Getting Started: A Guide For New Association Staff
Last updated: November 10, 2026
Welcome to Novi
Whether you just started with an association that uses Novi AMS or you are taking on a new role, this guide breaks down your first week into simple steps. Start with the checklist below, then pick the training path that fits your role. Come back to the rest whenever you are ready to go deeper.
Whether you handle membership, events, marketing, accounting, or the website, there is a path here for you. And if you lead your organization and mostly want the big picture, we have a shorter route for you too. Let's dive in!
Your Day One Checklist
Here is a short checklist for your first day. By the end of it, you'll be logged in, oriented, and clear on where to go for help.
Confirm you have admin access. If you do not, ask a teammate who has it to follow 📄 Add a New Staff Person as an Admin. If nobody on your team has admin access, email help@noviams.com.
Log in to your Novi site as an admin. You'll land on the 📄 Members List, which shows every record in your database.
Create your Novi HQ account so you can watch training recordings. Create an account on Novi HQ, where Novi hosts live trainings and training recordings. You do not need an account to register for a live session, but you do need one to watch recordings.
Register for the live Welcome to Novi session. Welcome to Novi is a free overview of the platform and its essential features, with a live Q&A at the end.
Read your organization's Novi Notes. 📄 Novi Notes and Help Resources → What are "Novi Notes"?Novi Notes is an admin-only page on your Novi website where your association lists its own notes and processes. Every organization uses Novi a little differently, so also review your internal process documentation.
Skim the terminology. 📄 Novi Terminology defines words you'll see everywhere, such as backend, frontend, and member statuses.
Learn how to get help. Read 📄 Novi Support and Help Resources, and bookmark help.noviams.com.
Your First Week
After day one, spend the rest of the week by taking one foundational training, a role-based training, and reading a short list of targeted articles.
Attend the free Member Records training either live or by recording. It covers adding and editing records and member statuses, and nearly everything else in Novi builds on it.
Read 📄 Create a New Company or Personand 📄 Merge Duplicate Records in Novi AMSto put what you learned into practice.
Attend the training and read the recommended articles listed for your role.
Personalize your Members List by following 📄 Available Columns in List Views & Exports → Customize columns on backend lists.​
Bring your questions to Novi Office Hours. This weekly drop-in session lets you get real-time help from the Novi team. Registration is required, and you can stay for as much of the hour as you need.
Choose Your Training Path
Start with the role-based recommended articles to read and trainings to attend. If you wear more than one hat, which many of us do, start with the role that takes up most of your time and work your way through the others from there.
Your role | Start with these articles | Take this training |
|---|---|---|
Membership | ||
Events and Education | ||
Marketing and Communications | 📄 Creating Groups in Novi and your email integration, 📄 Mailchimp and Novi AMS Integration Overview | |
Website Content | 📄 Add a New Page to Your Website and 📄 Selecting the Appropriate Template for a Static Page | |
Accounting and Finance | 📄 Getting Started with Accounting in Novi AMS: The QuickBooks <> Novi AMS Integration and | Transactions, plus the QuickBooks 101 video |
Ecommerce | 📄 Create a New Product in Novi or Import Existing Products from QuickBooks Online and | |
Reporting | 📄 Getting Started: A Guide To Reports & Groups → NOVI REPORTS and 📄 Creating Custom Reports | |
Member Experience | 📄 Navigating the Member Compass: Novi's Self-Service Hub and 📄 A Guide to the Member Directory | |
Leadership | 📄 Membership Change Summary Report and 📄 Tracking Paid Renewals in Novi | Insight to Impact: Census, NPS, & Member Health™ and Built In Reports |
Novi's Complimentary Trainings
See the full training lineup at a glance. You can sign up for a live session at any time, or catch up on recent recordings once you have a Novi HQ account.
Training | What you will learn | Best for |
|---|---|---|
A one-hour introduction to who Novi is, core tips for navigating its tools and resources, and where to find ongoing training and support, with open Q&A at the end | Everyone, on day one | |
How to add and edit records, update member statuses, and manage data as an admin | Everyone, in week one | |
How to use list views as reports, interpret and configure the built-in membership, financial, general, and troubleshooting reports, and use them for day-to-day review (custom reports are covered in Groups and Custom Reports) | Reporting, membership, and leadership | |
When to use a group instead of a custom report, how groups power segmentation, automation, and directories, how to sync groups to Mailchimp or Constant Contact, and how to share and schedule reports | Marketing, reporting, website, and member experience | |
How to structure committees, set committee terms and eligibility rules, show committees on your website, and build segmented directories with featured listings. Attending Groups and Custom Reports first is strongly recommended | Website, marketing, and member experience | |
The basics of creating and managing events and what members see when they register, plus an advanced track on ticket settings, sponsors and exhibitors, cancellations and transfers, and webinars and series for people who already know the basics | Events and member experience | |
How Novi works with QuickBooks Online and how to navigate the Transactions section. It is not a QuickBooks or accounting training | Membership and accounting | |
Key settings, timelines, and best practices for renewals, drops, and member communication, offered quarterly as a 90-minute session | Membership and accounting, ahead of renewal season | |
Adding pages, updating the homepage, managing navigation, and using the content editor and CMS templates | Website and marketing | |
Adding products and promo codes, handling orders and refunds, and controlling where products appear for members | Ecommerce | |
How to use Census, NPS, and Member Healthâ„¢ to advance your association's strategic agenda | Leadership, membership, and engagement | |
QuickBooks Online basics, in a video of about an hour | Anyone with QuickBooks Online access |
Getting Help
If you ever get stuck, there are plenty of ways to get help from the Novi team.
Use "the blue bubble" to contact Novi Support and the Product team, as explained in 📄 Novi Support and Help Resources → Contacting Novi Support
Drop in to Novi Office Hours any time during the weekly sessions to ask questions and get real-time help. Registration is required.
Search our help articles at help.noviams.com, which are organized into collections such as Setup & Settings, Member Management, Events, and Reports & Groups.
Read through 📄 Reporting Bugs. It explains how to report problems to the support team and what they need to resolve issues quickly.
Book 1:1 training or a workshop with a Novi team member when your team wants focused, personal attention. This is a paid service, priced at $65 for 30 minutes or $95 for an hour.
For questions about how your own association uses Novi, start with your Novi Notes and your internal process documentation.
Connect and Contribute
Once you are comfortable with the basics, these resources can help you go deeper and connect with other Novi users.
Join a Novi Roundtable for conversations on tips, tricks, and best practices, or browse the recorded Roundtables.
Attend Novi Summit, our annual users' conference, to share ideas and solve problems with your peers.
Read 📄 Making an Impact: Prioritizing Your Novi AMS Feature Requests, a message from Novi's founder about how customer feedback shapes the product.
Tip: Bookmark this guide so you can return to it whenever you take on a new responsibility!