Ideas

Module nears stable release

As we implement a few remaining tweaks and features in anticipation of a "1.0" stable release to the CiviEvent Discount module, we reflect on the last ~6 weeks.

In December, American Physician Scientists Association (APSA) approached us with a vision of creating "institutional memberships." Functionality that doesn't currently exist within CiviCRM. The idea is that an organization can purchase a block of 200 (or 100 or 50) memberships and manage those memberships on their own. We chose to develop a Drupal module that implements a handful of CiviCRM hooks to do a number of things:

• Display a "discount code" textfield on Event and Membership pages.
• Verify and validate those codes, usage remaining, etc.
• Allow the use of discount codes on multiple participants and price sets.
• Track the usage of discount codes for organizations that "own" the code and individuals that redeem it.
• Display the tracking information in a tab with the associated contact record.

Before we release 1.0 stable, we will implement the ability for a discount code to be exposed as an Ubercart product. We're already getting feedback from others in the community about how they are using this module. Some want to provide a simple way to automatically apply a discount based on someone's membership. Others want to discount events and fine-grained control over price set items like t-shirts and bumper stickers, but not dinner tickets. The CiviCRM core team is using the module with the signup page for CiviCon 2011 in Chicago to offer discounts to sponsors. If you have an interest in CiviCRM, consider signing up for the training sessions and test sprint leading up to CiviCon and DrupalCon.

Please post comments or suggestions for improvements to the module on the issue tracker. We would love to hear how you're using the module and how it's helped your organization/company with event and membership management.