Club Management System

I have been recommending to my clubs that they consider using the KCMS - Kiwanis Club Management System (www.paragonxp.com) for the club secretary and the club treasurer. This one, integrated package is far superior to the one advocated by KI.  This package, which we have used successfuly for two years, has all the bells and whistles for a secretary AND a treasurer!  It just doesn't have reporting.

It's treasurer's component is a full integrated on-line cheque register system with full club reporting capability.  A treasurer, using this software, only needs to hit a few buttons before walking into a board meeting to give a complete or summarized accounting of revenue and disbursements.  A Secretary can track members, their personal biographies,awards and contributions, the system tracks all projects, meetings and events. In other words ...it does everything a secretary wants .. it even allows the electronic creation and filing of board or club minutes.

I don't know why KI is advocating the Club Management System for hundreds of dollars each year?  It does have secretaries concerns covered, but none of the club treasurers concerns.  Why in earth is it considered a club management system, doesn't the treasurer count?  Maybe because the system they recommend has a reporting component and that's all they care about.

David J. Evans
Lt. Governor 2008-2009
Division 11
Pacific Northwest District

 

 

 

Hi David:

Since I created the original version of the program I can give some insight as to why there is not a treasurer component yet.  I agree that the treasurer role is extremely important in the club, but there are existing tools such as Quickbooks that are very effective at helping the treasurers perform their tasks and don't need to be specialized to Kiwanis as the secretary reporting does. I didn't see the need to recreate the wheel when there are other very important needs that clubs have that I wanted to fill.  If you go through the online demo you will see it is much more than a secretary management tool - it is meant for the entire club including regular members.

So it was my opinion that a club communicating better and running smoother was more important than creating functionality for the treasurer that would be very similar to that use in Quickbooks. With that said, we are going to be working on a dues billing module later this year, and next year will start exploring the development of a treasurers module if the clubs are asking for it.

I think it is fair to still call it a club management system, as in this electronic age club management is about much more than the treasurer or secretary - it is the entire club, from the president, to the program chair, to event coordinators and more.

I hope this clears it up a bit.

Regards,

Scott Smith

As a software developer myself, i have worked with Paragon for many years on beta testing and giving them report ideas. They are always open to suggestions and have implemented many reports i have requested at no charge.  I am both the secretary and the treasurer.  I would NOT want to have to keep two full sets of members ( one in a Club Management System and one in Quickbooks) with all the associated address changes, etc.  That would be a nightmare.

I handle all the aspects of fundraisers, dues, membership, KI reports (monthly reports, Member Adds, changes, and deletes) directly in the software.  In one concise, very easy to use, very inexpensive product.

The system Donna is using sounds very complete and efficient.  Paragon, Hummmm.  Do they have a website where the product can be previewed?  And, priced?

 Thanks for your input,

Wanda Stribling

Club Secretary

As a point of information, our club secretary has been using the Paragon KCMS system for several years and it has worked well for him. The disadvantage is that is only on his computer system and none of our treasurers have ever used the "accounting" section of the program although our club secretary has used the dues, and billing aspects for invoicing . However, only our secretary does have access to that data --- and I think much of the data can be exported as excel spreadsheet data file if you wanted to input into another program -- but as far as I can tell there is no direct linking A couple of factors to consider -- our secretary has come back form KI indicating that the gentleman at paragon who was in charge of the software is now at KI and there may not be continued support of the program -- I have not verified that report. It may be that many of the secretary function of KCMS are to be blended into the KiwanisOne club management system? Here is the web link for paragon: www.paragonxp.com with a price listing for the KCMS 4.0 for Windows - Full Version (New Customers)@ $149.00 This is a good choice if your Club doesn't need or won't make use of the club management function in KiwanisOne The biggest advantage of the KiwanisOne is that it is based on the secretary's membership list, and only 1 data base needs to be maintained for both reporting and for secretary and other club management functions. ---- it also permits multiple member access to a current membership list for email and other club functions ( if you have a membership that will make use of it) the ability to have a club website, and do an email newsletter. I don't see the information and linking for someone to go in a "try out" the Kiwanis One system any longer -- it really helps to go through a "trial" to see what it would do for you and whether this is the choice for your club Just an old past president's feed back on the subject.

