MemTrack: Web-based Software as a Service (SaaS) for Labor Unions

We've been developing membership, dues, grievance, and benefits tracking applications for labor unions for over 20 years. Our web application platform called MemTrack is specifically designed for labor unions and provides a starting foundation to fully cater to the needs of any union.

After analyzing a union's existing data, application, and interviewing union staff, we develop a plan to convert the old legacy system into our web-based platform. Pricing to customize the system varies on size and needs of the union, but is charged at our standard rates. For a union with no legacy data, and that are satisfied with basic features of the platform, custom development can be as low as $1000 to on-board. For a more customized system that includes legacy data conversion and additional data tracking and reporting features, costs are higher. Most unions that use our platform that also require legacy data conversion generally spend between $10,000 and $50,000 for the custom development and data conversion and $500-$8000/month for basic ongoing support and as needed custom features or services.

The application is hosted on our cloud servers. The application is web-based with SSL for encryption and works on any modern browser which includes: Chrome, FireFox, IE 10+, MS Edge, tablets, Android, and iPhones. The application access can be further restricted to only allow staff in the office or connected by VPN to the office. Cost is $250/month per-application for hosting and includes 24/7 general technical support, off-site backup, general maintenance and upgrade, scheduled export/import jobs, and unlimited number of users.

Contact Us for a quote or free consultation of what we have to offer.

In addition to the basic software, we provide value-added support and services.

• Training to use the software - Generally done via Web conference. This can be done one-on-one with staff or as group training. Web-based one-on-one training costs $88/hr or $108/hr depending on training required. General support using the system is $88/hr. Advanced training such as building custom queries costs $108/hr. Pricing is charged in 15-minute increments. Cost for travel will be negotiated separately.

• Import and conversion of Legacy data $88/hr for manual scrubbing and $108/hr for building custom import and clean-up scripts.

• Import of membership and dues - This includes download and import of data from employers such as state government or other third-party. Whenever this can be automated we try to do so and no additional charge beyond cost of developing the import routine. In some cases manual intervention is required and we charge same rate for that as we do for import and conversion.

• Automated Exports - We charge to develop the export routine which varies based on complexity of export. We do not charge for scheduling these exports. These exports are often delivered to third parties via secure ftp, data encryption or via secure login to the web app. For example we have several unions that require weekly scheduled exports to Health benefits systems and local unions who need on daily-to-weekly scheduled and on-demand exports delivered to their international union.

• Automated Imports - We charge to develop the import routine which varies based on complexity of import. We do not charge for scheduling these imports. Some international unions which receive member list data exports from local unions also provide enriched data back via a web api. This enriched data often includes some demographic information as well as voting history and political affiliation. This information can be automatically scheduled for import for as frequently as new data is provided.

• Integration with other apps and sites - If you need integration with your website such as ability to collect signups for events from your website, and have that data funnel into your membership tracking, no problem. These are generally easy to setup but vary depending on how your site is configured and what kind of access we are allowed to your website.

• Membership Edit/ View Shows all data about a member. Data viewing/editing can be restricted by user level. Ability to edit basic info, demographic and geographic info, and upload related documents.

• Geocoding - Whenever you change the address of a member, the member is geocoded with a longitude / latitude that can then be used for web mapping or to segmentize by political regions such as Senate Districts, Congressional Districts or custom ones of your choosing like Councilor Districts or Organizing regions for GOTV and other uses. This is available via membership reporting and query builder in addition to custom regions you need. Geocoding also is done when importing data.

• Membership Search This can be as simple or advanced as you need it. Standard package includes ability to search by name, address, phone, membership status, and employer.

• Membership Reporting Consists of ability to export to CSV/Excel and fixed layout reports such as Labels, Membership lists, and formal letters. Fixed layout reports can be saved in PDF, Word, and Excel format.

• Membership query builder - This is for ad-hoc reporting to select just the fields you need of information and to query across all the various attributes of a member such as active, involved in grievance, geographic/political location, leadership and committee roles, and employer.

• Committee, Leadership, Events management - Screen for keeping track of Stewards, attendees of special events, other special categories.

