Disclaimer
Understanding the data model relationship between Memberships and Accounts within the Join It system is not required to use the system. Most users will use Join It without this deeper understanding. However, more complex Organizations might benefit from knowing these details, which is the purpose of this article.
Quick Summary
Accounts:
Represent individual persons and their relationship with an organization.
Identified and consolidated by a unique email address.
Can own multiple memberships.
Have passwords to log in to Join It.
Can have a payment method (e.g., a tokenized credit card) for payments.
Memberships:
Represent the relationship between an individual person and an organization/membership type.
Have statuses (Prospective, Pending, Active, Canceled, and Expired).
Fall under a Membership Type, have a Date Joined, and an Expiration Date.
Carry information for default fields (e.g., Address, Company, Job Title) and custom fields.
Detailed Definitions
Organizations:
Organizations are the foundational data model within Join It. When a user signs up, they instantly create their organization. Organizations will have associated membership types, members, profiles, and more.
Accounts:
Accounts represent the relationship between an account, identified by an email address, and an organization. When john.doe@gmail.com purchases a membership, an account is created between this email address and the respective organization.
Account Scenarios
Scenario A: If john.doe@gmail.com purchases a membership in January, an account is automatically created. If the same email purchases a second membership, the system assigns the new membership to the existing account based on the email match.
Scenario B: If john.doe@gmail.com purchases two memberships (one for himself and one for jane.doe@gmail.com) in the same transaction, the system creates one account using the first email address. When john.doe@gmail.com logs into the member portal, they will see both memberships.
Memberships
Memberships are the core element of Join It. A membership relates to a membership type, an Organization, and is owned by a single account (though an account can have multiple memberships).
Statuses: Prospective, Pending, Active, Canceled, Expired.
Details: Expiration Date, collected information (default fields and custom fields).
Membership Types
Membership types are created on behalf of organizations and determine how memberships are structured. They include traits such as duration (Annual, Monthly, Weekly, Custom), recurring status (automatic re-billing), and description.
Examples: "Annual Student", "Gold Level", "Basic". Membership types are highly customizable to meet the needs of complex Organizations.
Conclusion
Understanding the relationship between memberships and accounts can help more complex Organizations effectively manage their membership data. By knowing how accounts and memberships interact within Join It, Organizations can optimize their member management processes.