BBMS (Build Brighton Member System)

The Build Brighton membership management system

New members can join and create accounts, payments are tracked and managed through the system.

Features

• Member signup form which collects full name and address, emergency contact and profile photo.
• Direct Debit setup and payment collection through GoCardless
• Regular monthly direct debit payment runs for each user
• PayPal IPN notifications are also received and used to extend member subscriptions.
• The ability for the user to edit all their details allowing for self management
• Various user statuses to cater for active members, members who have left or been banned as well as tracking founders and honorary members
• Handling of the induction/equipment training procedures and collection of payments.
• Tracking of who trains who
• Member grid to see who is a member
• The ability for members to cancel their subscription and leave
• Collect deposit payments for door keys
• Manage member storage box assignments and deposit payments
• RFID door entry control and tracking
• Member credit system for paying for various services
• Member credit topup using direct debit payments and credit/debit card payments
• Member role system for managing delegated duties
• RFID access control for equipment and usage logging
• Auto billing for equipment usage
• Proposal system for member voting
• Equipment/asset management
• Member expense reimbursement

Member Statuses

There are a variety of member statuses which are used for various scenarios.

• Setting Up - just signed up, no subscription setup, no access to space
• Active
• Suspended - missed payment - DD is still active but the member doesn't have access to the workshop
• Leaving - The user has said they are leaving or they were in a payment warning state, member retains full access
• Left - Leaving users move here once their last payment expires.

Other Maker spaces

This system can be used with only minor modifications by other spaces.
The Build Brighton naming is hardcoded into the pages and pieces of text will need to be altered.
It has been designed to work primarily with GoCardless but the PayPal integration is OK and would be good enough on its own.
The system also has very basic support for scanning and processing payments from HSBC bank statements

Setting It Up

The system is build on the Laravel 5 framework so familiarity with that would help.

A .env file needs to be setup, please take a look at the example one for the options that are needed. This file can be renamed by removing the .example from the end.

Composer needs to be available and the install command run to load the required assets.

The storage directory needs to be writable.

Some of the config options wont be needed.
AWS is used for file storage although a local option can be specified.
The system is built for a MySQL DB but a similar system will work
GoCardless for Direct Debit payments
MailGun for sending email - completely optional
The encryption key is essential and cannot be changed or lost once set