• Dues and Cope Reporting these vary a lot across labor unions, but generally include monthly/ yearly reports detailing dues and cope collection aggregated. These often include standarized extracts for import into systems like QuickBooks.

• Dues and Cope History Dues and Cope are often shown on the membership screen, with history of all past employers and where available, positions.

• Activation and Deactivation Dues are often used to signal activation or deactivation of a member. They are used to generate New Membership card letters for new members and also an automated way for deactivating a member.

• Dues reimbursement - In some fields such as janitorial work, members often work multiple jobs by multiple employers. As such they end up paying more dues than they are required to. In some cases, the employer may take out of a member's pay check more dues than dictated by the union agreement. Dues reimbursement provides a mechanism to target these members and compute how much reimbursement they deserve for overcharge in dues.

The Grievance and arbitration module is integrated with membership module, however only certain designated staff would have access to this section for confidentiality reasons. You are free to dictate this policy structure. The grievance and arbitration process varies considerably from union to union. As such most unions needing this feature require heavy customizations to fit their process. The basic features consist of:

• Case Edit / Entry allows you to create cases, setup the various grievance steps based on case type, and associate employers and members with a grievance.
• Case Search - ability to search across grievances by if they are active / closed / current step or by a member in a grievance.
• Case Reporting - 2-3 canned report layouts with ability to filter by case status, case step, or upcoming dates.

Membership portals vary a lot from union to union, but is always a separate website from the main application. It allows members to do some of the following using a regular computer or smartphone:

• Update their contact information. This updates the union's membership database and logs what was changed by the member and when.
• Fill out electronic application cards. Application cards can then be sent directly to the employer or exported as PDFs and given to the employers.
• Download union documents such as minutes of membership and election meetings. Contracts or Contract drafts.
• Voting and Nominations - voting for union positions, nomination of members for positions, and voting on contracts.

The employer portal is setup as a separate application with its own website. Each employer has access to a subset of their data.

• Some unions require employers to provide by data-entry or via spreadsheet upload, the list of dues and membership rosters and these designated employers are provided login credentials to do so.

• Union administrators setup accounts for employers with only ability to upload spreadsheets or hand enter dues data for members under their employment and also do basic reporting on what they've uploaded and dues they owe.

Benefits tracking provides a system for managing benefits such as Health, Dental, and Pension.

Unions with benefits tracking, often prefer to manage their benefits tracking separate from the union membership tracking. This is dictated by privacy or organizational requirements. In these cases some data can be shared between the two systems, but each is a separate system with a separate database with different users and different features and separate web application site.

• Automated import and export To alert of new plan members or changes in plans, there is often integration with various health plan systems, to activate deactivate or change benefits. These are generally automated routines that happen weekly or bi-weekly.
• Benefits coverage wizards In order to qualify for benefits, such considerations as dues history, job history, salary are considered. This varies quite a bit from system to system so is often custom tailored. To manage the complexity, step by step wizards are provided for adding coverage,canceling coverage, changing coverage, and adding members to a coverage.

Some unions provide specialized training offerings for members. This is most often integrated with the core membership system.

• Course Scheduling Define what courses are available and when.

• Member Course registration - ability to register members for courses

• Student Rosters - ability to get student rosters and completion reports.

This is generally hosted as a separate application that feeds the main Membership application. This is designed with organizers and researchers in mind, to collect information such as job history, employer working conditions about existing prospective or existing members.

• Administrative Question Building Ability to upload custom questions via CSV or Excel spreadsheet.

• Survey screen - designed to work on any web-browser including Android / iPads Pads and Smart Phones. Automatically display questions and options. Screen uses responsive web design to adjust to any screen size. Ability to upload associated documents and fill in survey.

• Administrative Survey Response upload In some cases, you may have collected past surveys by spreadsheet or something like MS access and need ability to import these surveys in the system. Also becasue of internet access issues in the field or lack of computer literacy, you may need to collect data by spreadsheet. The system includes import routines for this via spreadsheet import. The survey import spreadsheet is driven by questions in the survey.

• Survey Search - Ability to search for surveys by organizer, name, see full detail.

• Query Builder - Ability to filter by and include any attributes in survey and export to Excel or CSV.