Pennsylvania Dental Association



Board of Trustees

October 16, 2015

Pennsylvania Dental Association Central Office

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Present Consultants/Staff/Guests Present

Dr. Anand V. Rao (1) Camille Kostelac-Cherry, Esq., CEO

Dr. Charles J. Incalcaterra (2) Leo Walchak, CFO

Dr. Eli Stavisky (3) Mary Donlin, Director of Membership

Dr. Frederick S. Johnson (4) Rebecca Von Nieda, Director of

Dr. James M. Boyle III (5) Meetings and Administration

Dr. Cynthia A. Iseman (7) Barbara Mladenoff, Executive Assistant

Dr. Theodore J. Rockwell (8) Thomas J. Weber, Legal Counsel

Dr. Joseph E. Ross (9) Dr. Andrew Kwasny, ADA Trustee

Dr James A.H. Tauberg (10)

Dr. Wade I. Newman, President Limited Attendance – Presentations

Dr. Herbert L. Ray, Jr., President-elect Dr. Kathleen O’Loughlin, Executive

Dr. Samuel E. Selcher, Treasurer Director, ADA

Dr. Julie A. Barna, Sixth District Proxy Toni Mark, Chief Technology Officer, ADA

Peter Bradley, Director of Aptify Enterprise

Absent Solutions, ADA

Dr. Nicole M. Quezada (6), Secretary Ed Geier, Director, N. American Sales, ASI

Phil Varady, Vice President, ISG Solutions

Vance Cole, PDA IT Consultant

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 1:28 p.m. by Dr. Wade I. Newman, president.

Approval of Proxy

The board approved Dr. Julie A. Barna as proxy for Dr. Nicole M. Quezada (6) who could not attend.

Resolved: That Dr. Julie A. Barna be seated as proxy for Dr. Nicole M. Quezada,

10/15BT25 sixth district trustee.

(YES: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10) (NO: ) (ABSENT: 6)

Aptify Presentation Summary

Representatives from the ADA offered a presentation on the benefits of adopting Aptify as the PDA’s association management software platform. The presenters included Dr. Kathleen O’Loughlin, ADA Executive Director; Ms. Toni Mark, Chief Technology Officer, ADA; and Mr. Peter Bradley, ADA Aptify Enterprise Solutions.

According to Ms. Mark there are only five vendors that offer association software platforms. Two of the five vendors are iMIS and Aptify; both are the leaders in the industry so there is no wrong answer when choosing between the two platforms. The goal of Aptify is to make it easier for associations to meet member needs by delivering information in real time, providing mobility, and problem solving solutions.

Aptify includes 21 modules built on a Rapid Application Development (RAD) platform which makes it easy for the ADA to upgrade the software without expensive consulting cost and long timeframes. It is not necessary to use all of the modules. These modules capture broad data such as what members buy, what CEs are taken and where, and attendance at annual and local meetings. The 21 applications include:

- E-Business - Education Management

- Funds & Grants - Abstract Management

- Awards Management - Learning Management Systems (LMS)

- Commissions/Royalties - Chapters

- Case Management - Surveys

- Mobile - Advertising

- Products/Inventory - Sales Force Automation

- Campaigns - Committees

- Accounting - Customer Relations Management(CRM)

- Bl/Viewing - Events/CPD

- Membership/ Subscription

The cost proposition for state and local associations is based on a five-year contract just negotiated. Associations need to agree to adopt Aptify by the end of 2015 to take advantage of the negotiated terms. There are no costs for the Aptify software and upgrades, data conversion, user support, website integration, unlimited user licensing, and mobile application with unlimited user licensing.

There are currently 41 states and 76-staffed locals who have gone live with Aptify; most applications are on a second or third upgrade.

Converting to Aptify offers several benefits to the tripartite societies including improved member service and faster resolution of issues, live updating of records, and a new opt-out feature for members who do not wish to be contacted by vendors or specialty websites.

Questions posed by the Board

1. What is the cost for data conversion?

Some of the conversion is done by ADA and other conversion processes will be done by PDA. There is no hard-dollar cost for the conversion; however, expenses may occur for any society for staff or consultant time during the conversion process. Historical data will not convert, online voting and the social network now used by PDA is also not compatible with Aptify.

2. Are non-TS states harder to convert than those states who were users of TS.

Yes, non-TS states are harder to convert due to the time and expense for ADA staff. ADA will only do three non-TS states per year.

3. How long does the data conversion take?

Conversion usually takes from multiple weeks to multiple months. The longest conversion took about 6 months.

