Setting up Join Now

In the simplest membership product setup, fees are the same for both joining and for renewing, so you can use the same simple products for both the join and the renew tasks. Add a line for the Regular Member role that uses product RegularMember, and a line for the Student Member role that uses product StudentMember.

If the fees after initial join are lower, you must create separate products:

• Create a separate product for each renewal.
• Select the Can only be purchased within a collection of items option to keep them out of your Shop list.
• Assign those products as the renewal products for each role in the Group Renewal Policy.

📘 Note

You can create a product collection that allows users to pick from several membership options.

Do the following to create a simple Join Now product for members to purchase online:

1. From the Staff site, go to Commerce > Add product to create one simple product for each fee to be charged. In this example, use one product for the Regular Member role and another for the Student Member role.
   • Item type - Simple item
   • Item class - Billing and Subscriptions
   • Item code - S_Regular and S_Student
   • Name - RegularMember and StudentMember

📘 Note

Use a naming convention in the Item code field to distinguish between simple products, product collections, and sets of collections. For example, prefixing simple product codes with S_, collections with C_ and series with SER_ lets you see at a glance which products are the collections versus the simple products contained within a collection.

2. Add a Standard and a Discount price.

📘 Note

This is where you will define the price for membership (joining and renewing).

3. Check Assign purchaser to a group, and select the group you created previously.

📘 Note

Assign the correct role to each product.

4. Review the Accounting tab to ensure that the desired settings apply. Ensure there are no shipping or handling fees applied to your membership product.
5. Save your product.
6. (optional) Create a product collection that presents your two join products as a choice.
   1. Create a collection of items shown separately and individually priced:
      • Item class - Billing and Subscriptions
      • Item code - C_RegStudent
      • Name - RegularStudentMember
      • Item Set Properties - Select the Customer must select only one component option to create a pick-one type of collection.
      • Item set components - Use the add link to add each of the choices, RegularMember and StudentMember, one at a time to the item set. Select the order in which you want them to be displayed, and indicate which should be the default choice.
   2. Review the Accounting settings for the collection. Fields that can be edited here will override the individual simple products' settings.
   3. Save your collection.
   4. Typically if you create a collection, you do not want to show the individual products for RegularMembers or StudentMembers in your list of products. To indicate that these products can only be sold as part of the collection and not individually:
      1. Go to Settings > Commerce > Manage products.
      2. Select the product.
      3. Enable Can only be purchased within a collection of items and Save. After a short delay, the simple products will no longer appear in the products list.

This section discusses the use of a more complex product collection, when joining confers membership in more than one group. An example of this might be if you charge an optional fee for the member’s choice of either of two association journals when they join, which provides them with a 1-year subscription. In this case, purchasing the Join product makes that contact a member in both the association membership group, and in the group for one of the journals. Let’s go through an example:

1. Create three new groups:
   • Our Association Members
   • Monthly Journal
   • Quarterly Journal

The group type for Our Association Members is Primary Membership. The group type for journals typically is Subscription. Groups must be date-limited.

2. Create all the simple products first. The Item class is Billing and Subscriptions:
   • Regular member (Item code is S_Regular)
   • Student member (Item code is S_Student)
   • Monthly Journal (Item code is S_JournalMthly)
   • Quarterly Journal (Item code is S_JournalQtrly)

   📘 Note

   Do not forget to assign a price to the product.

For each simple product, be sure to select Assign purchaser to a group and select the group and role to be assigned to the member upon purchase.

Hide the Regular member and Student member products (enable the Can only be purchased within a collection of items option), but don’t hide the journals, so that non-members can still shop and purchase a subscription.

3. Create a collection of items shown separately and individually priced:
   • Item class - Billing and Subscriptions
   • Item code - C_SelectType
   • Name - CollectionRegularStudent
   • Item Set Properties - Select the Customer must select only one component option to create a pick-one type of collection.
   • Item set components - Click add to add each of the choices, Regular member and Student member, one at a time to the item set. Select the order in which you want them to be displayed, and indicate which should be the default choice.
4. Because we ultimately will create a series of collections as our Join product, we need to also create a collection for C_JournalSubscriptions:
   • Item class - Billing and Subscriptions
   • Item code - C_JournalSubscriptions
   • Name - Journal Subscriptions
   • Item Set Properties - Select the Customer must select only one component option to create a pick-one type of collection.
   • Item set components - Click add to add each of the choices, Monthly Journal and Quarterly Journal, one at a time to the item set. Select the order in which you want them to be displayed, and indicate which should be the default choice.

