Upgrades to Our Online Membership System
Dear Members of the Association
The Board of Directors is pleased to announce that on August 3rd a contract to renovate The Association’s website-based membership facility was approved and adopted by the Board.
This followed a search for suitable suppliers and a selection based on the skill-set of the suppliers.
Chosen from the various suppliers was a Barrie, Ontario based company, Signal Flare Media.
While there were a number of strong contenders Signal Flare did stand out in the area of database development and financial systems. Looking at similar projects that Signal Flare has undertaken, one that stood out was the Police Pensioners’ Association of Ontario (PPAO). Not unlike our Association, the PPAO is a grouping of a variety of police pension groups (Halton, Peel, York regional pd’s) that has memberships and attendant dues much in the same fashion as our set-up. Of course in our case the Divisions would be similar to the Regional Police Forces of the PPAO.
Today (Aug 5th) Signal Flare provided their plan to begin the update. There are 55 steps in the plan. It is currently being reviewed to ensure it meets our needs. The core functions in the plan involve,
- Onboarding process (how individuals access the system)
- Communications strategy (the messages that go out to current and potential members about their account on the website)
- Create a portal for members to review their own information
- Review the existing membership database and define the information requirements that are needed for it.
- Integrate a payment system to replace our current system
This plan contains six phases,
- Inception,
- Program Communication,
- Membership Management and Portal Construction,
- Content Population Testing
- Launch of the new system.
Each phase has a review built into it so that the steps that have been mentioned will be tested prior to any implementation.
We have discussed, and as you may note have established with Signal Flare that the highest priority in this project is to strenthen our electronic membership program to make it easier for everyone to use and more informative when strategic solutions are being developed
Our current website contains a great deal of information and for the most part that data will be retained. Initially this site will be used to test the new systems and as we progress through the upgrade it too will be enhanced.
We will be keeping you apprised of the progress in this project.
James Forrest
Director of Communications
RCMP Veterans’ Association |
August 6, 2020 
