Intro to Tendenci AMS - Session 1 - FOSS

❖ In 1997, Ed Schipul quit his full-time job as a
software consultant for a large petroleum
corporation and started his own web marketing
company. Armed with a Political Science degree
from Texas A&M, a background in programming
and a fascination with social trends, Ed and his
wife Rachel Schipul started building websites to
help people communicate with their members
and users.
❖ 2004 - Tendenci software was developed by
listening to years of needs and custom requests
by the nonprofit community - the company
received its official name and rebranding in
2004.
❖ 2012 - Tendenci went open source to extend
its reach even further, allowing developers
around the world the ability to download and
build on the Tendenci platform. Figure 1: From Schipul The Web Marketing Company
to Tendenci Open Source

The backbones of Tendenci AMS: Python, Django Framework and PostgreSQL for Data Science + a large Community
of Open Source Developers at GitHub and our local team (continuous improvement!)
Figures 2 & 3: Python is currently one of the most widely
adopted programming languages

Tendenci Python & Django Developer Open Source Community
Find us on GitHub!
❖ Commits: 14,032+
❖ Stars: 476 ⭐
❖ Forks: 195 unique code forks
❖ Pull requests: 295
❖ Issues/ideas: 953
❖ Developers: 61 active contributors,
+our core team of developers
Figure 4: Tendenci Open Source GitHub
Community

Tendenci Languages
Tendenci uses the Open Source Transifex localization platform for translations and review in multiple
languages
❖ Tendenci has been translated into
approximately 65+ languages so far,
with new translations being added
regularly
Figures 5 & 6: Tendenci translations on Transifex

Tendenci Site Components & Features
❖ Front End - The “presentation” layer - a user-friendly
interface that anonymous users, authenticated users,
members and site administrators can all see and
interact with
➢ Examples:
■ Homepage & landing pages
■ Member Directory
■ Events Add
➢ Most commonly used component. Even site
administrators will primarily use the front end
interface.
➢ Specific content and level of interaction depend
on the permissions set for your various site
content
➢ All Tendenci interfaces built as
mobile-responsive
Figure 7: Tendenci Rich Features

❖ Backend - Data access layer - what
only the highest level of site
administrators (also known as
superusers) can access. Handles data
and business logic.
➢ Examples:
■ Memberships
■ Files
➢ Best for seeing data and making
decisions at a “bird’s eye view”
➢ Best for making bulk edits
Figure 8: Membership management via the backend.

The admin toolbar is your best friend!
Here you can find all of the tools you need to effectively manage your users and members, site content, events ,
reporting, and more.
When you click on a module, note that the right-most dropdown menu will update to reflect which module
you are currently in (default being pages)
Admin Toolbar/Menu

Admin Menu: Community
❖ Manage users and members
from the front end or back
end
➢ Who are users?
■ Anyone who's
information you
have collected in
your database;
■ All members are
users but not all
users are
members
Figure 9: Manage your Tendenci user database effectively via
your admin toolbar

❖ All users have a user profile
➢ Maintain your contact
details and demographics
➢ Update your profile photo
➢ Access membership and
events registration details
➢ View and pay invoices
➢ See what groups you
belong to
➢ See your site contributions
➢ Update login credentials
Figure 10: Manage your user profile and leverage useful
administrative tools using the admin menu

❖ Who are users?
➢ Subscribers (filled out a
subscribe and/or
contact form)
➢ Users belonging to a
user group - whether a
SIG or organizational
sub-unit, such as a
chapter or committee
➢ Members who have
joined your
organization
➢ Volunteers and
employees Figure 11: Manage organizational subunits such as
committees and chapters via your admin toolbar!

❖ Who are members?
➢ All individuals who have
filled out a membership
application and been
approved
➢ All members are listed in a
member directory
■ Member directory
can have custom
privacy settings
➢ Membership types,
applications and notices are
all very important pieces of
your membership strategy,
and are thus accessible via
your admin toolbar
Figure 12: Set your Member Directory to private, or allow members to search for and
interact with other members! Granular site permissions give you the freedom of flexibility
for your organization.

