Stick With What You're Best At
Submitted Apr. 14, 2015
Like all AMSs, you have to know what it's primarily good at because that is what you are buying. The secondary add-in functions are just that--added on--and not the best or most robust functions. YM is good on the membership side including handling corporate memberships, but also tracking individual staff members who are the ones who participate in the activities of the organization. I bought YM to automate my dues invoicing, and that has not proven to be as automatic as I would like. There are little issues like if someone renews later than the cut-off date, everyone who is connected to that member is suspended, and I have to individually reactivate all of the members once the dues are paid. Wouldn't it make more sense to reactivate all of them once the corporate dues are paid? YM includes a registration system which is bulky and difficult to use for the users, especially if you have lots of breakouts during your meeting. My users are forever confusing the link to register for the website with registering for the meeting. One of the key add-ins that I use is with QuickBooks. It's a good add-in and worth the extra dollars except when they upgrade the YM software. I was told that I would only have to use QB in admin mode the first time, but I actually have to use it in admin mode every time or the YM add-in doesn't work. Reporting is my least favorite function. If the default reports in the list are what you want, you'll be fine. One of the reports that I have wanted is to see total sales for a store item including discounts. I wanted to be able to compare what YM says I have sold with what QuickBooks says my sales have been. Cannot do it regardless of how many times I try and how many customer service people help. They don't seem to understand what I am trying to get at. I have created a workaround so that my exhibitors can "purchase" space at my trade show and pay by credit card. After 3 years, I've figured out how to use it to meet my needs, but the biggest issue I have is that it doesn't meet the needs of my users. They register regular complaints that it is confusing and unclear.
