Database Management System

DMS provides facilities for a comprehensive members search and a mechanism for producing Club and District Handbooks.



Database Management System (DMS)

DMS provides facilities for a comprehensive members search and a mechanism for producing Club and District Handbooks. 

Overview

Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland has created a database management system which is an extension of the Rotary GB&I-Template website system enabling districts and clubs to maintain their membership records through their website.

Members can update their own information and have access to handbooks, search and email facilities to find other colleagues or clubs across their district and then print that information in various formats.

How-To-Guides (Up-To-Date Link)

The FAQs page will be regularly updated so check back to see if your question has been answered before.

Integration

In the past, Secretaries and/or Club Administrators have had to maintain two sets of databases for Rotary; the Rotary International one, and the Rotary GB&I one.  The latter has much more comprehensive information.  Previously it has been a pain for club secretaries to maintain both databases, so the result that is has been easy for them to be out of sync.

The first step is to ensure that both databases are consistent and that needs a once only detailed check with only periodic checks in the future when changes are made.  it will only be necessary to change things on one database and the new facilities will permit an automatic sync of the data.  The system will initially only be able to push data from the Rotary GB&I Template database up into the RI Global database until RI finish code development for this to be a two way process.
To get this process set up, the following steps need to be followed:

Step 1. Linking your RI and Rotary GB&I-Template data

Your club(s) needs to set the Vendor Partner Organisation* in the Club Administration area of MyRotary as “Rotary GB&I Data Integration” (see ‘how-to’ guide here).


Please double check you have selected the correct ‘vendor’ as we have had reports of some clubs not doing so.


It is a simple process with the ability to set this link restricted to the specific Club Roles as follows: Club President; Secretary; Executive Secretary; Treasurer; Foundation Chair; Membership ChairPlease download this ‘how-to’ guide to learn how to set the Vendor Partner Organisation.

Once this is completed, you will normally need to wait overnight (up to 24 hours maximum) for the RI system to make the linkage effective. Then you can move on to the task below:

*‘Vendor Partner Organisation’ is the terminology RI have used, it is just referring to the linkage between the two databases as the Rotary GB&I-template database is technically a ‘supplier’ to the RI database.

Step 2. Synchronising your club officers

To synchronise data between the Rotary GB&I Template and RI Global Database systems, you will need to login to the Rotary GB&I Data Management System (DMS) at http://dms.rotarygbi.org using your RI login information as if you were accessing MyRotary or the Members Area of the Rotary GB&I website. The details laid out below can also be downloaded in this second “how-to” guide.
Data synchronisation functions are in three parts and can be found (once logged in) under the section in the DMS called ‘My Area’, shown below, and detailed as follows:

my area

  1. My Profile - An area for any individual member to check their personal data held in both the RI and Rotary GB&I databases, to make changes and then synchronise from one system to the other. This is all part of our compliance under the Data Protection Act and also ensures the individual takes some responsible for accurate personal information
    • The fields shown are the only fields which are editable within the RI Global database.
    • Within the data synchronisation, the e-mail address is not editable as it is used for primary login purposes in both databases; incorrect updates could invalidate a user’s login.
    • The option Push to Rotary GB&I Template will download data from RI and overwrite data in the Rotary GB&I Template.
    • The option Save and Push to RI will save information you have changed in the Rotary GB&I data fields and then overwrite the data held in the RI record.
  2. My Club(s) - From here, Club Admins/Secretaries can update member data and synchronise individual club member records (on the Rotary GB&I side), draw down members from the RI system into the Rotary GB&I system, and create new records in the RI system from the Rotary GB&I system.
    Officers
    A system that automatically draws information from RI and Rotary GB&I together in relation to Club Officers. It shows the data on a single screen and the club administrator can amend current year officers and add/delete officers for the next Rotary year.
    Please note that this is only to update the RI officer data and you will therefore need to ensure that your other club officers are added and up to date through the normal club admin process in the Rotary GB&I Template system.

The first job for the Club Secretaries/Executive Secretaries is to accept the ‘third-party’ link in the Club Administration Area on MyRotary detailed in Step 1 above. Until this step completed, club records will not synchronise. Once the link between the two systems has been setup, the Club/District Admins/Secretaries will be able to look at the records and decide whether they wish to push updates to RI or download records from RI.

Having made sure your club member records are accessible, the most important task that needs to be completed without too much delay is that of setting Club Officer information for 2016/17. This is achieved in the DMS under the ‘Officers’ section. When this area is accessed, the system checks information in both the Rotary GB&I and RI databases, merging details which you can then amend as required.

