importance of communication. Ensure you use a collaborative tool for all communications between the members of the teams. We have seen teams use emails and it has been disastrous as information is frequently lost, especially if there is a change in resource.

Manage Your Data Wisely

• Data Governance: The implementation of a new AMS could be the best opportunity to visit your association’s data governance. Contemplate bringing in a consultant to help if you should need to.
• Clean data: As you contemplate the many aspects of data governance, begin thinking of how you are going to get clean data into the new AMS. We recommend not trying to use the new AMS for cleansing the data, even if it professes to have great capabilities for it. Rest assured that once you are in the midst of the implementation, adding data cleansing to the mix will prove detrimental.

Know What It Will Take

We often see associations overlook what a new AMS implementation truly takes in terms of the association staff’s time. Ensure that you talk through your staff’s time commitment with your chosen implementation partner to consider what it will really take to implement a new AMS.

For more resources surrounding an AMS Selection and Implementation Journey of your own, don’t hesitate to reach out to our talented team at fusionSPAN today!

As an organization that specializes in AMS support and implementation, we typically step in after the selection of an Association Management System has already been made by your organization. Our first step is to ask the AMS partner or association for their Request For Proposal, but a surprising number of clients never issue one.

What is a Request For Proposal?

A Request For Proposal (RFP) is a document used when an association is seeking support or consultation on a tool, product, or service for their organization to leverage. The RFP is designed to outline the requirements for a specific project, and is used to solicit bids from vendors for the association to consider during the process.

While there are a variety of ways to format the proposal, they typically take time and resources to create. Make sure this is a project your association is fully committed to doing before beginning the RFP process.

Here are some things to consider as you create an Request For Proposal for your AMS Journey:

There are a variety of resources and templates online for your association to use when creating a RFP. Make sure to highlight your organization information and required details for this implementation, as well as budget info, deadlines, and any questions you will have for potential vendors. Remember, the idea of this proposal is to specify your needs to help find the best fit for your association.

Stay tuned for Step 3 of Your AMS Journey: Selection to Adoption, where we discuss choosing the right Product Partner for your association. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to reach out to fusionSPAN with any of your AMS implementation needs!

Contact Us