ACTA turned a fragmented workflow into a seamless process – using the Cognito Forms API. This saved over 100 staff hours annually, shrinking membership card delivery time by 99%, and significantly improving the member experience.

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With a small but dedicated team, the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies and Travel Advisors (ACTA) staff were overloaded with manual, repetitive tasks. Avery Campbell, Director of Advocacy and Industry Relations, is no stranger to Cognito Forms. He previously transformed their paper forms into online registrations and membership renewal forms and automated their membership management process.

When ACTA upgraded to a new customer relationship management (CRM) platform, they moved their membership registration directly within the new platform. This switch broke their automated card delivery workflow and required some fast adjustments that required manual work to connect data between their CRM and Cognito Forms.

Despite making huge strides in efficiency across all aspects of the association, their team found that some steps remained surprisingly manual and time-intensive.

Campbell leveraged Cognito Forms’ API and other tools to craft an integrated Workflow that resulted in a one-click membership card delivery process.

This transformation has saved the organization hundreds of staff hours annually, allowing them to focus on supporting members and advancing their mission of advocating for Canada’s travel industry.

The Challenge

When travel advisors register with ACTA, the data is stored in their membership CRM. Previously, staff would pull reports on a weekly or bi-weekly basis that provided a list of individuals who needed a new card. Then that list had to be manually checked for accuracy line by line. The list was then sent to Avery, who did another check before importing the list into the ‘Membership Card’ form. From there, a Workflow was already set up to deliver cards to travel agents.

This fragmented process meant excited new members would have to wait up to 2 weeks to receive their membership card and take advantage of their new membership benefits. Their team was juggling data between multiple platforms, exported reports, and emails, creating a process that led to errors, delays, and frustrated staff and members.

Manual, time-consuming processes

ACTA’s team gathered new member data by running manual reports, checking them for errors, and then emailing information back and forth.

• Why this matters: Generating and verifying these reports took a toll on their small staff, eating up valuable time and increasing the chance of making mistakes.

Delayed card delivery

Once information was compiled, staff still had to upload data to various tools for generating digital cards, Apple Wallet cards, and Google Wallet Cards.

• Why this matters: Members sometimes waited weeks to receive a card – leading to inquiries that required extra work for staff to track down each request.

Risk of errors & outdated records

Even a tiny change to a member’s profile – like updating a host agency name – required staff to repeat parts of the process.

• Why this matters: Extra manual steps led to overlooked details, expired member data, and confusion.
  The combination of these issues resulted in a slow, labor-intensive process that frustrated staff and members. ACTA needed Cognito Forms to pull data from its membership management platform and preserve data security.

The combination of these issues resulted in a slow, labor-intensive process that frustrated staff and members. ACTA needed Cognito Forms to pull data from its membership management platform and preserve data security.

Why Cognito Forms?

ACTA was already using Cognito Forms to deliver their membership cards. Their new goal was to automate data pulling from their CRM for use in their Cognito Forms Workflow.

Powerful features with transparent pricing

• From secure file uploads to a robust open API, Cognito Forms offers enterprise power at a small organization price point.
• No long-term contract was needed.
• API pricing was not prohibitive because it started small and scaled according to usage.

Compatible and easy to use integration

• The Cognito Forms API allowed them to pull data from their membership CRM and create a Workflow to approve membership and distribute member cards.
• A single team member used AI and API documentation to create advanced workflows without developer experience.

Data security & reliability

• Encrypted fields and file uploads protect information. ACTA collects sensitive personal data from its members (such as personal identifying information), so security is paramount.
• Consistent API performance with on schedule syncing ensures no data falls through the cracks.
  Ultimately, Cognito Forms release of the Cognito Forms API was perfect timing for their organization. It empowered ACTA to transform a fragmented workflow into a connected, automated process.

The Solution

ACTA’s new one-click membership card delivery workflow brings data from Glue Up membership into Cognito Forms, staff review any pending entries, and trigger an email action in bulk - sending PDF cards generated in Cognito Forms and Apple/Google Wallet cards created using Pass2U to each member.

Their membership card workflow includes:

Automated data transfer

A cron job, or scheduled task, runs every 30 minutes to have MySQL retrieve new or updated member data from Glue UP CRM. The Cognito Forms API creates an entry for each individual needing a card on the ‘Membership Card’ form.

• Impact: Staff no longer must manually compile, export, or import lists – Cognito Form entries are created only for members who need cards.

One-click approval

Staff get an email notification and a Task within their Cognito Forms dashboard when a new entry is added. They can verify the member information and approve each card with a bulk action.

• Impact: Staff wanted to stay connected to member applications and chose to keep a manual check of each new card being issued.
  Instead of a process that took up to 2 weeks, they can view the member entry in Cognito Forms, ensure they are a real person, and approve within minutes.