❖ Members
❖ Create multi-tiered Membership types
➢ Multiple pricing options
➢ Rolling or fixed renewal periods
➢ Create recurring memberships
with the auto-renewal feature
➢ Allow auto-approval upon
payment for easier management,
OR set to admin approval only
➢ Set grace period upon expiry for
better member retention
Figure 13: Create referral and discount codes for new and
returning members

❖ Members
❖ Create a completely custom membership
application using the many database fields
available
❖ Create custom member notices to be sent a
specified number of days before expiry,
renewal, and more.
Figure 14: Customize and personalize member notices
using tokens

❖ Who are corporate members?
➢ Anyone who has filled
out an application on
behalf of their
organization and had it
approved.
➢ Note, individuals who
fill out an application
on behalf of their
organization are
automatically
representatives of that
organization Figure 15: Set your Member Directory to private, or allow members to search
for and interact with other members! Granular site permissions give you the
freedom of flexibility for your organization.

❖ Corporate memberships
➢ Allow individual members to join
underneath their organization
➢ Set a cap on number of members
per organization
❖ Create a business directory populated by
corporate members
➢ Paid and unpaid listing options
❖ Set membership and dues reps for each
corporate membership that do not count
towards the number of allowed members
per corporate membership
Figure 16: Manage corporate listings with the Tendenci
directory module

❖ What are user groups?
➢ Ways of organizing your
site’s users into
subunits
■ Chapter groups
■ Committee
groups
■ Special interest
groups
➢ Ways to communicate
with subsets of users
➢ Ways to give
permissions to subsets
of users
➢ Ways to tag site content
Figure 17: Utilize user groups to organize your site’s users into
communications groups, permissions groups, and organizational
subunits such as chapters & committees.

❖ Chapters
➢ Add and manage hundreds of chapters under the same
organizational website. All chapter reporting rolls up to the main
reporting module
➢ Enable Chapter Memberships to give chapter leaders more
autonomy over their members
■ Chapter Membership Types
■ Application with specified fields that can be customized by
individual chapters
■ Chapter Member dues can be paid to chapters externally, but
recorded for reporting purposes at the organization level
■ Allow chapters to create dynamic content to showcase on
their chapter landing pages
● Events
● Press
● Rich media

❖ Committees
➢ Delegate some
organizational activities to
committees and
subcommittee leadership
➢ Follows model of Chapter
landing pages
➢ Dynamically populate
committee specific content,
including privacy protected
documents.
Figure 18: Allow committee leadership to upload
Important files, share important events & more via
the Committees module.

❖ Forums
➢ Communicate online
with folks in your
interest groups,
committees, chapters
and more.
➢ Should be set to private
for better security;
public forums get
spammed to oblivion in
this day and age
Figure 19: Communicate online with people in your user groups
and/or with the same access level.

Admin Menu: Apps ->
Admin
❖ Admin Backend
➢ Visit any module
from the admin
backend
➢ Bird’s eye view of
objects in your
database
➢ Make bulk edits
and updates
❖ Apps List
➢ Get a full view of
your available
apps from the
front end
Figure 20: Visit any module from the admin backend to filter data and make bulk updates

Admin Menu: Apps -> Admin
❖ Dashboard
➢ Get insights about your
website
■ Recent activity
■ Popular content
➢ Customize your dashboard
to view the stats you’d like in
the order you prioritize
➢ Use data to make informed
decisions about existing or
future content
➢ Access quicklinks
Figure 21: Gather valuable insights and access important links
via your Dashboard

❖ Global Site Settings
➢ Update location and contact details for
your organization
➢ Set default data
■ Country
■ Language
■ Time zone
■ Default group
■ Default contact form
➢ Specify your merchant account provider
➢ Set up keywords to boost your website’s
organic SEO
➢ Specify your reCaptcha security details
➢ Set up analytics
Figure 22: Set up organizational location and contact details,
as well as default data, in Global Site Settings

❖ Full Site Settings
➢ Access Site Settings for every
individual module
➢ Turn modules on/off
➢ Update the module label
and/or root URL, if needed
➢ Set default data
➢ Set up payment types, if
applicable
➢ Specify privacy settings
Figure 23: Set up individual module settings
in the Full Settings List

❖ Theme Editor
➢ Pull down and modify existing
templates
■ Modify styles, order and
verbiage
➢ Create new custom templates
■ Custom styles
■ Display dynamic content
such as
● Boxes
● Upcoming Events
● News & Articles
● Job listings
Figure 24: Create custom templates to apply unique
styles and generate dynamic content.

