Use a Plan Group as a Member-Management Family Instead of a Checkout Catalog
A Plan Group can represent several tiers of one membership instead of several unrelated memberships. Enable Manage active members through Member Area instead of offering another Plan checkout when the Plans in the group are intended to be changeable tiers of a single continuing membership.
For a signed-in member who already has an active membership in that family, QCMM routes normal non-scheduling Plan choices back to the existing membership instead of encouraging a second subscription. Upgrade or change choices then come from the Plan Upgrade / Change Paths you configure.
When Membership Family Mode Fits
- Basic / Plus / Premium levels of one organization membership.
- Bronze / Silver / Gold editions where one person should normally hold only one tier at a time.
- Software editions where a customer changes edition through an approved Plan change rather than buying a parallel duplicate membership.
When It Does Not Fit
- Unrelated memberships that a customer may legitimately hold at the same time.
- Add-on memberships that should create separate subscriptions.
- Scheduled appointment Plans. QCMM’s Membership Family helper intentionally excludes Scheduling-On Plans because each scheduled purchase represents an appointment rather than a normal reusable membership tier.
Enable the Family
- Open Components → QC Memberships & Meetings → Plans.
- Edit the Plan Group.
- Under Membership Family, enable Manage active members through Member Area instead of offering another Plan checkout.
- Save the group.
- Configure Plan Upgrade / Change Paths between the related Plans so eligible members have intentional change options in Member Area.
What an Existing Member Sees
| Location | Current behavior |
|---|---|
| Plans page | Eligible non-scheduled, non-sample Plan cards in the family show Manage Plan instead of a new checkout action. The exact Plan already owned can also show Current plan. |
| Plan Details | The normal primary action becomes Manage Plan for a member who already owns an active membership in the family. |
| Direct checkout URL | QCMM stops a normal duplicate-family checkout and redirects the customer toward the existing membership workflow. |
| Member Area | The member can renew or use only the Plan change paths that are currently allowed for that subscription. |
What Does Not Change
- New customers who do not yet have an active subscription in the family can still use normal Plan checkout, subject to the Plan’s other access rules.
- The family switch does not itself define which upgrade/downgrade targets are allowed. Plan Upgrade / Change Paths own those rules.
- Plan pricing, terms, Joomla group assignments, features, and billing remain properties of the individual Plans.
- Administrators can still create or manage subscriptions when business operations require an exception.
How QCMM Decides That a Family Is Already Owned
QCMM looks for a current subscription in the same Plan Group whose status is active or cancelled-pending-expiration and whose end date has not passed (or has no end date). That durable subscription—not a browser button—is the authority for whether the customer should be sent to Manage Plan.
Verify Before Going Live
- Test the group as a user with no membership and confirm normal checkout is available.
- Activate one Plan for a test member.
- Return to the Plans page as that member and confirm the related family Plans now lead to Manage Plan rather than a second ordinary checkout.
- Confirm only the intended Plan Upgrade / Change Paths appear in Member Area.
- Test a genuinely unrelated Plan Group separately to confirm it still permits another membership.
Community Discussion
Want to compare QCMM workflows or discuss how other Joomla site owners use this feature? Visit the QC Memberships & Meetings Community. For private support, account-specific entitlement or billing issues, or bug reports, use the QuantaCade support system.