Let me clarify a couple of things in Rosemary's post:

1. I am the one in charge of IT at Kiwanis and I started Club Resource, LLC...not Paragon.  There is no support for the Paragon software, as Kiwanis has not had a relationship with Paragon for at least 5 years (well before I was in the picture).  There is support for the KiwanisOne Club Management program, and there will continue to be. Part of the benefit of a subscription model is that the development and support of the application can continue as the revenue will not dry up.

2. There is not currently a way to set up a trial account, but there is an online demo that can be accessed to get a feel for the program. We will have a trial version at some point, once we get the automated signup procedure we are working on completed.

Hope this clears some questions up.

Scott Smith

I understand the concern for lack of Treasurer tools in the Club Management System. However, KCMS is a nightmare to use. ANd trying to get support is next to impossible. I currently using QuickBooks for my Treasurer responsibilities. I only use KCMS for attendance tracking. As with anything new, the Club Management System is a work in progress. From my understanding, a major issue in getting a lot of this done is  getting the computer system at Internation upgraded so that all components of the system can communicate, which I understand is in progress. As usual for a global organization of volunteers, $$ is a factor and we cannot dedicate all our funds to the major upgrade of the computer system - or we would not be able to change the world, one community and one child at a time.

I applaud what the staff at International is doing in this regard. Keep up the good work guys.

Michael Letlow, Secretary/Treasuer

Kiwanis Club of Columbiana, AL

I have read a lot of pros and cons about club management software here. I used KCMS some time ago. Aas a secretray it worked fine;for the treasrer. it was too clunky. I have looked at the Kiwanis One  club management software. and if it does what it says it does, it will be a vast improvemnt.

Our club is currently using Satori for as a provider for our website and email. Kiwanis One is like a combination of the two. we are looking to make the change as soon as we can.

John Bonvillian

 

Hi Scott - could you provide me the 'link' to the club management software????

 

thanx, Bonnie Nickles

bonnie.nickles@co.mohave.az.us

Hi Bonnie...What is it you want to access?  The Lt Governor area, the demo of the subscription-based package, or the reporting?

Scott

Scott   I was dissapointed this Spring when I asked our division exec if I could get numbers for Kiwanis One Day.  We have established an international service day, but with the current reporting system, we have no way of reporting on the number of hours or dollars associated with this day.

Is the data there, but it's currently not being mined? or Is this something we can build in going forward?  WIth the current Online Reporting System  Is there a way for me to see a report by month, or annually (historically too) of service, attendance, and financials?

I'm the new secretary at our club, and I'm too a web developer/db design guy, so of course my mind just keeps scope creeping the possiblities.  By the way, new Kiwanis One system appears to be built on Community Server, is that true?  I'm having difficulties finding stuff just for Kiwanis, there appears to be about 2 times the stuff for CKI than Kiwanis stuff.  Any way to  seperate each K-Family org in to seperate instances of Comm Server?

Thanks,
Josh Schoenick
Wis Rapids Kiwanis
Secretary and Imm. Past President

Hi Josh:

The 2008-2008 monthly report has a more detailed section for Kiwanis One Day, so after it happens the district and LtG's will have access to detailed information for the district.

We are working on ways to output the data to clubs. There is a current way for LtG's and the district to see monthly or annual summary of all of the data.

Yes, the community site is in CS.  We are actually moving the Key Club and CKI sites to another platform, so those downloads will be removed shortly.

Thanks for the input.

Scott

I have used KCMS for about 8 years.  (Note: I use QuickBooks for accounting)  the software was great at one time as I could track service activities, attendance, etc and the software would create reports.  I could then send the reports via e-mail.  that has not been the case for some time.  My club is so small now that I use Excel and notes in a folder for many things. 

 

s/Chuck Cunningham, Sec/Tres

East Bakersfield Kiwanis