PAMPA On-Line Renewal?

[Crist Rigotti]

Can I renew on-line yet?  PAMPA has been talking about this for at least 3 years now.  Sure would like to use PayPal too!

[Bob Kruger]

Crist;

Short answer is no.

Long answer is three have tried to set it up for the myriad of different membership options we have and instant access to the site, and three of us have failed.  There are pros out there who do this for a living, and they charge $125-150 an hour.  Lowest estimate with guaranteed delivery, to include updating the site software, is $6500.  The average runs around $7500-$8500.  All of these guys are willing to give you references to mid, large, and Fortune 500 companies.  I have just turned down three estimates in the past 10 days, all of them running over $6500.  Actually, it was only two, as all I had to ask was his hourly rate and the time it would take.  Even an old grunt like myself only needs pencil and paper to figure that one out.

Alas, we are not a large company with a large budget.

If you know of someone who is willing to take a last at it for far less, I would be glad to send them a request for proposal citing all of the functional requirements we have.  Despite those who think differently, it is not just putting a PayPal tab on one's site and watch all the functions happen.

Unlike other publications that are struggling, PAMPA has not adopted the Henry Ford concept of "Give them any color they want, as long as its black."  And, fortunately, we have volunteers who step forward to shoulder the load.  The myriad of membership options are worth the selection it gives current and potential members even at the cost of the delay of human interaction.

But, I am open to suggestions, viable suggestions, as to how we can do this utilizing automation and keeping costs down.

V/r

Bob Kruger

[Crist Rigotti]

Crist;

Short answer is no.

Long answer is three have tried to set it up for the myriad of different membership options we have and instant access to the site, and three of us have failed.  There are pros out there who do this for a living, and they charge $125-150 an hour.  Lowest estimate with guaranteed delivery, to include updating the site software, is $6500.  The average runs around $7500-$8500.  All of these guys are willing to give you references to mid, large, and Fortune 500 companies.  I have just turned down three estimates in the past 10 days, all of them running over $6500.  Actually, it was only two, as all I had to ask was his hourly rate and the time it would take.  Even an old grunt like myself only needs pencil and paper to figure that one out.

Alas, we are not a large company with a large budget.

If you know of someone who is willing to take a last at it for far less, I would be glad to send them a request for proposal citing all of the functional requirements we have.  Despite those who think differently, it is not just putting a PayPal tab on one's site and watch all the functions happen.

Unlike other publications that are struggling, PAMPA has not adopted the Henry Ford concept of "Give them any color they want, as long as its black."  And, fortunately, we have volunteers who step forward to shoulder the load.  The myriad of membership options are worth the selection it gives current and potential members even at the cost of the delay of human interaction.

But, I am open to suggestions, viable suggestions, as to how we can do this utilizing automation and keeping costs down.

V/r

Bob Kruger

Bob,
I think I know someone who might be able to help with on-line membership.  I'll ask him.

[Bob Kruger]

Bob,
I think I know someone who might be able to help with on-line membership.  I'll ask him.

I think I would be interested.  Right now I am looking at universities and colleges who are looking for projects for their seniors, and have a few nibbles.

I would love to other options that proposing we outsource.

Bob

[Matt Colan]

I think I would be interested.  Right now I am looking at universities and colleges who are looking for projects for their seniors, and have a few nibbles.

I would love to other options that proposing we outsource.

Bob

My roommate built his own website, but he hasn't published it.  He's also built his own computer with a 2 Tb hardrive, blu-ray player, the 2nd best video card, and did all the programming and coding on the computer.  I'll see if he could do anything with it or would know how.  If he's interested, I'll let you know

[Bob Kruger]

My roommate built his own website, but he hasn't published it.  He's also built his own computer with a 2 Tb hardrive, blu-ray player, the 2nd best video card, and did all the programming and coding on the computer.  I'll see if he could do anything with it or would know how.  If he's interested, I'll let you know

Matt;

Two things.  Firstly, I've been building my own computers since 1985.  And while I have built dozens since then, a web designer it does not make.

Secondly, it is easy to build a simple website.  The hard part is to make it do complicated tasks.

That being said, if he has done e-commerce sites to include multiple registration options, I am all ears and will be glad to take a look at whatever he already has up and running elsewhere.

Many thanks.