Tendenci Components: Design in CSS Stylesheets
Flexible design: Global designs are created using CSS Stylesheets (ex: https://www.thebestdesigns.com/designs/css)

Figure 25: Responsive design for multiple devices and browsers. All Tendenci sites are built with mobile user behavior in mind.

Admin Menu: Apps -> Content
❖ Create and customize landing pages, where most of your site content will live, as well as member
engaging site content such as news, photo albums, job postings and more.
Figure 26: Use the stories module to tell a story about your organization or promote specific site content

❖ Pages
➢ Where the bulk of your content
lives
➢ Create page content using the
WYSIWYG editor
■ Add headers and text
■ Add rich media such as
photos or embedded videos
■ Display dynamic content
using a custom template
■ Give your page custom
permissions
■ Add metadata to boost your
organic SEO
Figure 27: Create unique landing pages using the WYSIWYG editor and
creating custom templates!

❖ Stories
➢ Share a short story with your site visitors! Add an image, title & short description
➢ Add stories to homepage rotator to let users & members know important details and upcoming
events & news
➢ Create tagged stories to display elsewhere on the site via custom templates

❖ Articles & News
➢ Add industry related or
organization specific news & blog
pieces using these two modules
➢ Add unique title and content
➢ Upload an engaging thumbnail
image
➢ Add a release date & even credit the
author or publisher
➢ Assign permissions to give limited
or full access to member specific
content
Figure 28: Custom blog on client UCDA’s website

❖ Custom Forms
➢ Collect data from site visitors, users &
members
➢ Completely customizable form
introduction and fields
■ Regular & paragraph text fields
■ File uploads
■ Single & multi-select from list of
options
■ Check boxes for acknowledgement
■ User mapped demographic data
(name, location, company, etc)
➢ Collect Payment
Figure 29: Allow site visitors to contact you and ask important
questions via the site Contact Form.

❖ Custom Forms
➢ Receive submissions straight to inbox
➢ Opt for submitter to receive follow-up
notifications
➢ Common form types:
■ Contact
■ Subscribe for updates
■ Questionnaires
■ Feedback/Surveys
■ Membership application (lives in
Membership module)
■ Event Registration form (lives in
Events module)
■ Donations (lives in Donations
module)
Figure 30: Accept Donations online via the custom
Donations Form

❖ Files
➢ Upload important documents
➢ Upload images to be used
throughout the site
➢ Create categories &
subcategories for easier search
& filtering
■ Display dynamic feeds
based on categories &
subcategories
➢ Assign permissions
➢ Use WYSIWYG editor when
creating site content to insert
existing files from your
database
Figure 31: Search for and upload files to your Tendenci files database

❖ Directories
➢ Create directory listings directly
from your corporate
memberships
➢ Use directory listings instead
for corporate sponsors or
affiliates
➢ Add paid and unpaid listing
options
➢ Manage categories and
subcategories for easier search
and filter
Figure 32: Add a business and/or corporate sponsors
directory to engage corporate members and affiliates

❖ Jobs & Resume Board
➢ Easily browse job listings
➢ Allow users and members to
submit resumes
➢ Create paid and unpaid listings
➢ Set extensive permissions controls:
■ Allow only members to view
other members’ resumes
■ Allow only members to view
job openings
■ Share a resume or job
opening with only a certain
subset of your members
Figure 33: Create “featured” listings to ensure prime job listing
real estate

❖ Testimonials & Case Studies
➢ Create testimonials to show potential members and users what great things current users are
saying about your organization!
➢ Add case studies to showcase your organization’s work
➢ Use custom templates to dynamically display testimonials on your homepage or landing pages

