Page 27 - ABF Newsletter February 2025

MYABF UPDATE with Julian Foster
31 December 2024 club membership renewals
In November 2024 release 6 of myABF went live and offered clubs the chance to fully manage their mem- bers, handle annual renewals, and accept member- ship payments via bridge credits.
Several clubs with 31 December membership years used it to manage their annual membership renew- als. A large number of their members paid with bridge credits (in many cases having the payment collected automatically) making things far more convenient for both the club and the players. Being able to handle the payment side of membership in the same system that lists the members is a huge benefit (I speak from personal experience having done the accounts for my own club for many years where reconciling incoming memberships each year is painful!) It also saves having to maintain a list of members in multiple systems.
There are a significant number of clubs with 31 March membership year-ends as well, no doubt to match the ABF capitation year-end. So they may also wish to consider doing the same. Talk to us if you want to learn more.
Gold Coast Congress Presentation
There will be a short myABF presentation at lunch- time on Wed 5th February. I’ll talk a bit more about the membership release, as well as what’s going to be happening over the next 12 months. Come along and learn more. There will be time for questions too.
“Membership” in ABF Masterpoint Centre and myABF compared
Talking to some clubs and players after the recent release has shown me there do seem to be some misconceptions about membership in myABF in gen- eral so I am going to devote most of this column to that.
We all know the ABF Masterpoint Centre (“MPC”) handles the recording of our masterpoints. But it does more than that – it manages the full list of ABF numbers and it also records which is our “home club”. myABF now also allows clubs to upload their members. This means there is some overlap.
The key thing to understand is “Membership” in myABF is much more broad than it is in the MPC! It also aligns to the real world a lot more.
Australian Bridge Federation Ltd. Newsletter: February 2025
The table on the next page compares various things between the two systems as they exist today.
What are the key differences?
• You can be a member of multiple clubs in myABF. In the MPC your home club is recorded but that may be all.
• Clubs must have their home club members record- ed in the MPC. It’s optional whether clubs upload their members into myABF. But when they do, they should upload ALL their members, not just their home club ones.
What does that mean for players?
A list of all your club memberships recorded in myABF is now shown in your myABF profile page.
Don’t worry if you don’t see all your club member- ships displaying there yet. It’s because your club hasn’t uploaded its members (why not suggest to them that they do?) You can’t add yourself to a club – but you can block a membership if you think a club has added you when they shouldn’t have done.
You can be included as a member of multiple clubs.
myABF doesn’t (yet) care which is your home club – it just cares about membership in general.
What does that mean for clubs?
It’s up to you whether to upload a list of your mem- bers in myABF. But if you do you should have ALL your members there – don’t just upload your home club members from the MPC and leave it at that.
After all it is all your members who:
• you want to be able to send emails to;
• will pay member entry fees if you list club events in myABF;
• will be able to enter if you list a “member only” event in myABF;
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