ClubExpress defines a number of user categories.
Site Visitors
Your organization’s website serves as the gateway to all of the functionality within ClubExpress. So everyone starts out by opening a browser and typing in your club’s URL, for example:
http://www.chicagoCorvettes.org
http://chicagoCorvettes.clubexpress.com
The first screen shown is your organization’s home page, which you have defined to highlight the club’s or association’s purpose, current or recent events, or news. You have complete control over the content of the site, the header that appears on every page and the overall look and feel of the site.
There is also a menu of additional pages and modules that you make available to site visitors or members who have not yet logged in. ClubExpress controls what visitors can see, to protect confidential club/association and members-only information, such as the membership database. Non-members will only see what you allow them to see, such as the benefits of joining the organization, lists of special interests, the events calendar and an on-line joining form.
Every page includes a standard footer which points to the Contact Us page, allowing visitors to contact a club or association officer or send you email, the Terms of Use of the site, and the Privacy Policy that ClubExpress adheres to, and that you agreed to when you signed up for ClubExpress.
Club or Association Members
Every page also includes a small login panel that allows club or association members to log into the site. Clicking the Login link allows members to login with a unique user name and password.
Once logged in, members can see a different version of the organization’s home page, with content that is reserved for members only. They will also see a different list of choices on the menu, including options that would not normally be shown to non-members (such as Committees and the Member Directory.) Other modules have additional options for members only; for example, the Interests module allows members to select an Interest to see who else has signed up for that Interest. From there, members can also view a member’s Directory entry.
Once logged in, the login panel also includes a Profile link that leads to the member’s profile page. This page includes options that allow members to change their personal information stored in ClubExpress.
Depending on the Member Types you configure, there are variations among club or association members.
- Solo members are not linked to any other member accounts; they are only responsible for themselves and their own information.
- Primary members are created when you define a “family / business” membership type. This member has a primary login and one or more secondary and tertiary accounts under the primary login. For a primary member, the Profile screen includes an additional choice to manage secondary and tertiary accounts.
- Secondary members exist under a primary member who is assigned to a “family / business” membership type. Secondary members have their own login and identity within the system but their membership status is linked to the primary membership and renews or expires as the primary renews or expires. For a secondary member, the Profile screen excludes any choices related to renewals, the membership account, and credit cards. You can change the keyword used for a secondary member.
- Tertiary members exist under a primary member that is assigned to a “family / business” membership type. Like secondary members, their membership status is linked to the primary membership and renews or expires as the primary renews or expires. Tertiary members cannot log into the website. But if an email address is entered for them, they will receive emails sent by the club. Tertiary members have a Profile screen that is accessed by an administrator. Tertiary memberships are suitable for clubs where members join through their personal lives and the club needs to track children. For clubs where members join through their business or professional lives, they are suitable for tracking additional contacts at a business or location. You can change the keyword used for a tertiary member.
Note that for each of the following security levels, the user needs to be a solo, primary or secondary member in good standing before he or she can be a forum moderator, coordinator or administrator. Tertiary members cannot fill these roles because they cannot login.
Forum Moderators
In the Discussion Forums function, you can define forum moderators who have limited administrative rights over a specific forum. Moderators can modify or delete individual messages or threads, or move part of a thread to another forum. For forums where messages must be approved before they are made public, moderators can review and approve or block these messages. Moderators can also ban members from posting messages if they don’t follow forum rules (and remove bans for members who then agree to abide by the rules.)
Blog Author
In the Blogs function, each blog is authored by an individual who is usually a member of your club or association with specialized knowledge or experience. When you define a blog, you will link it to an author who will then have administrative rights over that blog, with the ability to create, edit and delete blog postings and comments (if enabled.)
Event Coordinators
When an event is created in the Event Calendar module, you have the opportunity to define an Event Coordinator who then has limited administrative rights to that event only. Event Coordinators can modify the basic information about an event, view a list of registrants, send event reminder emails to registrants, process payments, run reports and export event data.
Function, Custom Web Page and Photo Album Coordinators
Selected members may be designated as Coordinators in one or more functions, custom web pages or photo albums. Coordinators have the ability to administer that function or page, adding or deleting content, categories, entries, or members within the module or page. Functions can have more than one coordinator.
Administrators define coordinators, by clicking the Coordinators icon on the Control Panel, or on the Custom Pages Manager or Photo Albums Manager screens.
For selected functions, custom web pages and photo albums, if your club has subgroups, when you define a coordinator you can pick the level that this person can manage.
You can define an event calendar coordinator who can manage events belonging just to the Midwest region, or just the Dallas chapter.
Chapter, District and Region Administrators
If your club or association has subgroups, you can define administrators at each subgroup level. These administrators will see a special control panel with functions that apply to their subgroups only.
A chapter administrator has access to the People Manager screen but it only shows members in that chapter. A district administrator could run reports for all members of the district, or filter the report to just the members of one chapter within the district. Individuals can be managers of multiple subgroups at the same time.
Control Panel Coordinators
Coordinators can also be defined to help manage functions on the Control Panel itself.
You can assign one or more coordinators to help maintain the membership database, without giving them access to other administrative functions.
This is done by selecting Control Panel – Club tab – Setup panel – Administrators/Coordinators. The lower half of the screen allows you to define coordinators specifically for administrative functions.
Coordinators access the administrative functions in either of two ways:
- By clicking the Control Panel link. This is a special version of the Control Panel showing only the administrative functions available to that coordinator.
- For functions with a user and an admin component, by clicking the pencil icon in the Page Tools Widget on the right side of the screen.
Administrators
Selected members may be designated as club or association Administrators. These are usually the senior Board members (Membership Director, Treasurer, etc.), plus one or more people charged with managing the website itself.
Administrators have access to all information about the club or association and its members, including the membership database and financial transactions that are processed by ClubExpress. Administrators can change the overall look and feel of the site, the layout of menus, and which modules are made available to members and visitors.
Administrators can also appoint and remove other administrators. This is done by clicking Control Panel – Club tab – Setup panel – Administrators/Coordinators. The initial administrator account is created when the club signs up for ClubExpress. After that, a small number of additional administrators can and should be added to the system, so that someone can access the site if the original administrator becomes unavailable. After that, administrators can be added or removed as necessary to allow for changing membership and roles within the club or association.
The system requires at least one administrator.
The Administrators’ Discussion Forum
If you activate the Discussion Forums function, administrators will see a special forum at the end of the list for administrators only. This forum allows you to post questions that are available to all administrators across all ClubExpress clubs, and to the Support team in our office. You can also participate in discussions about the best ways to use ClubExpress for your organization. You should be careful not to post club-confidential information in this forum, since it is used by many ClubExpress customers.
Super Administrators
If you are part of a multi-tier organization with individual clubs that are linked to a parent club, you can define super administrators who are members of one club but who can login to any club website within the hierarchy to help manage those sites and databases. There is no user interface for this feature; contact ClubExpress to define a super administrator.
The System Administrator
At ClubExpress, we have system administrator rights on all clubs and associations. We can log into any website as an administrator to help with support tasks and troubleshooting, and to review sites for compliance with the Subscription Agreement and Terms of Use.