Admin Menu: Apps -> Events
❖ Generate events with unique details & a
custom look & feel
➢ Title & Description
➢ Event type, color coded for visual
appeal and differentiation on your
calendar
➢ Custom start & end times, specify
timezone and if an all-day or
multi-day event
➢ Location information & map
➢ Can specify if virtual, also if event is
local or national (all chapters)
➢ Specify a sponsor
➢ Add event speakers along with their
headshots and bios Figure 34: Tendenci events at UCDA

❖ Create recurring events & event templates
to make generating future events a more
streamlined process
❖ Open registration with multi-tiered pricing
➢ Member, user only and public pricing
options
➢ Create early-bird pricing options by
specifying start and end dates on
each pricing option
❖ Create and manage add-ons such as book
signings or t-shirts
Figure 35: Manage speakers and add-ons in the Tendenci events
module

❖ Create and easily manage online
registration & attendees
➢ Custom event reminders can be
sent at a specified number(s) of
days prior to event
➢ Manage attendees and reach out to
unpaid registrants using the roster
report
❖ Search and filter events based on
location, event type and more
➢ Toggle between list and monthly
calendar view to search for events
Figure 36: Search and filter events by event type, start date, organizational
sub-groups, and more

Figure 37: Events Roster Report. Sort & search for unpaid members,
Review invoices, and communicate with registrants

❖ Integrate with a mail provider to send email blasts,
in addition to the notices already included in your
member communications
❖ Use notices to create drip campaigns - also a great
way to stay in front of your members and let them
know you think about them in between signup and
renewal!
❖ Set up Forums to allow members to communicate
with each other through the site
➢ Private or member only
➢ Public forums are not recommended for
security purposes
Admin Menu: Apps -> Member Engagement

Admin Menu: Apps -> Organization
❖ Staff Module
➢ Highlight your dedicated
professionals in your Tendenci staff
module
■ Add headshots and bios
■ Contact details
■ Link a CV and/or social
media profiles
➢ Manage departments and positions
➢ Enable search to allow users to
search and filter by specific criteria
Figure 38: Manage departments, positions and staff in the
Tendenci staff module

Admin Menu: Apps -> Financial
❖ Access all invoices
➢ Sort by invoice type/ which module
it was produced from (i,e
memberships, events)
➢ Sort by relevant dates
➢ Sort by status
➢ Sort by full amount or balance
remaining
❖ View all discounts used
❖ View all donations
❖ Access and share the general payment
form (/py) for collecting one-off
payments
Figure 39: Use the payment form to collect payments that are not
already associated with a membership or events registration record.

Admin Menu: Apps -> Layout
❖ View, create and edit custom
boxes that are weaved into
your Tendenci layout!
❖ Access and update your site
navigation
❖ Access your theme editor to
make updates to your
Tendenci templates
❖ Add redirects so you can
remove content without
producing a 404 error for
bad/ nonexistent links.
Figure 40: Add and embed content to custom boxes for your Tendenci layout!

Admin Menu: Reports
❖ Tendenci is rich in membership &
user reporting
➢ Overview
➢ By type, status, those in a grace
period or renewal stage
➢ Membership trends over time -
by join date, or YTD
➢ User reporting helps manage
duplicate accounts, who has
administrator access, user
behavior and more
Figure 41: Tendenci Membership Reporting

Figure 42: Memberships Overview Report

Admin Menu: Reports
❖ Use the SQL database explorer to
create custom queries
❖ Don’t see the report you want? Embed
a data visualization tool such as
Tableau or consult with our team of
experts to build more custom
reporting
Figure 43: Data visualization with Tableau
Figure 44: Custom reporting with SQL explorer

What we have covered:
❖ Tendenci History & Background
❖ Site Components & Features:
➢ Front End & Backend
➢ Admin Toolbar
What we will cover in our next session:
March 28th, 9:00 - 10:30 CST
❖ Site Components & Features:
➢ Your Tendenci website homepage
■ Header
■ Common homepage content
■ Footer
➢ Delving deeper into commonly used modules
➢ Heavily Q&A

Intro to Tendenci AMS - Session 1 - FOSS

Intro to Tendenci AMS - Session 1 - FOSS

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