LodgeDat

How it Started

LodgeDat™ was designed by me, Bro Phillip Benson of Athelstan Lodge 1333, and was originally intended for use by the Lodge Historian.

Some time in 2003, I was approached with a little task: could I convert a document typed in 1995 into something we could update easily? (Initiates were given a copy of the Lodge History, but we were running out and needed to update it before producing more copies.)

Being involved in IT, I get asked this sort of thing regularly, as you might imagine; I said I could. Much scanning and use of OCR software later, I had a number of files that could be passed on to the Lodge Historian for updating. (He still hasn't finished it, by the way; we all got a little side-tracked by setting up a brand new Lodge Room.)

Part of the document I received was a list of Past Masters. Lists are ideal subjects for databases, so the list became a simple database; the simple database became more complex as I was asked if 'this' and 'that' could be done with it and / or added to it.

The Lodge Secretary heard about it; "Could you ... ?" The rest is history.

By request, I have added:

• Membership records
• Meetings records
• Table planning
• Table labels for meetings
• Business connections
• Personal and masonic events
• Letterheads
• Labels preparation and printing
• Membership lists
• Membership records update requests
• Details of other Lodges
• Other Orders
• Links to useful Masonic documents
• Exporting to PerfectTablePlan
• Exporting to AutoRoute to produce maps
• Automated email facilities
• Mapping of people and Lodges
• Automated invitations to meetings
• Assets held by a Lodge
• .. and everything else I cannot remember

I have already been tasked with adding:

• Subscriptions
• Dining fees
• Links to Lodge documents

Now I've "gone public", all this will be done and I will also be building in:

• Production of standard documents such as Clearance Certificates
• Sharing of data between users
• Compatibility with more productivity suites.
  (Currently Microsoft Office only)
• etc, as I think of it or as I'm prompted
  (I'm keeping some things as a surprise)

And, mid-way through 2007, the original use, for automating and generating updated versions of the history of the Lodge, is still in the pipeline ...

What it Does and With What

The details of what LodgeDat does can be found here.

Whilst it will work on its own, for data output purposes, it was designed to take advantage of Microsoft Office - that was what everyone involved already had. It works seamlessly with newer versions of Microsoft Office; I cannot guarantee it will work with anything else at the moment, although I will be testing it soon.

Why Office? Well, it's supplied with many PCs, most people I know use it, and by using Word and Excel, products that many people are familiar with, users of LodgeDat can take the templates supplied and customise them.

(As a matter of interest, all early adopters will automatically become members of the 'LodgeDat beta-testers Club'. There is no membership fee ... )

Thanks

Thanks, in particular, are due to W Bro Brian Whitmore. Without his perseverance, regular telephone calls and total lack of IT skills, none of this would have been possible.

Thanks are also due to W Bro Ray Dinning. His enduring patience and innumerable emails of encouragement and many hours of testing have been of immeasurable help.