New membership software to be introduced this week

We are now almost ready to install our new Membership Management system, Workbooks. This is not an easy transition – it is rather like a heart transplant operation, because this system is at the heart of everything we do for our membership.

The process will commence on Friday 17th March at midday; from that point until we are live we will be able to answer members’ queries but not undertake any updating of records of any description until we open up the new system. This means that the following transactions will be suspended:-

  • The submission of any session result files from any source from club, county or licenced event. As a result NGS grades will not be updated until the submission portal (My EBU) is reopened; this will be sooner than the system in general and may be quite fast, with just a day or two when it will not be possible, plus the weekend, of course. There will be no loss of data either for NGS or master points, merely a delay in updating them.
  • We will be unable to accept bookings in the normal way for any EBU events throughout this period but will be happy to record your booking requirements if you call the office for processing once the system becomes available.
  • We will not be able to undertake any membership data or financial updates until the process is complete, except for playing submissions, once switched on.

The key submission routes will be switched off when they are not available so that they cannot be accepted.

This migration will be a difficult time for all at the EBU office. Once we have agreed the migration of data and reopened for “business”, we will be working with a new system that is much less familiar to all than the one we have used for more than ten years, and thus we will be slower to process many things.

Our limited resources will be at full stretch and I hope that all of our members will exercise patience throughout this process so that we can get it done with the minimum of external pressure. We're confident that in the long run the new system will be a tremendous improvement to our administrative capabilities.

A message will be emailed to all known “submitters” in the hope that we inform all parties that may be affected. We would be grateful if clubs could bring this to the attention of their members so that they are particularly aware that NGS grades will not be updated until after we reopen.

What will change? The transition shouldn't affect many members, and most will not even notice anything different. One notable change is that we will finally be getting rid of the old Members Area, and replacing it fully with My EBU, which has been beta tested for almost two years now. At the same time, we will be releasing the last few features to My EBU which have been waiting until the launch of the new system:

  • Events bookings will be available to members.
  • Club scorers will be able to submit session files.
  • Clubs will be able to add members to their membership lists, and create new membership records.
  • KO events created using EBUKnockout will be able to be finalised.

The EBU Shop will remain open for business, both online and by telephone, so please feel free to keep shopping!

If there are any changes to this planned schedule, we will advise all parties.

Barry Capal
General Manager

February 2017

March 13, 2017