Dynamic card generation

Upon approval, Cognito Forms automatically generates a PDF of the membership card and sends the card and data to Zapier, a third-party integration tool. Zapier creates an Apple Wallet Card and Google Wallet Card using Pass2U.

• Impact: Multiple card formats are created, supporting different devices and preferences, with zero additional effort.

Near instant delivery

After the three card formats are created, Zapier initiates an email to send the cards to a member almost instantly.

• Impact: Membership cards are emailed to members, seconds after ACTA approves the card and shortly after registering or renewing their membership.

Implementation

With no in-house developer, ACTA’s Avery Campbell relied on clear documentation, AI tools, and no-code integration to build a powerful API connection between their membership platform and Cognito Forms.

Cognito Forms API

1. Identify and describe your desired workflow or outcome.
2. Review the Cognito Forms API Reference Documentation and copy relevant sections to understand endpoints and parameters clearly.
3. Review the Glue Up Membership Software Reference Documentation and copy relevant sections to understand endpoints and parameters clearly.
4. Copy and paste reference documentation and desired workflow into the AI tool. There are many AI tools available, Avery used Console by Anthropic.
5. Construct the data flow. He determined how to pull data from the membership system via cron job and filter it in a MySQL database.
6. Create AI scripts to call the Cognito Forms API to automatically create a fresh entry in the Membership Card Form.

Membership Card Form

1. Create a ‘Membership Card’ form with fields to collect the information used on the member card.
2. Create a Word document template for the membership card and upload it to the ‘Membership Card’ form Workflow.
3. Set up a Workflow on the ‘Membership Card’ form

• Triggers an email notification and task when an entry is added.
• Triggers a document generated using that entry detail when the entry is approved.

Zapier

1. Create a Zap between Cognito Forms and Pass2U to create an Apple and Google Wallet Card.
2. Create a Zap with an email platform to send an email to the member with the attached Apple Wallet Card, Google Wallet Card, and PDF card.

Any technical hurdles – like formatting data or filtering out duplicates – were tackled with short JavaScript snippets, also created by AI. Avery tested each step of the API integration with a small subset of records, confirming that entries arrived correctly and triggered the right actions.

After refining the process and verifying data accuracy, he deployed the solution for all new and renewing members. This eliminated the last of ACTA’s unnecessary manual workflows for membership card delivery.

Results & Impact

Since implementing Cognito Forms’ API, ACTA’s one-click card generation has reduced errors, boosted efficiency, and drastically sped up membership card delivery.

Saved staff over 100 hours
Replacing manually running reports and one-by-one card generation freed ACTA’s staff to focus on higher-impact tasks, such as member support and advocacy.

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99% decrease in card delivery time
New and/or renewing members now receive their ID card drastically faster. What used to take up to 2 weeks, staff can often approve and deliver member cards in 30 minutes or less.

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Improved member experience
Members can now utilize their membership benefits the same day they pay and register. Staff no longer fields daily “where’s my card?” inquiries.

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Eliminated errors
Automated data checks and integrated workflows reduce human error and eliminate forgotten updates.

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Best Practices Learned

Like many organizations, ACTA learned that simply moving paper forms online and automating half your workflow does not maximize digital transformation. Instead, rethinking each step proved key to efficiency.

1. Automate step by step
   Break down automation into stages. Do what you can with the tools you have. As soon as that process runs smoothly, move on to the next step.

2. Leverage AI to set up API
   ACTA’s staff set up a seemingly complicated technology without a developer. Copy and paste the documentation and tell AI what you want to accomplish.

3. Integrate with your existing systems
   Connect software wherever possible, whether in a native integration, an API, or use a third-party automation tool like Zapier.

4. Stay up to date on software updates
   Avery Campbell saw the announcement of the Cognito Forms API and quickly discovered how that tool could benefit his nonprofit organization.

Up Next

With membership registration and renewal streamlined, ACTA is already expanding its use of Cognito Forms. They’ve launched a digital certificate system for their continuing education course with a verification code for quick authentication.

They are also working on building directories and verifying credentials directly on the ACTA website.

Campbell plans to continue monitoring the Cognito Forms newsletter for additional feature releases that would simplify his work.

By embracing new digital tools – and continuously improving their workflows – ACTA ensures that Canadian travel advisors can stay connected, informed, and ready to help travelers plan the trip of a lifetime.

Modernize Your Membership Organization’s Workflow

Are manual processes and paper forms slowing your team down? Cognito Forms empowers you to build digital forms, secure your data, automate your workflow, and integrate with your existing systems – without writing a single line of code.

Join ACTA and hundreds of other associations to deliver your members a seamless, digital-first experience.