Dean R. Alban, 33°
Director of Information Systems

The Supreme Council’s Sentinel Membership System is a powerful tool for Valleys.

Some of the 53 Valley Secretaries and office staffers, who came together in Washington, D.C., to train on the Sentinel Membership System in February, posed for a photograph in the Atrium in the House of the Temple. Photo: Paul Nadeau, Scottish Rite Intern

In February 2005, 53 Valley Secretaries and office staffers from all four corners of the Scottish Rite came together in Washington, D.C., to train on the Sentinel Membership System.

Questions, ideas, innovations, and solutions were tossed about during the Friday and Saturday sessions. The majority of our Valleys now use Sentinel for reporting their membership information to the Supreme Council, and it is important that Valleys use this essential tool to its full potential.

Valleys now have maximum control of their membership data because computers have become an integral tool in managing all types of information. With Sentinel, Valley Secretaries can produce mailing lists for birthday cards or create a list of brethren by their hobbies, professions, or ZIP codes. E-mail addresses are being added to members’ records to allow fast communication via the Internet. Members who have moved can be identified by the Valley nearest to their new address allowing them to stay active in the Rite. The Supreme Council has scanned over 1.5 million member cards as digital images, and Valleys now can search them directly. For example, in a matter of seconds it’s possible to locate a member who joined the Scottish Rite in the 1860s!

Sentinel allows us to streamline procedures, improve data processing and reporting and, at the same time, provide new and exciting features for our Orients, Valleys, and all Scottish Rite brethren. While implementing strong security protection, we will give valuable information to our leaders.

Just who are the people using Sentinel? Are they all computer-savvy experts working for IBM? There are a few experts among our Sentinel users group, and they are generous in sharing their knowledge with everyone, but most of our Sentinel users are people like you, interested in learning how to help their Valley and Orient. They are able to use Sentinel to save time in doing mailings and in managing membership lists, to stay in touch with members, and to help new brethren feel welcome.

If you would like to know how easy it is to use Sentinel, just stop by your Valley to see how they are using this exciting tool. If you have an e-mail address or new personal information to share, it would be a perfect time to tell the Valley Secretary when you get your demonstration. Let me know how you like it.

When the Sentinel Users Group met here in Washington, one thing was clear: we are moving forward in response to the strong support Sentinel is receiving. That’s because this is a tool that is simple to use, yet flexible, and can be enhanced to serve specific needs. With your interest and participation, we can enhance the fraternal experience for all of our members.

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Dean. R. Alban is the Director of Information Systems for the Supreme Council, 33°.
Contact: dalban@srmason-sj.org.