Apologies for the AAM Open Forum cross-posting:

Hello everyone,

My mid-size museum with about a dozen full-time staff and an army of volunteers just selected a new database for managing members, volunteers, and marketing and media. We are afraid of falling into the same quagmire as we have in our current database with poor data entry control, repetitive and unnecessary user defined fields, etc. and we are considering designating one main Admin to control the data consistency and clear up any unneeded fields and reports, etc. Unfortunately, we do not agree on who would be in the best position to be that Admin - finance, marketing, membership, the director? Anyone else? We do not have a designated development person. However, for us, it is also a question of who has the computer skills and savvy to understand how to manage the web-based database.

I was hoping to find out how everyone manages their donor/membership databases - is there a main admin who has the most access and control? How is access to the database, data entry, and customization controlled?

Any suggestions?