Noah by JL Systems

I feel for the team at JL Systems, I really do. But their product is antiquated and lacks a lot of functionality that has been industry standard for several years, for example click-to-pay and proper conversion tracking on the CMS. Everything you could ever want to do ends up being a custom job that ends up costing thousands. Something as simple as changing a template for an invoice could take weeks. I feel they continue to take on clients without building the capacity within their own walls and they do so at the expense of existing customers.  The CMS (DNN) is a nightmare to work with, very glitchy, and feels like it is from the late 2000s. It's hardly a CMS; it's more accurately a content tree of templatized html pages. What's more, any new feature you want to implement - like, say, an Accept Cookies popup/banner - is not possible since you share the same root as multiple other associations, so a change for one site would affect all the others. 

Also, because we're not given a dedicated server, sometimes our site goes down for 30+ minutes with no explanation or warning. 

I want NOAH to work for us, because the founders mean well and built it from scratch, but it's gotten to the point where it's stifling creativity on our staff because people assume that JL will either slow roll the process, quote us an astronomical price, flat out tell us it's not possible, or take so long going back and forth with their very green customer service reps that it ends up not being worth pursuing from a staff time perspective. NOAH can't keep up with our needs now, so it's doubtful they'd be able to scale up with us as we grow. 

NOAH is one of the clunkiest systems I have ever used in my 30+ years as an association executive. Their customer service is slow to respond; service requests and upgrades come at an additional price, and the system is antiquated. It takes a long time to add a record and to make changes to existing records. We've had to utilize other systems as NOAH is unable to meet our needs; as a result, these systems don't communicate with each other which makes data management a nightmare. If you need a basic system without any bells and whistles, then NOAH might be worth looking at but for our needs, it's just not effective at all.

We've been using Noah AMS for about 8 years. They've added more features through the years, and it's a robust system that's still user-friendly for basic use. I like that you can set up different views for different users. Reports can be pulled in multiple ways. Their users group conference in October 2018 was a great experience. It was good to hear about things we don’t necessarily know and to get training on less frequently used modules. There was also a group of users talking about how they use the system and how they worked around or resolved issues without going to JL Systems. Their users digest is helpful too because users want to know how other users of Noah are tackling problems. 

We selected NOAH AMS in the summer of 2018. It was a huge plus for us that the owner of JL Systems would participate in their presentation; it was clearly important to him that he was there, and we appreciated his knowledge and responsiveness. We went live with some of the modules as early as that October. With NOAH AMS, we can easily put data in the system and can also access and pull it. We get good information through standard reports and reports that JL has created for us. Being able to get the data out and make decisions with it has saved our staff time. In the future I want to see what JL develops further with dashboards. Their users conference was awesome, and we learned a lot. We sent four staff members, and all thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a small conference- getting to know and talk with a lot of users from other associations is important. We were just getting started with the system at the time so I'm sure we'll understand a lot more at the next conference. The online users community is a great resource. I'm a lurker, but I'm hoping in the future to participate more than I do now.

We went live with Noah AMS in June 2017. The system is doing pretty much everything we want it to and giving us the functionality we were looking for. Noah AMS has helped us to increase our revenues, specifically with publications, event registrations, and job postings. The software also has made areas more streamlined for our association. For example, we no longer have to use an external site for event registrations, thus keeping visitors on our site where we can market to them. Staff time is saved in several ways, such as with the integration of journal subscriptions. Now it only takes one click to run a subscription list to send to our mailhouse. On the CMS side, they created a template that works for us, and their templates are intuitive and easy to use. I will add that the Noah AMS staff is good at explaining things, and their customer service is very responsive, usually within hours. 

We have been with JL System since 2014.  What attracted us is the integration of the AMS with the JL Systems hosted website and their abstract submission system.  They are very cost effective.  I have worked with several other AMS systems spent way more money and gotten way worse service.  Since we have been with JL System's they implemented a service ticket system which has improved their response time.  They listen to their customers, make system wide inhancements that everyone benefits from.  Their abstract submission system is very strong.  They also easily accept and work very well with us to integrate with other products such as Higher Logic e-mail and communties and our event App.  I would recommend J.L. Systems NOAH product.

Our organization has been on NOAH AMS since January 2015. It has performed admirably, has met our operational needs very well, and the JL Systems staff has worked with us consistently, and in a time and cost efficient manner, to evolve with our changing operational practices. We were a very "stove piped" organization prior to our implementation of NOAH, orchestrating myriad means of capturing data supporting extremely manual responses to our members and customers. Aggregating data was a nightmare. NOAH now provides us with the ability to perform more than 95% of our operations through this central data management system.

Don't get me wrong, no AMS is perfiect, but we can rely on JL Systems continued support and timely responsiveness to keep us improving our ability to better serve our constituents.

We chose this system hoping it would be an upgrade from our prior system.  We conducted a rigorous needs analysis and RFP process, and NOAH seemed to check all the boxes for us.

