The EMMA purchase flow is a guided set of steps that internal users can follow to process a new or renewed membership, choosing from the available membership products and payment methods, and finishing with the processing of a payment or establishing of a payment schedule, or a generation of an invoice. When joining part way through a membership term, pro-rating can be applied to automatically offer the most appropriate price. Membership purchases will generate entitlement records within the system for the purchaser or beneficiary of the membership, to allow for easy identification of someone’s eligibility to benefits.

The EMMA renewals process is a daily automated activity that checks active memberships and creates renewals, on a timing defined in the setup of a particular membership product. These renewals can be actioned by you or the member themselves via the member portal. Renewal products can be defined against a membership type, allowing memberships to renew onto different products where needed. Any memberships that are left to lapse will have associated entitlements automatically removed from the member.

The Payment Processing module allows you to take one off and recurring payments via a wide range of methods (such as Card, Direct Debit, and PayPal) and using a large number of payment processors (such as Stripe, WorldPay, and GoCardless). Linking to the Membership Engine, this module ensures that relevant amounts are taken at the correct time, driven by factors such as membership level and duration, renewal timing, and membership cycle.

This module facilitates the automatic creation of various documents, either in a one-by-one context or in bulk where required. Allied with the Payment Processing module, this is necessary to generate paperwork for financial transactions such as direct debit notifications, invoices, receipts or statements. More widely, this capability can be used in a variety of other contexts typically seen in Membership such as:

• Renewal Letters

• Generating Membership Cards

• Generating Certificates

• Other letters and correspondence

Documents can be generated automatically as part of automated processes which can even include attaching these to emails and sending without any intervention. Any data available on the underlying contact or related records can easily be merged in, meaning the opportunities to personalise communications are endless.

The public storefront is a set of pages and functionality hosted on Salesforce that allow members and non-members to sign up and purchase memberships, event attendance, and other related items. The capability allows e-commerce style transactions to be processed online, with the added benefit of having the process driven by CRM and the customer/member data being captured into CRM as part of the process. These pages are expected to sit alongside CPS websites and feature similar looks and feel, to present a unified experience for the visitor. In combination with the Payment Processing module CRM becomes responsible for the whole process, thus reducing the complexity of third-party integrations or use of separate web components. The items being sold can also be managed by CPS from within CRM, including the capability to create automatic pricing rules such as discounts for existing members. The storefront capability is based on the Salesforce Community product, which includes a drag and drop editor that will allow CPS to maintain and enhance content on these pages without the need for specialist external skills.