   📘 Note

   This collection is required even if there was a single journal only being offered. When you create a series of collections, you cannot add simple products or kits to the series; a series can only contain collections of simple products.

5. Now create a series-of-collections product named SER_JoinToday, which contains the C_SelectType and C_JournalSubscriptions collections:
   • Item class - Billing and Subscriptions
   • Item code - SER_JoinToday
   • Name - Join Today
   • Item set components - Click Add an existing collection to this series to add each of the choices, C_SelectType and C_JournalSubscriptions, one at a time to the item set. Select the order in which you want them to be displayed, and indicate which should be the default choice.

   When a new contact purchases the SER_JoinToday product, they are added both to the membership group and to the group for the journal they have selected, for a 1-year term. At the end of that term, the renewal process will bill them based on the fees in the renewal product for any groups that are expiring. You must choose one of the following renewal strategies:

   • Use a separate renewal procedure for each product (recommended):
     1. Set up the renewal policy for the Our Association Members group so that the Regular Member role uses the S_Regular product, and the Student Member role uses the S_Student renewal product.
     2. Set up the renewal policy for the Monthly Journal group so that the Member role uses the S_JournalMthly renewal product.
     3. Set up the renewal policy for the Quarterly Journal group so that the Member role uses the S_JournalQtrly renewal product.

   Association staff generate the renewal billings once each month for each group, which generates one invoice for each separate group renewal.

   Once the renewal batches are posted, the user will see the Renew Membership button appear on their Account page, and with a single click, all renewal invoices can be placed in their cart for payment.

   • Use a single renewal procedure for all products:

     Your renewal policy for the Our Association Members group would need two renewal products:

     • A collection for the Regular Member role, consisting of the S_Regular, S_JournalQtryly and S_JournalMonthly products.
     • A collection for the Student Member role, consisting of S_Student, S_JournalQtryly and S_JournalMonthly products.

     📘 Note

     Select All components are selected by default and required in the Item Set Properties. If you select Customer must select only one component, then only one item in the renewal product collection can be selected.

   Each renewed member will only be billed the fees for products that are tied to groups of which they are already a member, so you can include both journals in the renewal product collection.

   When association staff generate the renewal for the association membership group, the Membership renewal processing rules are applied, generating a single invoice for each member of the association membership group, effectively billing for the renewal of their member fees and for renewal of any subscriptions to either journal.

   Journals will also be billed only if the subscription is due to renew.

   📘 Note

   It is still important to run a monthly renewal for each group, and to run the association membership renewal before running renewals for the journals. Any contacts who subscribe to the journals but are not association members will only be renewed when you process renewals for the journal groups. If the renewal is run for the journal before the association membership, then the journals will be renewed first in one invoice, and they will no longer be due when the association membership renewal is run, resulting in a separate invoice for the association dues.

The following is an example for setting up a new group whose members will be eligible for automatic renewals. This setup structure emulates the structure found on the Regular Member (JOIN_NOW_AS_A_REGULAR_MEMBER) membership product that is available out-of-the-box with iMIS:

1. Create two new simple product items. Let’s name these product items Example1_Simple_JOIN and Example1_Simple_MBR.
   1. From the Staff site, go to Commerce > Add product.
      • Item type - Simple item
      • Item class - Billing and Subscriptions
      • Item code - Example1JOIN and Example1MBR
      • Name - Example1_Simple_JOIN and Example1_Simple_MBR
   2. Add a Standard and a Discount price.

   📘 Note

   This is where you will define the price for membership (joining and renewing).

   3. For the Example1_Simple_MBR product item, select to Assign purchaser to a group:
      • Group - Example1
      • Group role - Regular Member
      • Term span in months - 12
2. Save your new products.
3. Create a collection of items where the items are shown separately and individually priced. Call this collection Example1_Collection_JOIN.
   1. From the Staff site, go to Commerce > Add product.
   2. Select Create a collection of items shown separately and individually priced.
      • Item class - Billing and Subscriptions
      • Item code - Example1C_JOIN
      • Name - Example1_Collection_JOIN
   3. Under Item set components, you can add products to your collection of items. Select the Example1_Simple_JOIN and the Example1Series_MBR products.
   4. Set the Item Set Properties:
      • Select Customer may select multiple components.
      • Enter 1 as the minimum, and enter 2 as the maximum.
4. Remember to Save.
5. Create a series of collections where the items are shown separately and individually priced. This product item set will be the product to which your Join Now page will point. Call this series Example1_Series_JOIN.
   1. From the Staff site, go to Commerce > Add product.
   2. Select Create a series of collections of items shown separately and individually priced:
      • Item class - Billing and Subscriptions
      • Item code - Example1Series_JOIN
      • Name - Example1_Series_JOIN
   3. Under Item set components, you can add existing collections to your series of collections. Select the Example1_Collection_JOIN.
6. Save your series of collections product.

