What's your ERG's Source of Truth?

Here’s something that happens often when I ask ERG Leaders or PMs how many members they have…

“Uhhh…”

“Well it depends…”

“So, technically….”

Here’s why folks often aren’t confident in the number:

• Some use sign-up forms that no one checks again

• Some use Slack or Teams channels and assume that’s enough

• Some rely on a distro list created two years ago

• Some are using an ERG platform that members don’t log into

• Some haven’t even picked a method yet

• And most… aren’t sure what “membership” is even supposed to mean

The result? Nobody has clean data, and nobody trusts or do anything with what they do have.

So… Who Actually Counts as a Member of an ERG?

Yes, there’s nuance between a member and an engaged member. But let’s keep it simple:

If someone takes an action to join, they’re a member. (duh?) Whether they fill out a form, join a channel, or sign up on a site — that’s your active audience.

But this still leaves teams asking what’s their source of truth to actually get an accurate count:

• Is it the ERG distro list? (likely outdated)

• Your member form responses? (doesn’t remove members no longer there)

• Your HRIS system? (overly complicated)

• Your event registration spreadsheet? (this should be an obvious no)

• Your ERG software? (probably no dual-sync/unified list unless you use Epoch)

• Or is it the comms channel? (hint: it should be)

Here’s my take…

✅ Why I Recommend Your Communications Channel as the Source of Truth for ERG Membership

1. Your Comms Channel (Slack Channel/Teams Channel/Viva Channel, etc) Is Where Community Actually Happens

ERG members aren’t checking Workday to attend events, post in forums, or engage with other members. That happens in Teams, Slack, or another day-to-day platform.

🔁 If your “source of truth” is disconnected from your “source of engagement,” you’re forcing duplicate work and risking member drop-off.

2. HRIS & Forms Signups Create Bottlenecks

Companies often default to HRIS systems and application forms to centralize ERG signups, but that decision rarely comes from a user-experience lens. It leads to:

• Delays in access to channels

• Admin-only workflows to reconcile members

• Friction for people who want to participate quickly

And when someone signs up in your ERG Channel first? There’s no easy way to push that info back to your HRIS or form unless you build a custom API integration (for the HRIS) or manually add (for a form) and even then, it’s just for tracking, not engagement.

3.  Most Companies Never Use the Form/HRIS/App Data

What I often see for ERG programs:

• The data isn’t clean or timely

• The export process is manual

• The ERG leads still manage their own lists in Excel or Teams

You end up with two versions of the truth, but only one that’s functional: the communications channel.

4. Most Automation tools are easy to plug into your comms channel

If your comms channel becomes your SOT, you can easily:

• Trigger workflows based on Teams membership

• Capture form signups or reactions to interest posts

• Use native Slack/Teams feature to check membership, post updates, and automate onboarding steps

This gives you live automation without middleware and no need to involve another platform.

5.  Most software’s APIs Are a Headache (and a Trap)

Even when companies opt into software APIs:

• You’ll still need IT to create and maintain custom Reports-as-a-Service (RaaS)

• The data returned is in XML or flat JSON — hard to work with

• You can’t easily do things like “Get all current members of the Black ERG and compare to their attendee lists this year” without middleware or deep parsing logic

(If all that sounds like mumbo jumbo, it’s because it’s exactly the type of stuff that you shouldn’t have to concern yourself with).

The truth? Most software external to your comms channel not for community engagement. Trying to retrofit it creates more work than it’s worth.

In all reality…

The best SOT is the one your members actually touch regularly. 

Simplify your ERG’s tech stack. Let your comms channel be the single source for:

• ERG onboarding

• Channel-based membership

• Event notifications

• Automated ERG operations

P.S. That’s why I’m happy to announce that I’m working with Epoch as their preferred ERG partner one of the few platforms (the only one I know of) that offers true dual member reconciliation. Whether someone joins on Slack or via Epoch, the lists match. With a tool like that, you never have to have confusion around many members you have.