V/r

Bob

[Tom Niebuhr]

Bill Lee has set up many web sites, including Lone Star Balsa. Maybe he can help.

[Crist Rigotti]

Bob,
Check your email.

Thanks.

[Bob Kruger]

Bill Lee has set up many web sites, including Lone Star Balsa. Maybe he can help.

Tom;

With all due respect to Bill Lee and others who set up e-commerce sites, setting up e-commerce is the easy part.  Lots of easy applications to set up that do e-commerce that are safe, secure, and capable.

The hard part is the instant access to the website and population of the correct fields in a custom user database for all of the various domestic and outside the US membership options without human intervention.  That is first and foremost to get some of the load off the membership secretary and the treasurer.  And, unless we outsource it to India for $15-$25 hour, getting the work done in the USA starts at $125/hour.

If you know of someone who can handle that without bankrupting the organization, I would most grateful to chat with them.

V/r

Bob

[john e. holliday]

Well, I just sent my renewal via the slow route, USPS.   Yes, it is great having the internet for instant gratification, but at what price.  Are PAMPA members willing to go the extra expense for this.   Some maybe, but others are too tight on budgets and stuff. 

[Bootlegger]

  I would like to know how to do it "snail mail" wise..
 Sent an e mail to Jim Vornholt, but no response yet..

[john e. holliday]

Go to the PAMPA site,   control-line.org   .   At the top of the page is an icon or words to click on so you can down load the renewal form.

[Bootlegger]

    Thank Ya', Doc   

[Randy Powell]

I was wondering why you could set up a Paypal account with an attached email (payments@pampa.com or some such). Then put a membership form online and then I just use Paypal to send money to the address. Maybe I'm just naive, but it seems like something like that would work. I pay guys all the time using an email attached to a Paypal account.

[peabody]

Randy.....it sounds as if the issue is that there would be no "instant access" to the PAMPA site......
My blush is that when payment was received through Pay Pal a person capable of activating access could email password info....that would probably happen within 24-48 hours....
I believe that, if this was explained at the onset, things could work......
Besides, I imagine that most of the email action would be renewals....

Have fun!

[Bob Kruger]

Randy.....it sounds as if the issue is that there would be no "instant access" to the PAMPA site......
My blush is that when payment was received through Pay Pal a person capable of activating access could email password info....that would probably happen within 24-48 hours....
I believe that, if this was explained at the onset, things could work......
Besides, I imagine that most of the email action would be renewals....

Have fun!

It would also require considerable human interaction which we are trying to eliminate.  As Dave Gardner, Shareen Fancher, et al will tell you what it takes, this is a time consuming operating.  Also, there would be no quality check, e.g. someone from Europe with limited English skills submitting the funds for a US membership for the magazine.

We also have to manually update two databases, one for the web site, and the actual membership database.

When you peel back the onion, it is indeed complicated.

Bob

[john e. holliday]

I guess this internet has gotten us spoiled, like laser cutting of parts for model planes.   So it takes a week to get form to Indy.  Another week to get a response.   Maybe we are just in too big a hurry to get things done.  I have cought myself talking to this electronic wizardry when a page doesn't pop up immediately,  then I have to go apologize to the great one.

[Bob Kruger]

I guess this internet has gotten us spoiled, like laser cutting of parts for model planes.   So it takes a week to get form to Indy.  Another week to get a response.   Maybe we are just in too big a hurry to get things done.  I have cought myself talking to this electronic wizardry when a page doesn't pop up immediately,  then I have to go apologize to the great one.

John

We are indeed spoiled, but at the same time, we could always use some help to distribute the load until we get this all sorted out.

Feel free to sign up to help... :-)

Bob

[peabody]

I don't know Bob....it seems to me that if the method I described was used it wouldn't involve more manpower that is used when a check is written, or when a credit card is used with the application.....

[Bob Kruger]

I don't know Bob....it seems to me that if the method I described was used it wouldn't involve more manpower that is used when a check is written, or when a credit card is used with the application.....

That's not the point.  It doesn't involve less.  It doesn't give instant access to those who expect it once the payment clears, and it makes for a more complicated audit trail.  There is still a lot of human interaction/effort that has to go on with the model you have proposed, and that is one of the things we are trying to alleviate.

What we really need are some good programmers to do the custom work we need to make this complicated process clean, tidy, efficient, and accurate.

Bob