The next step is to create the renewal products and collections, then set the renewal policy on the group you created.

1. Create a renewal collection of items where the items are shown separately and individually priced. Call this collection Example1_Collection_RENEW.
   1. From the Staff site, go to Commerce > Add product.
   2. Select Create a collection of items shown separately and individually priced:
      • Item class - Billing and Subscriptions
      • Item code - Example1C_RENEW
      • Name - Example1_Collection_RENEW
   3. Set the Item Set Properties. Select All components are selected by default and required.
   4. Under Item set components, you can add products to your collection of items. Select the Example1_Simple_MBR product.
2. Remember to Save.
3. Create a renewal series of collections where the items are shown separately and individually priced. Call this series Example1_Series_RENEW
   1. From the Staff site, go to Commerce > Add product.
   2. Select Create a series of collections of items shown separately and individually priced:
      • Item class - Billing and Subscriptions
      • Item code - Example1Series_RENEW
      • Name - Example1_Series_RENEW
   3. Under Item set components, you can add existing collections to your series of collections. Select the Example1_Collection_RENEW.
4. Remember to Save.
5. Set the renewal policy on your group:
   1. From the Staff site, go to Community > Find groups to find the group you created (Example1).
   2. Select Example1.
   3. Click the pencil icon to edit the group.
   4. Select the Is Member option if it is not already selected. When a group is created, the Is Member checkbox determines whether all members of that group will be offered any potential discount prices for products and events.
   5. Under Renewal Policy, select Group Membership is subject to renewal billings. New members are added to your group once they go through the Join Now process. The Renewal Policy settings will determine how members can renew their memberships.
   6. Finally, add the renewal series of collections as the Renewal Product:
      • Click Add.
      • Select a Role.
      • You can select the Renewal Product. Select Example1_Series_RENEW.
   7. Click OK.
   8. Save the changes to your group.
6. The final step is to modify the out-of-the-box Join Now content record. You must edit the Data Showcase content item on the Join Now content record to point to your Example1_Series_JOIN product. When a prospective member selects to join and completes the transaction, the member is added to your new Example1 group, which is configured for a 12-month term. When this term is complete, the Renewal Policy on the group dictates that the member’s membership will automatically be renewed.

This section discusses the use of a product that is used for a group that has a membership term basis of Product-driven. An example of this scenario would be if you want to charge membership fees based on specific begin and end dates throughout the year. In this case, a club member wants to join the club for the spring and summer term, but not the fall term. The following is how to set up this scenario:

1. Create a new group:
   1. Club members

   The group type for our Club members group is Primary membership and is an Is Member group. The membership term basis must be set as Product-driven.

2. Create all the simple products. The Item class is Billing and subscriptions.
   1. Club member - Spring term (Item code is C_SpringTerm)
   2. Club member- Summer term (Item code is C_SummerTerm)
   3. Club member - Fall term (Item code is C_FallTerm)
3. Assign the appropriate price to each product.
4. For each simple product, enable Assign purchaser to a group and select the Club members group and role to be assigned to the member upon purchase.

Once you select the Club members group, you will see the option to enter a Term start date and Term end date.



5. Enter the appropriate start and end dates for each product: 
   1. For the Spring term product, enter 2/1/2020 for the Term start date and 5/30/2020 for the Term end date.
   2. For the Summer term product, enter 6/1/2020 for the Term start date and 8/1/2020 for the Term end date.
   3. For the Fall term product, enter 9/1/2020 for the Term start date and 12/15/2020 for the Term end date.

   If the current transaction date is after the start date in the product setup, the start date of the group member detail row will be equal to the current transaction date. If the current transaction date is not in the current date in the range of the dates specified in the product setup, the group member detail row will show as inactive.

📘 Note

The option to enable prorating will not display when a group with a membership term basis of Product-driven is selected.

6. Enter the appropriate accounting options and save the products.

Customers can select one product for each term or select multiple if the dates don't overlap. Customer cannot try to buy the same product more then once.

📘 Note

You cannot purchase a group membership product with dates in the past.