Implementation was clunky.  It was hard for them to get data migration right, requiring a number of passes.  There was little documentation for the system (something they are remedying), and some key functions, such as the process by which members join, are so clunky that we get calls and emails every year from prospects lost in the process.

The annual cost is reasonable.  However, the flip side is that additional work - customization, bug fixes, changes - are all charged back on a time and charges basis.  Nearly everything we've needed has been "chargeable" - which is part of the model - but deadlines have often slipped for delivery, and we've had to do our own testing to insure accuracy.

I'd probably be looking for another AMS if the time and emotional energy required wasn't so great - especially the effort to burn in a new system and migrate our web site.  Judging by many of the reviews for all systems, not just this one, there is a lot of unhappiness with AMS systems, and I'm not convinced the time required to spec our needs, issue an RFP, and implement a new system will result in huge improvements.  Maybe a 2020-2021 project. 

 

We switched to Noah 3+ years ago after quickly working our way through two "out of the box" projects. We came looking for a product that was affordable for a small to medium sized association, but we also needed one that allowed for customization beyond your traditional out of the box AMS. As you can see below, we've saved a ton of money by being with them.

Implementation: This was hands-down the most amazing process I've been through, having done this four other times in my life. The team sat down for two days with us to understadn our business rules and then rolled it out for us, giving us a chance to verify each step. They used this time to create custom reports for us, as well, which you dont get out of the other affordable prodcuts.

Customer Service: The Noah team is extremely responsive. We use nearly every module available, so we are on a first name basis Yes, there's a charge when you ask them to do something you can do yourself or that you want customized. But having been with other AMS, its rare that there's a person I can call who knows my account inside and out. When we are onsite at our annual convention, I have our contact's cell phone number in case there are issues. I've never gotten that kind of service before.

Quality - Backend: It takes a bit to learn the intricacies of Noah. But that's the effect of having a customizable database. In the last six months, they've added lots of new manuals and a user community which has helped.

Quality - Frontend: Our implementation to users was seamless and there have been no issues reported from members. We do not use the CMS for our website.

Integrations: We do not use CMS, and Noah integrates well with our Drupal website. We also have seamless integrations with Higher Logic Connected Communities and Higher Logic 's Informz email marketing.

Money Savings: Noah is broken into modules so you pick and choose which ones to use (membership, event reg, presenter center, donations, caree center, etc). We are most pleased with Event Reg, Presenter Center and Donations. Being a very scientific organization, our submissions for convention are quite intricate. But we've been able to work with Noah and eliminate an outside piece of software ($25k savings a year). We also got rid of outside event reg software ($15k a year), and have been able to implement a control to solicit donations (increase of $20k in revenue a year). 

Overall Effect: Because Noah has various modules (membership, event reg, presenter center, awards, career center, fundraising), we have one profile on every member. Previously, we had members in nearly a dozen different systems for different things. Using this data has allowed us to increase membership and retention in ways we couldnt before without lots of minutia.

Recommendation: Noah is great for small to medium sized associations. If you can afford one of the huge programs, yes, there are probably advantages. But we cannot afford that, and we have really upped our game by using Noah. We like Big Data, and by having everything in one AMS versus several linked programs, we now have that big data on our members.

JL Systems presented very well in the initial stages of sales and planning.  Jon Danforth obviously knows his product well.  However, once we were into the migration and testing phases, we realized that everything came at a cost.  They refused to listen when we were migrating data on what to migrate, and, as a result, the data we have is not reliable.  We were not told of some things they consider "standard", and JL Systems just implemented them without asking our opinion.  This has also caused problems in the way we track or can access our data. 

Things are not very fluid, and their most recent update has actually made things worse (more clicks to implement a change, items not available that used to be, etc.).  Also, the system frequently goes down - only for short increments of time, but you are stuck in the middle of a transaction trying to decide if it's going to work or not. 

The customer service is the worst part of the system.  Almost every request we make or question we ask results in NOAH staff blaming us in some way, and we are then forced into a position of paying to fix it. As I said above, Jon really knows the product, but the rest of the staff is not very knowledgeable.  Response time is very slow (I believe because they have a very small staff). 

Many things can be forgiven or you can use work-arounds to get the work done, but the customer service problem just makes it all unmanageable.

The system overall offers many modules at a reasonable price. Monthly charges are based on number of licenses and number of contacts in the database. Overall the system has worked well but there are a few really PAINFUL PAIN points that need to be resolved.

First, when we signed with NOAH there was absolutely no user guide as of 2 years ago. They have slowly began posting a guide for certain module sections but not all. There are a lot of modules and features and rolling out the user guide is pretty slow. So once training is completed, if a client has a question about a module that is not in their user guide they will charge you for answering the question. Even if it is a YES or NO question, you will be charged for 15 minutes of their hourly rate. That's $40 a pop!!! for someone to answer you. Can the module do this? No. $40!!!!

