May 2009 NRDS Work Group Report

Association Executives Committee
NRDS Policies Work Group
Wednesday, May 11, 2009
Meeting Summary

Work Group Purpose
To continually review and consider NRDS policy and enforcement issues and clarify existing policies and procedures as concerns arise.

Discussion and Recommendations
The NRDS Policies Work Group discussion focused on the following items:
I. Membership application template update
II. Additional status for non-code of ethics suspension

I. Membership Application Template Update
Chris DeRosa provided an update on the online Member Application that will be published in NRDS News.
“Scheduled for this December, NAR will be implementing Phase 2 of the Online Member Application project. Phase 2 will include a link so that the applicant can pay online via Ecommerce at the same time they submit their application. This will be optional for associations to use or not. We will also include fields on the current template so an association can set their fiscal year for proration and load their association logo.

Because the online application includes all the NRDS required fields, we will also store those fields on our end so a POE can pull the data via the CDB (live XML connection) into their own database so the POE will have the data necessary when the applicant is approved as a member. NAR will also store the data so that smaller boards who do not have their own membership system can convert that record to a member online at NRDS when they are ready."

II. Additional Status for Non-code of ethics suspension discussion
At the NAR MidYear meetings, the work group approved clarified definitions of the Member Statuses I (inactive) and T (terminated) in NRDS. All POEs must follow the definitions of these statuses effective January 1, 2010. POEs will not need to go back any change any statuses on members already dropped.

Based on the information from the meetings, NAR staff confirmed the definition of Status S (suspended), and received concurrence of the work group’s clarified definitions of statuses I (inactive) and T (terminated) with Board Policy & Programs staff and POEs before posting the following information on NRDS News:

NRDS NEWS: NEW POLICY FOR MEMBER STATUS EFFECTIVE 1/1/2010
As stated previously, the status S (Suspended) was put into NRDS by NAR in 2001 for the specific purpose of tracking members who had not taken their COE course by December 31 of each quadrennial. The new COE requirement had just been introduced and the S was defined nationally for that purpose. If a member does not take the COE course by December 31, the board must suspend that member (using Status S) and by March 1 must drop the member if they have not taken the course. Therefore there should be no members with status S in NRDS after March 1 at the end of a quadrennial.

This year it had come to our attention that some POEs had been using status S to mean many different things. Because NRDS represents nationwide data standards, the choices in NRDS must mean the same thing to all and status S must be preserved for the national definition set when it was added to NRDS.

To clarify all nationwide data statuses, the NRDS Policies Work Group recommended defining drop statuses where POEs could distinguish between a member simply dropping their membership and a member being terminated by their association for failure to meet a duty or obligation.

Rather than adding more fields to NRDS which would cost all the associations’ money to upgrade systems and require possible changes to bylaws, the work group approved a clarification to the definition, or lack of definition, of the Member Statuses I (Inactive) and T (Terminated).

Again, because NRDS represents nationwide member data standards, when all POEs follow the approved definitions, they can all be sure they are interpreting the data on NRDS the same way.

The following new/clarified definitions must begin by January 1, 2010.

When a POE drops a member, the POE should use either status I or T depending on the following circumstances.

I (Inactive) indicates the member left voluntarily, in good standing. The member may have simply resigned or retired from the business. Inactive would also be used when the member decides not to renew their membership. When a board makes an offer of association membership renewal (sends an invoice), the member can indicate to you by the due date by the act of not paying that they have declined the offer to renew.

T (Terminated) indicates that the member was dropped because they did not meet an outstanding obligation(s). Examples from the associations of this include not paying an outstanding arbitration obligation, not meeting any ethics hearings requirements, etc. In other words, this member did not leave as a member in good standing. (NOTE: simply choosing to not renew their REALTOR® membership would not fit in this category. If they have chosen not to renew, you would simply change them to Inactive. Annual REALTOR® dues are not a receivables obligation. MLS policy may be different but NRDS is strictly for tracking association membership).

When used correctly, any POE viewing a member in NRDS will be able to tell immediately by the I or T if they may need to contact the member’s previous association for further information before they accept the transfer.

Also, starting in January when a POE views a member online in NRDS, the member data will display the Change Date by the Status field so the POE will know if the status was changed after January 1, 2010. The POE will know if the definition of I and T as described above was being used since we will not go back and change the tens of thousands of previous dropped members in NRDS when POEs were using I and T interchangeably.

In either case of I or T, as described by the POEs who were looking for another status to use besides S, the members with I or T will not receive any services such as the magazine; they will not be counted for Directors, dues or Delegate votes, RPAC contributions will not be accepted; and they will not be displayed on Realtor.org or Realtor.com as a REALTOR® member.

Chair: Claire Shahzad, RCE
Metro Tex Association of REALTORS® (TX)

Vice Chair:
Tom Quattlebaum, RCE, CAE
Anne Arundel County Association of REALTORS® (MD)

Members:
Tamela Brookhouser
Nebraska REALTORS® Association

Marsha Burke
Big Bear Association of REALTORS® (CA)

Paul Chasse, RCE
Massachusetts Association of REALTORS®

Sheila Dodson, CRS
Coastal Association of REALTORS® (MD)

Nancy Dunning, RCE
Cape Coral Association of REALTORS® (FL)

Dallas Hancock, RCE
Peoria Area Association of REALTORS® (IL)

Austin Moran
New York State Association of REALTORS®

Maggie Mueller-Tyler
Northern Virginia Association of REALTORS®

Kathy Olsen
Burke County Board of REALTORS® (NC)

Kathy Sweeten, RCE
Northwestern Vermont Board of REALTORS®

Liaison: Bill Powers, CIPS, CRB, CRS
Realty Executives of Texas

Staff Executives:
Laurie Oken

Chris DeRosa, RCE, CAE