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Kendata eases membership renewal process for Geological Society
The Geological Society has significantly reduced
the workload associated with its annual membership renewal process
by using scannable forms designed and printed by Walsall-based
Kendata Print Services, the specialist supplier of forms for
automated data-entry systems.
Each November, the Geological Society is faced
with the job of sending out membership renewal invoices to every
one of its 9000-plus Fellows. Until 2000, this work was carried
out internally by the Society's accounts department, but, according
to Fellowship Services Manager, Judi Lakin, the membership was
growing steadily and it was simply becoming too large a task.
"It used to tie up printers in the accounts
office for far too long," she said, "and, to be honest,
the design of the renewal invoices themselves left a lot to
be desired."
At that point, the Society decided to call in
some outside help. Although several suppliers were evaluated,
Kendata had the edge as it had already produced a detailed questionnaire
for the Society some time before and had developed a good understanding
of the organisation's needs.
Working closely with the Society, Kendata's design
team came up with a 2-colour, double-sided A4 form, with a letter
and brief questionnaire on one side and a barcode and all the
financial information on the other side.
The new membership renewal form made an immediate impact, as
Judi Lakin explained: "Kendata's design ideas were quite
simple, but, somehow, as soon as they got involved, the form
just looked so much more professional. I am sure this has a
very positive effect and helps Fellows to feel they are part
of an organisation that does things in a business-like way."
At the printing stage, each form is automatically
personalised by Kendata using membership information supplied
by the Society. When Fellows return the completed forms, the
Society's accounts staff scan the membership-number barcode,
key in any changes made on the form, and record the payment
details.
In order to save time on the processing of the
forms, the Society can make use of Kendata's bureau service
for scanning in the replies to short questionnaires if they
wish. Kendata performs quality assurance checks on the data,
in accordance with the requirements of BS6001, and then sends
the results back in a format compatible with the Geological
Society database.
"All in all, we are very satisfied with the
service Kendata has given us," concluded Judi Lakin. "As
well as offering expertise in form design, printing and scanning,
they are quite amenable whenever we have to make last-minute
alterations, which inevitably does happen from time to time."
22nd September 2003 Ref. KE174A
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