Second, the system is not perfect (none are), and there are sections of the modules that cannot be controlled by the client, for example the registration form. There are numerous section a client can customize but the instruction text on the form has to be entered by NOAH. BAM! another charge. It doesn't seem right to charge a client for updating a page they can't update themselves.

Also, if the system crashes or a glitch happens, when you point it out! $$$$$ - they will charge you to fix it even though it was not your fault and a weird glitch on a particular day.

I actually am pleased with most of the system, like I said nothing is perfect, but their customer service and charging for any contact with their staff is unreasonable. It is also unreasonable to charge clients for asking for guidance when there is NO user guide in the section you are inquiring about.

They told us in the beginning they take customer feedback and use that to update the system but we haven't seem any updates since we signed on and any feedback response will end up on your invoice $40!!!

I do believe clients need to take ownership[ of their AMS and make sure there are staff members that are fully trained in all aspects that other staff can reach out to but NOAH needs to account for the fact that they can't possibly cover everything in a training and clients may have questions. We have actually had meetings to decide is it worth asking the question or do we suffer and not get and answer or something fixed.

The only reason I am not giving the AMS a thumbs down is because I think 85% of it is actually fine but their business model and price gouging is getting out of hand.
Note: We use other 3rd parties and this is the only one that charges us for questions and fixes.

I am a fairly new user to NOAH having used Affiniscape, Your Membership, Weblink, DonorPerfect and Raisers Edge software. This is by far the worst I've used. It's really an accounting system its great for managing money, invoices and event registration but has no ability to measure engagement and information is almost impossible to get out of it. Most of the customer service people aren't even familiar enough with the system to help. Trying to write a library card to pull information could take at least 4 hours.

Its a relatively small company, so turn around time isn't fantastic. Additionally, it doesn't have the most functionality out there. If you are a smaller organization, it may be for you!

We were able to get up and running on this system for an affordable price, compared to other robust systems. The implementation process was fast and efficient. Regarding customer service: There are well-meaning, talented people in the office. They are reachable during emergency situations and respond appropriately. Routine requests for customizations, though, can take a very long time to fulfill. Often, I need to stay on top of these projects so they don't slip through the cracks. It seems that their team is overwhelmed with requests from other customers, and it seems that there's some disorganization in their office. (I'm guessing about the disorganization -- perhaps the issue is that ongoing customers aren't as high a priority as new customers.) Regarding our daily use of NOAH: The user interface is not intuitive to our staff members. JLSystems has made some modifications to accommodate this, but we still need to mentally translate from our terminology to the terminology used in NOAH. The built-in reporting feature, in particular, is difficult to navigate. Sometimes the system is slow. I know this can be affected by internet connection, but it can be slow even when our connection is fine. Regarding the website CMS, which is DNN: this is more intuitively designed (for us) than NOAH. Right now, though, there seems to be fewer people on the JLSystems staff who are experts in the use of DNN. The CMS is robust, but we haven't had a lot of guidance from JLSystems on how to make the most of it. There used to be a go-to person on staff that could answer all DNN questions swiftly and thoroughly, but he no longer works there. Overall, I would recommend this system only if you don't have the budget for the implementation costs of a higher-priced, more configurable system. (We paid about a third of the price for implementation with JLSystems as top-of-the-line vendors charge for implementation.) And, if you have a strong match between the out-of-box system and your association's needs. If you look at the areas of functionality that they've built out because of other customers' requests and that matches what you need, you might be in good shape. In particular, do the standard reports cover what you need to get your data back out of the system? If you do sign on with JLSystems, I would recommend thinking through the customizations you need early on -- during the implementation phase. During the implementation phase, JLSystems churned out a number of customizations that we have trouble getting them to work on in a timely fashion now, in the ongoing maintenance phase.

We have used NOAH for over 10 years, after I first spoke with the company at ASAE Tech Conference. I originally selected the software primarily because it was (at that time) based on Access and we could import/ export using Access and Excel.
ALSO it was affordable for our small association (budget less than $1 Million a year, 4 staff)
Also, I liked the fact that this is a family owned and managed company, and I felt confident that our staff support would not suddenly disappear.
All of this remains true today. Now we use NOAH as a web based "cloud" solution, we can send and manage emails and event registration through it. It has modules we have NOT used so I cannot evaluate all parts (such as a Certification tracking module).
We have over time, asked for and received, some customization to fit with our business practices, and this has been timely and reasonably priced.

First, I want to note that my assn uses an older version of NOAH, not the current version on the market webNoah. Our version is no longer in circulation and, therefore, I will only speak to our work with them and not the product itself. JL Systems is a small family-owned company that has been in the association membership database space for decades. To a person, the JL team is responsive and genuinely interested in supporting clients. In our implementation which dates back to the early 90's (or late 80's), we were able to work with JL to develop a database that supports exactly our needs, from fields and reports. The database never failed us in 20+ years! I heard that the webNoah offers many improvements over the old desktop and online mirror situation that we have. I recommend that an association consider NOAH if they are looking for a lower cost all-in-one system with some but not many bells and whistles.