Welcome to Custom Data Systems' new newsletter: AM.NETWorks. AM.NETWorks will provide tips on navigating new features, inform you of development progress, and provide a clearinghouse for AM.NET information relevant to CDS users. Remember, if you have questions or comments on this newsletter or anything else, please contact CDS.

In addition to continuing AM.NET development, we are still hard at work enhancing AM4. Look for articles, tips, and information about recent AM4 enhancements in this newsletter in addition to information about AM.NET.

In this issue

  • Grids. Tips on getting the most out of grids in AM.NET.
  • Features. See what features we've converted from AM4 so far.
  • Views. Splendid views from the top of AM.NET's majestic controls.
  • AM4 Tips. Check out some tips to help you get the most out of AM4.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Calendar drop-downs
AM.NET’s calendar drop downs allow you to select a date with a fully functional calendar at your fingertips. To select a specific date, simply click the arrow to the right of the field, navigate to the date you want, and select it.

Emailing
Just as in AM4, to send an email to a name in a grid, simply click the person's email address. Your email software will open with an empty email document addressed to the person.

Reports in AM.NET
AM.NET allows you to export reports as a PDF, HTML, or RTF document.

 

Grids
Grids in AM.NET are more than lists of columns and rows. They are powerful tools that allow you to group, sort, arrange, and analyze data quickly and easily.

Getting used to AM.NET’s grids may seem tricky at first, but soon you’ll be clicking, dragging, and sorting data like an AM.NET pro. Read our introduction to using grids in the AM.NET documentation to see your data in a new light.

AM.NET Development Update
Our development team is working hard to bring all the features you’ve come to rely on in AM4 to AM.NET. Here is a list of some of what we’ve completed so far.

  • Names File Maintenance
  • Names Views (brand new feature)
  • Firms File Maintenance
  • Events File Maintenance (Name, Data, Marketing, Catering, Credits, Fees, and Registrations tabs are all complete.)
  • Events Views (brand new feature)
  • Event Registrations, including Coupon registrations. Passport registrations are not yet supported.
  • Email Search
  • Phone Number Search
  • Acknowledgement report (for societies that currently use the Acknowledgement in AM4)

What we’re working on right now…

  • Completing the remaining Events File Maintenance tabs
  • Committees File Maintenance
  • Products File Maintenance
  • Confirmation Report

We're working hard to make sure the features you've come to expect from Association Manager are implemented in AM.NET as quickly as possible.

Views
New to AM.NET, views offer several different options for examining data, including a grid, a timeline, and a calendar. In addition, Views allow you to relate data to each row in a grid.

Let’s look at an example.

  • In the AM.NET Button Bar (on the left side of your screen), select the Events group, and then click Views. The Event View appears. Notice that all events with a begin date on or after today’s date appear in the grid.
  • Click Show Event View Explorer. The Event View Explorer appears.
  • In the Related Data group, click Registrants. A plus sign appears next to each record, indicating that you can now drill down or expand on a record with related data – in this case Registrants – to view the child records.

    Note that the plus sign appears even if there are no related data for the record. That’s because AM.NET only retrieves the related records after you click the plus sign. This saves processing time since AM.NET only retrieves the records you need, not every related record in the grid. That might be thousands of records!

Now that we’ve seen how to see related records, let’s group the events by sessions.

  • Click and drag the Sessions? Column header into the Group By box. (The area just above the column headers of the grid.) Since there are only two possible values that are stored for this field (Yes or No), AM.NET creates two groups, one containing records with a value of Yes and the other with a value of No.
  • You can also group by another field within the two groups. Click and drag the Status column header into the Group By box. We now have several sub-groups within the two main groups.

Now that you’ve seen a few basic groupings, experiment. Group, sort, view related data—see your data in news ways.

AM4 Tips
Printing Confirmations and Acknowledgements from a Names File Maintenance record
To print a confirmation or acknowledgement for a person in Names File Maintenance:

  • Select the Event tab.
  • Select the event for which you want to print the Confirmation or Acknowledgement in the Event Registrations grid.
  • Click anywhere in the Registration Details section. The Edit Event Ledger screen appears.
  • Click one of the four buttons in the lower right-hand corner of the screen.
    • Print confirmations
    • Email confirmations. Please note that your society must have the custom email report format.
    • Fax confirmations. Please note that your society must have the custom fax report format.
    • Acknowledgments

Easily print reports from Events File Maintenance
Working in Events File Maintenance and need to print a report for the selected event? You don’t need to go to Options. Simply select Routines > Events Other from the Main Menu. AM4 allows you to print many reports right from Events File Maintenance, including:

  • CPE Acknowledgments
  • Call List Cancellation
  • Evaluations Form
  • Participant List
  • Sign-In List
  • Facility Setup
  • Nametags
  • Post Attendance Summary
  • Profile a Specific Event
  • Leader Confirmation
  • Special Needs List
  • Waiting List

Compliance Transcript
Need a specific look for your compliance transcript? AM4’s compliance transcript is completely customizable based on your state society’s specific needs. Also, AM4 can now email transcripts directly to members.

Just create a mock-up of how you would like your print or email transcript report to look and we’ll take care of the rest. Contact user support for more information.

Tracking status changes
The Status Change report (Options > Names > Reports – Status Changes > Status Change) allows you to view status changes for names in AM4: what the statuses were, what they are now, when the change occurred, and the initials of the person who changed it. It also lists contact information for each person in the report.

Promotion Tracking
In the past year, we added Promotion Tracking to AM4. If you missed this on our Enhancements page, please read this article that explains how promotion tracking works in AM4.