Every Monday, someone on the membership team opens the card processes in Altru and runs them one after another: individual and family, then upper levels, then reciprocal or corporate, then whatever special program got added last spring. Each one gets the same date range, and each one produces its own output file to download, check, and send to the printer or mail house. It’s not hard work. It’s just the same thing six times, and if one gets skipped, a member waits an extra week for a card.
This article covers why the work ends up split this way, what you can realistically consolidate, and how to make the remaining routine fast and hard to get wrong.
Why there are so many card processes in the first place
Card processes in Altru are usually built around a membership program and a card layout. Different programs often need different card designs, different fields (two names on a household card, a guest allowance on an upper-level card, a reciprocal logo), or different output handling. Over the years most organizations add a process each time they add a program, and rarely go back to retire or merge them.
We’re not aware of a native option in Altru to run every card process in one action. Because Altru is updated in the cloud, that could change, so before you build a workaround, check two things: search the current Altru help documentation for card processing, and ask Blackbaud support whether processes can be queued or scheduled in your version. If they say no, the options below still apply.
Step one: reduce the number of processes
The cleanest way to “run them all at once” is to have fewer of them. Pull up your list of card processes and, for each one, write down:
- Which program or levels it selects
- Which card layout it uses
- Where the output goes (in-house printer, mail house, a specific staff member)
- When it was last run
You’ll usually find a few that can go. Common candidates:
- Processes nobody has run in months. These are often tied to a retired program or a one-time promotion. Confirm with the team and delete or rename them so they stop cluttering the list.
- Processes that share a layout and destination. If two programs print on the same card stock and go to the same printer, see whether one process can select both. Whether that works depends on how your processes define their selection, so test it on a copy before retiring the originals.
- Layouts that differ only slightly. If the only difference between two cards is a level name, a single layout that pulls the level from the record may cover both. Your printer can tell you whether a combined file is easier for them too.
Going from eight processes to three or four does more for your weekly workload than any shortcut.
Step two: make the remaining run predictable
For whatever processes are left, the goal is a run that anyone on the team can do correctly in a few minutes.
Use a naming convention that sorts in run order
Prefix process names with a number, such as “01 Household cards,” “02 Patron cards,” “03 Reciprocal cards.” The list then sorts in the order you run them, and a gap in the numbering makes a missing process obvious.
Keep the selection logic consistent
If each process picks up memberships by date, make sure they all use the same rule, for example “memberships added or renewed since the last run.” Mixed rules are how a member gets two cards or none. If your processes use selections built from queries, store those queries together and name them to match the processes.
Write a one-page run sheet
List each process in order, the date range or parameter to enter, where the output file goes, and a box to record the number of cards produced. Compare that count against new and renewed memberships for the same period. A big mismatch is your early warning that a process missed people or picked up the wrong program.
Combine the output after the fact
Even if the processes run separately, the hand-off doesn’t have to. Agree with your printer or mail house on one shared folder and one file naming pattern per week. They pick up everything from that folder together, which removes the back-and-forth of separate emails for each program.
Step three: decide how often cards really need to go out
Some teams run card processes daily because members ask where their card is. If you have a temporary card option (a printed receipt that works as proof of membership at the door, or a confirmation email that admissions staff will accept), running the full batch weekly may be enough. Fewer runs means fewer chances to skip one.
Make sure admissions knows the policy, so a new member with only a confirmation email isn’t turned away while the card is in the mail.
Quick answers
Can I schedule Altru card processes to run automatically?
We can’t confirm that for every Altru setup. Ask Blackbaud support whether scheduling is available for card processes in your environment, and test any change in a sandbox or on a small selection first.
Will merging two processes change who gets a card?
It can. Run the merged version alongside the old ones for one cycle and compare the member lists before you retire anything.
What’s the most common cause of missed cards?
Selection rules that don’t line up between processes, or a process that simply didn’t get run that week. A numbered list and a run sheet with card counts catch both.
