--- title: "Glossary" description: "Plain definitions of the membership, association and platform terms used across this site, and what each one means in Agend." url: "https://agend.com.au/glossary" canonical: "https://agend.com.au/glossary" last_updated: "2026-08-29" date_modified: "2026-08-29" source: "https://agend.com.au" --- # Glossary Plain definitions of the membership, association and platform terms used across this site, and what each one means in Agend. ## Terms - **Membership platform** — Software that connects the whole job of running a membership organisation — member records, renewals, payments, websites, events, learning, communications and reporting — around one shared record, rather than as separate systems that have to be reconciled. In Agend: The category Agend describes itself in. It covers what an AMS does and adds the websites, learning, events and community experiences members actually use. - **Association management system** — The operational system of record for a membership organisation: who the members are, what they have paid for, and what they are entitled to. Historically administration-facing rather than member-facing. Also called: AMS, association management software. In Agend: Agend covers the work organisations commonly expect from an AMS, but describes itself as a Membership Platform because it also carries the member-facing experience. - **Member record** — The one profile every interaction attaches to — joining, renewing, paying, registering, learning, posting, opening an email. Its value is that no part of the organisation has to ask another part who somebody is. Also called: single member record, one record. In Agend: Every Agend product reads and writes the same member record. There are no imports, sync jobs or middleware between them. - **Member portal** — The signed-in area where a member handles their own membership: renewing, paying, downloading invoices, registering for events, and managing their details and team seats. Also called: self-service portal. In Agend: One of the five core products in every engagement. - **CRM** — The system holding people, organisations and the history between them. In a membership context it carries membership status, renewals and payments, not just sales pipeline. Also called: member CRM, constituent relationship management. - **CMS** — The system that runs the public website and its content. Member-aware when the site can identify a signed-in member and change what it shows them. Also called: content management system, member-aware website. In Agend: Agend's CMS reads the same member record as the CRM, so gated and tailored content follows membership status without a separate sync. - **Corporate membership** — A membership held by an organisation rather than a person, with seats allocated to named individuals. The complication is that seats change hands while the membership itself continues. Also called: organisational membership, bundle, team membership. - **Renewal** — The point a membership is due to continue and the member has to act. Renewal rate is the share of members who do. In Agend: Renewals run as workflows against the member record, so a lapse is visible while there is still time to act on it. - **Lapsed member** — A member whose membership has ended without being renewed. Distinct from a resignation, because the lapse is usually silence rather than a decision. - **CPD** — Structured learning a professional completes to stay current, usually counted in CPD points across a defined cycle and often required to keep a credential. In Agend: Completing a course in Learn awards the CPD points, issues the certificate and writes both to the member's profile. - **Workflow** — A sequence of triggers, conditions, waits and actions that runs the routine follow-up an organisation would otherwise do by hand. Also called: automation. In Agend: Agend workflows reach across CRM, Learn, Events, Loop and connected external tools, so staff see the exceptions that need judgement rather than the repetition. - **Member journey** — The path a member takes across an organisation's systems and touchpoints over time. Gaps in it are usually places two systems do not talk, which the member experiences as indifference. - **Data residency** — The country your primary data, backups and disaster-recovery copies are stored in. Distinct from where the company is based and from where support is delivered. - **Data migration** — Moving membership history, organisations, payments, permissions and local exceptions out of a legacy system and into a new one, then checking that the result is right before going live. Also called: data mapping, cutover. In Agend: Agend maps and imports the agreed records with purpose-built importers; the organisation approves at checkpoints, and a go-live decision follows validation. - **Discovery** — The scoping work done before an implementation is committed to: the membership model, the data, the connected systems and the operating decisions. It turns an estimate into a scope people can approve. - **Integration** — A connection between Agend and a system an organisation already runs, such as accounting or email marketing. The useful question is which system holds authority over a given field. Also called: connector. - **Non-dues revenue** — Income an organisation earns from something other than membership fees — events, sponsorship, advertising, job listings, courses and directory placements. - **Engagement** — A measure of how much a member is actually using their membership, usually a weighted count of activity over a recent window rather than a single action. ## Contact Agend Systems Pty Ltd · ABN 23 666 566 365 - Email: hello@agend.com.au - Phone: 08 7120 8880 - Address: Suite 6, 153 Unley Road, Unley SA 5061 - Book a walkthrough: https://calendar.app.google/1UN1yBt3AzkxGW4X9 - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/agend-tm - Replies by the next Australian business day. ## Sitemap Every public page on this site, as markdown. Append `.md` to any URL, or send `Accept: text/markdown`. - [Full sitemap](https://agend.com.au/sitemap.md): every page with a one-line description - [sitemap.xml](https://agend.com.au/sitemap.xml): the machine-readable equivalent - [Home](https://agend.com.au/index.md) - [The Agend Membership Platform](https://agend.com.au/ams.md) - [Member experience](https://agend.com.au/member-experience.md) - [One record: fourteen days, both sides](https://agend.com.au/member-experience/one-record.md) - [Workflows](https://agend.com.au/workflows.md) - [Intelligence (AI agents, in pilot)](https://agend.com.au/intelligence.md) - [CMS](https://agend.com.au/cms.md) - [CRM](https://agend.com.au/crm.md) - [Directory](https://agend.com.au/directory.md) - [Events](https://agend.com.au/events.md) - [Jobs](https://agend.com.au/jobs.md) - [Learn](https://agend.com.au/learn.md) - [Loop](https://agend.com.au/loop.md) - [Integrations](https://agend.com.au/integrations.md) - [Upbeat](https://agend.com.au/integrations/upbeat.md) - [Mailchimp](https://agend.com.au/integrations/mailchimp.md) - [Xero](https://agend.com.au/integrations/xero.md) - [CRM integrations](https://agend.com.au/integrations/crm.md) - [APIs](https://agend.com.au/integrations/apis.md) - [Making the switch](https://agend.com.au/making-the-switch.md) - [About Agend](https://agend.com.au/about.md) - [Glossary](https://agend.com.au/glossary.md) - [Member Journey Mapper](https://agend.com.au/workflows/studio.md) - [Insights](https://agend.com.au/insights.md) - [Why switching association management systems feels so hard](https://agend.com.au/insights/why-switching-association-management-systems-is-hard.md) - [Renewal strategy starts before the renewal invoice](https://agend.com.au/insights/association-renewal-strategy.md) - [Re-engage inactive members without another generic email](https://agend.com.au/insights/re-engage-inactive-members.md) - [The first 90 days need more than a welcome email](https://agend.com.au/insights/member-onboarding-first-90-days.md) - [Why associations need a member-first website](https://agend.com.au/insights/member-first-website.md) - [When membership value is hard to explain, make it visible](https://agend.com.au/insights/communicate-membership-value.md) - [Events are a retention tool, not simply a ticketing task](https://agend.com.au/insights/association-event-engagement.md) - [Targeted member communication starts with a record you trust](https://agend.com.au/insights/association-member-segmentation.md) - [CPD is a member benefit only when it is easy to prove](https://agend.com.au/insights/cpd-member-value.md) - [The non-dues revenue conversation is about member value too](https://agend.com.au/insights/association-non-dues-revenue.md) - [A younger-professionals strategy without excluding everyone else](https://agend.com.au/insights/younger-professionals-association-strategy.md) - [Responsible AI for associations begins with trust](https://agend.com.au/insights/responsible-ai-for-associations.md) - [Privacy](https://agend.com.au/privacy.md)