Membership Database Preparation for Conversion to new
District and Club Database Software (DaCdb.com)

(Monday, July 8, 2008) Over the next few weeks, Rotary District 6150 will convert to a new software system for managing the club and district membership, attendance reporting and communications functions for the 39 Rotary clubs and nearly 2,400 Rotarians within District 6150.  This conversion is necessary due to Rotary International's decision to discontinue RI-CAS - read Rotary's official statement here.

Features for Club Members

For club members, this new system provides ready access to their contact details as well as the ability to update their own mailing address, phone numbers, email address, etc. through a secure web site.  Members will also be able to view their club’s entire membership directory including member photos as well as many other features. Additional features designed to maintain security of members' information and email addresses are built into the system.

Features for Club Leaders and Officers

Club leaders will gain exciting new tools for communicating with members, maintaining their membership rosters, printing name badges and club directories, creating Rotary Foundation transmittal reports, maintaining an online calendar and lots more.

Standardized Monthly Reporting to District

Monthly reporting of membership and attendance will be standardized for all clubs plus clubs may subscribe (for a small fee) to a service that supports weekly attendance reporting.  There’s even a feature for creating bar codes to affix to name badges and recording attendance with an optional, low cost bar code scanner!  How's that for cool!?

Preparing the Club Membership Data for Conversion

To prepare for this conversion, all clubs currently using RI-CAS (previously known as Clubmate) for club administration, will need to follow a few steps to prepare their membership databases for conversion.  Please review the following list carefully and confirm that your club’s database is ready for DaCdb.com  (If you're club's membership records are kept in some other system (such as Microsoft Excel, please contact Sam Hummelstein for additional information.)

1. Each member’s Rotary International Membership ID Number must be entered into the “Rotary International Number” field on the “Club” tab in RI-CAS.
2. The City, State and Zip code values must be in their own fields.  In earlier versions of the Clubmate / RI-CAS software, these fields were combined into one of the address fields.  Please be sure these values have been separated into their individual fields and are not in one ADDRESS LINE field. Be sure to check ALL 4 address types, Home, Business, Other & Temporary. 
3. Please avoid using all CAPITAL letters in the name and address fields (I.E. JOHN W. SMITH) as this will create an inconsistent appearance in lists and directories.  Proper case (i.e. John W. Smith) is the preferred way to enter name and address information into the RI and District databases.  If your club's records are different they will overwrite the District's records and create a problem.
4. If you have any new members who have not yet been assigned a Rotary International Membership Number, please log into Rotary Member Access on the RI web site and enter the new member into the RI database.  This will automatically assign the member’s number which you can then enter it into your club's membership database.  If your club president, secretary or executive secretary / director don't have access to this system ,please contact Sam Hummelstein for assistance.

Note: Failure to properly prepare your database will result in duplicate entries being created and could corrupt both the District and RI membership databases.

Can my club continue to use RI-CAS?

Your club may continue to use RI-CAS but since Rotary International will discontinue all support for this software after December 2008, we recommend your club plan now to consider conversion to the club features in DaCdb.com.  One other reason to discontinuing using RI-CAS the fact that it no longer calculates attendance correctly due to a change enacted after the 2007 Rotary International Council on Legislation (COL).  You can view the new calculations here.

You can learn more by reviewing the information on the web - District 6150 DaCdb feature overview ,visit the www.DaCdb.com web site or contact Sam Hummelstein:

Sam W. Hummelstein
District Communications Officer (DCO)
Rotary District 6150
870-935-8110
dco@Rotary6150.org