Step 3. Synchronising your members

Staying logged into the DMS, under the My Club(s) area shown above, Club Admins/Secretaries will find a list of members in your club (if you are a district admin/secretary, you will see all clubs and members here with an indicator if they still need to link the databases as per step 1).

sync

  1. a) Firstly, you may or may not see the green “Sync Members from RI Global database” as shown above. This green button will appear only if there are different lists of names in the two databases. If there are any discrepancies a list will show which members are on the RI Global Database but not on the Rotary GB&I Template Database.  There are three possible situations where this may arise:
    i). If members have been entered into the RI Global database but not on to the Rotary GB&I Template database
    In this case tick/check the box to the left of the name before proceeding. Those members missing in Rotary GB&I Template will then automatically be added to the Rotary GB&I Database
    ii). If a member has been terminated on the Rotary GB&I Template database but not on the RI Global database
    There is a red cross at the right hand side of the record, and clicking this will ask you if you are sure that you wish to terminate the member on the RI Global database
    iii). A new member has been registered since November 2015 on both the RI Global database and on the Rotary GB&I Template database

b) When you click the green sync button, if a name appears which is already on the database, then accepting any member displayed as being on the RI Global database but not Rotary GB&I Template system may result in a double entry for that member. If that happens it is possible to resolve the issue by using (with caution) the red cross at the right hand side to ‘terminate’ that member. A warning message will appear before a termination flag is put next to the member on the database, and please make use of the option to note the member as either ‘terminated’ (i.e. left the club), or ‘deceased’ (i.e. member has passed away/died). By selecting deceased you will stop any unwanted or upsetting mailings being sent to that member by RI.

  1. The screen will show all members with a red cross by their name (blanked out above for data protection)
  2. Go to each member record separately via the edit pencil button (if you don’t see this button, please refer to the FAQs)
  3. Another screen will come up – for that particular member – showing two columns. On the left will be the data that is available on the Rotary GB&I template database and on the right will be the data that is available on the RI database (assuming the club is linked)
  4. Please note that pushing a blank field will overwrite, i.e. delete, any data that exists in the corresponding field on the other side. For example, if you’re pushing RI Global Database data to the Rotary GB&I Template, to correct an address line, and you have a phone number on the Rotary GB&I side but not RI, the blank RI field will overwrite the number in the Rotary GB&I field. Many people may assume that a blank field will just be ignored by a field with data, whereas it will actually replace it.
  5. If these areas DON’T agree, you can change the information to match on the Rotary GB&I Template side; just click on the line you want to change and add in the detail OR if the information is missing only on the RI side, you don’t have to do anything.
    *please read the ‘Important things to consider when editing a member’ section below first
  6. Check that all is well on the left hand side, then go to the bottom left hand side and click ‘Save and Push to RI Global Database’.
  7. Alternatively, if all the data is correct on the RI side, go to the bottom right hand side and click ‘Push to Rotary GB&I Template’
  8. The screen will go opaque for 5–10 seconds, and then a message will appear that the record has been successful in updating. You will see the page refresh, then you can close that member screen. If it has been integrated correctly, the red cross will change to a green tick
  9. Once all members have a green tick, you’re done! Congratulations and thank you!

Important things to consider when editing a member

  • Please note that pushing a blank field will overwrite, i.e. delete, any data that exists in the corresponding field on the other side. For example, if you’re pushing RI Global Database data to the Rotary GB&I Template, to correct an address line, and you have a phone number on the Rotary GB&I side but not RI, the blank RI field will overwrite the number in the Rotary GB&I field. Many people may assume that a blank field will just be ignored by a field with data, whereas it will actually replace it.
  • The RI Global database has restrictions on the number of characters that can be put in a field, and this can create problems in the Address field. Therefore, avoid using entries like: “A Cottage, The Street, A Village”

                    Instead use:

A Cottage
The Street
A Village

  • For house names avoid using “inverted commas” around the name of the house – these will not be accepted.
  • A comma in the address field on one side but not on the other is recognised a being different addresses.
  • There are currently issues with FAX Numbers transferring to RI so this field has been removed
  • For telephone numbers it is recommended that the following format be used consistently e.g. 01603 987654 -  i.e. a space between the code and the number
  • In some cases, it appears that the postcode is identical, but there is a cross indicating incompatibility. Often the reason for this is different numbers of spaces between the primary and secondary parts of the postcode; i.e. AB1 9YZ and AB1 9YZ would report an inconsistency as there is one space in the first entry and two spaces in the second entry.
  • If the information on the RI side is correct, but not on the Rotary GB&I site, it is possible to copy the RI information to the Rotary GB&I side. On some machines one can drag and drop on others one can use usual shortcut keys – i.e. CTRL+C to copy and CTRL+V to paste.
  • In this synchronisation, you are only completing the shared fields between the two databases. The Rotary GB&I Template database itself has many more fields you can fill in which are useful for the other DMS functionality (such as handbooks, search and email). If you need assistance with this, please follow the information on the template suppor tpage.

Next steps

As the databases currently only synchronise in one direction whilst we wait for RI to finish re-coding their database, we ask that Club Admins, perhaps on a once a month basis, do a bit of house-keeping by taking a look in the My Club section to see if any red-crosses are present – thus indicating that a member record requires a bit of attention. This shouldn’t prove to be an onerous task as once the initial sync has been completed and records brought into line, changes to member details don’t happen that frequently in reality.

Any questions or concerns you may have on the Data Management System should be emailed to district support in the first instance as well as district secretaries.

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