4. What is the path of conversion? Must you convert iMIS over to TS and then to Aptify?

No, there is no need to convert iMIS to TS and then to Aptify. ADA will guarantee that working with your staff, your data will get converted. It may take a little longer due to the system that is being converted. Georgia and Florida both went directly from iMIS to Aptify.

5. Are PDA’s hardware specifications compatible with Aptify? Will there be any upgrades necessary?

There should not be any issues with your current hardware.

6. Is there a secure way for members to communicate with each other in Aptify?

Aptify would work to develop an integration with the party who provides PDA SoNet at no charge.

7. Since SoNet handles our social interactions and our online voting, how will Aptify address the online voting issues?

APTIFY will work with your SoNet provider to configure the online voting process to your specifications and at no cost to the PDA. We will plan with you to ensure that whatever ADA needs to do will fit into your governance cycle.

8. ADA continues to state that Aptify will be provided at no extra cost. Where does the money come from for the free customizations, user fees, etc? These are costly items for the ADA.

Most organizations that stay current with the needs of customers, spend nine to eleven percent of its budget on technology. Every year, the biggest chunk of money from the ADA budget goes to technology. ADA shoulders the burden of the costs to upgrade the technology for the good of the whole organization at every level. It is an investment in the future.

9. There is a five year contract with Aptify, so what happens in five years if ADA opts to not renew that contract? What happens to the states who converted to Aptify? And what costs will be transferred to the states?

The ADA leverages the strength of the relationship between ADA and Aptify. The ADA is Aptify’s largest customer and has a huge influence over them. Converting from many different systems to one system is a lot harder than converting one system to another system.

10. Did Michigan have any additional costs to convert and go live?

Michigan asked for additional items all of which were configured at no additional cost.

The Aptify consultants will meet with the users and executive directors to see what preferences users want to see in the system plan. Items the users don’t like are removed from the plan and then the configurations are finalized.

The board viewed a quick demo of Aptify to see how the various dashboards enable data entry and manipulation of the database. The member dashboard contains basic member information, lists of CEs taken and when, lists of committees, tracks license information by type and state, along with membership history.

• Aptify provides a new Education and Credentialing Service. This will allow the user to enter information that the state board of dentistry would want. Once the information is entered, the credentials are then transmitted to the state board. This service is about a year away.

• Dues Renewal screen can be customized to display dues amounts and the minimum payment. The member can check if they want to pay to the PAC. The credit card information can be displayed and modified. Aptify provides the template, but the states are able to customize it. The member can print out the payment for record keeping.

• There is one single sign on for Aptify and ADA. The member can update their profile on the ADA website and Aptify links the update to the state and local databases.

iMIS Presentation Summary

Representatives from ASI and ISG Solutions offered a presentation on the benefits of keeping iMIS, PDA’s current association management software. The presenters included Mr. Ed Geier, Director, North American Sales for ASI; and Mr. Phil Varady, Vice President, ISG Solutions, LLC.

The board viewed a short video on the background of association management software and the development of iMIS 20 EMS. The new iMIS 20 Engagement system was created as a database that allows for real time updating and webpage creation. The iMIS RiSE platform combines a full-featured web content management system with a gallery of site-building web parts letting the user construct easily upgradable sites.

General navigation of the system can be done through your phone, tablet, or computer. The most powerful component of iMIS is the Query System where different criteria can be tailored to search the database. The search result can be exported to MS Word, Excel, PDF, etc. Member records are easily accessed and can be displayed in list form or graphically.

The iMIS systems allow for the creation of dashboards that integrate information from multiple components into a unified display for easy viewing, aids in making management decisions and communicating with members. Users can create dashboards for a variety of criteria such as membership and events.

• The iMIS membership dashboard provides a complete overview of membership activity: join date, dues paid and renewal status, when the record was added to the system, who entered the data, multiple office locations, contact information, and tracking of social profiles and relationships through LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Historical data is stored and iMIS tracks what committees or groups a member participates in within the organization.

• The events dashboard provides the number and types of CEs, a breakdown of attendees and their status, how often a member attends a class, complete list of rosters and other events. All of the information provided by the dashboards is accessible from a computer, tablet, or cell phone.

• The commerce dashboard provides information on any products the association may wish to sell, such as books and videos. The dashboard can be tailored to meet the association’s specific needs.

• There is a continuum dashboard for continuous performance review. Scorecards are used to see how well the organization is doing compared to others or from year to year. Again, scorecards can be accessed over a variety of devices.

