Member Management for a Small Business?

[jakeandrae]

The gym where I work has a file cabinet that contains all 300 - 500 member's information. It's a mess. We write on the folder the date & amount paid, and when they're next due. Some memberships run on a month-month basis and others are on automatic withdrawal.

My employer knows the members on automatic and manages the payments herself. The problem is the newer employees allow people to sneak in because they don't know everyone. There is no form of photo identification. All we require them to do is to sign their name on the sign in sheet and most of the people who sign in just scribble it down...

I'd like to see membership cards, photo identification along with a database that stores their payment information

Would it be possible to set up a database with PHP or MySql ? What could I do to accomplish this type of system?

 

[Lexluethar]

Could do this very easily with VB and SQL database (or Excel if you aren't comfortable with SQL). Could include a UPC field which is unique to every user in the system. Once you do that you can get a cheap bar code scanner, scan that when someone comes up to sign in and it automatically signs them in (software would recognize the UPC and auto check the person in or out).

 

[jakeandrae]

Wow, that does sound very simple and affordable! I've hardly worked with SQL and never with VB though. How would I set up the Bar Code scanner with the database? Would the database just be hosted on our gym computer through XAMPP or something?

 

[Lexluethar]

All of this could be done on a standard desktop or laptop. The only thing you would have to verify is whatever bar code scanner you use would have to be compatible with the OS you are using.

The scanner would work by just scanning a UPC and the scanner would enter that UPC into a field on the form. We do this at work all of the time for simple excel files to track equipment. 95% of the bar code scanners out there will work out of the box and will actually enter the UPC into whatever field you have active in your windows session. Once you have that you would press enter to check the user in.