Communication with members is vital and iMIS has a built-in email communication system. The email system can track sent and received messages. Members can go to the website and what they do is also recorded and tracked. Preferences of members are also tracked such as subscriptions to newsletters, magazines, and frequently visited sites.

A demonstration was provided on how iMIS can create dynamic websites. All of the features in the demo are already built into the system. There is no duplicate data. A review of the PDA website was included in the demo. Dr. Newman commented the PDA website is not mobile friendly. Mr. Varady explained there is an option in the system to make it mobile friendly and he is working with PDA staff to set that option.

The iMIS system stores data on a secured “cloud” where it runs virtual servers for each client. Data is backed up every night so if there is a problem, the system can be up and running in a short period of time. The facility hosts strictly iMIS data for hosting and application support. The facility also hosts Comcast and Verizon internet servers, which provides redundancy and allows for a quick switch over if an outage occurs with one of the internet providers.

Mr. Geier suggested the board consider these questions before making the final decision.

• What is in the best interest of PDA?

• What are the pros and cons of both systems?

• What sound factual information do I have to support either system?

• How do experienced buyers decide?

• What tools do consultants use to decide?

iMIS is the leader in the industry and has worked well for PDA for 19 years. Reporting is fast and easy and the staff is familiar with the system. iMIS is one system and one database accessible through computers, tablets, and cell phones. There may be no hard costs to switch, but there will be a human resource investment that can often translate into loss of staff time and training issues. Changing systems is likely to set PDA back due to training issues, integration of data conversion and the need to create customizations for features that already are built into iMIS.

Questions posed by the Board

1. Do you know the reason behind Florida and Michigan, who had iMIS, switching over to Aptify? Did you speak to the either of these states?

Mr. Geier stated that both Florida and Michigan did not use the full range of features included with iMIS and to his knowledge simply did not need such a powerful program.

Ms. Kostelac-Cherry confirmed Florida and Michigan were iMIS users who used very few iMIS capabilities, did not use the system as heavily as PDA and did not keep current with necessary updates.

2. What happened a few years ago when PDA members could not log on to the system?

Our reseller was experiencing problems with the server used to host our database. Because the provider did not have redundancy systems in place, PDA moved to another provider, ISG, as described during the demo.

3. Did the ADA look at iMIS?

Mr. Geier stated that he could not answer that question, but suspected it might have since iMIS is an industry leader.

4. If the board decides to stay with iMIS will the PDA be able to share information among the other states and with our parent organization?

iMIS has an open architecture called web services that allows the exchange of information. The rules for transferring the data just need to be established, how and what type of data you want to exchange. Remember the PDA owns the data and has complete control of it.

5. You stated that the program PDA uses for its social network is owned by ASI?

Yes, ASI owns the GoLightly program. We had partnered with them for five or six years; they were the industry leaders and we integrated that program into iMIS. iMIS also will be rolling an email program into the system.

6. The PDA website appears to be cumbersome and is that something iMIS is responsible for or is it an in-house issue?

There are two aspects: usability of the website and design. Good design has to meet the needs of your members. Because of RiSE, we have added designers to our staff to help the PDA meet member needs. What is the best user experience and what is required to accomplish that goal is up to PDA.

Ms. Kostelac-Cherry added the PDA website is currently populated with information requested by members, past boards of trustees, and reviewed by the Communications and Public Relations volunteers. If the board would like, an audit can be done to see what information is most valuable and pertinent to members and non-members. For years, staff has been utilizing analytics to determine what is viewed and how often. The technology and functionality is there and PDA is close to presenting the mobile app through iMIS.

7. How difficult it is to put the ADA icon on the website. Is it a matter of them letting us in?

A link can be placed in the website, but it is a board decision to determine how much data is to be shared. The Board would need to discuss what items it wants to link to ADA and to provide to its members.

8. What are the costs involved with going forward?

PDA pays $47,000 a year for hosting, network, software renewal and licensing.

9. How many licenses does PDA have currently?

Ms. Donlin responded PDA has 10 full-user licenses and eight partial-user licenses. The more full-user licenses you have, the higher the costs.

10. What are the additional costs to upgrade?

There is cost to any upgrade; it all depends on what needs to be integrated into the software system. The more add ons, the higher the costs. PDA has just completed the most recent upgrades available.

Executive Session

The board went into an executive session at 4:05 p.m. to discuss adopting Aptify as the association management software system for PDA.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 5:56 p.m.

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