Variety of platforms used - unsure where/how to downsize

Lanetta Gilder

Hello!

I hope all is well. I'm at a K-12 school and they use a variety of products that require a lot of manual entry and work. They use authorize.net to process most of their online gifts, in addition to using GiveCampus. They use another platform outside of GiveCampus to create donation and event registration pages which is processed via Authorize.net. They also use EverTrue as well. Lastly, they use a different education management system platform, which means if data is updated or changed during the school year, its done manually from screenshots or pdf documents. From what I've been told, during the summer they upload/import data for new families from an excel document. I've only been at this place for about a month. I'm trying to wrap my mind around how to reduce some of the importing/exporting of data between products, cross-referencing and manual entry.


I'm looking into using "omatic" to assist with things, but I feel like some things could be eliminated. There's a lot of great policy and procedures for how they do things, but its somewhat out dated. Not sure where to start with suggesting change. What are your thoughts? Thanks in advance and looking forward to hearing from you. Take care and have a good day!

Carlene Johnson

Hi Lanetta!


Great question!  I've been in this situation before and it can sure feel overwhelming.  My recommendation would be to take an inventory of all the products, identify the PURPOSE, the STAKEHOLDERS, and the DECISION MAKER regarding that product.  I'd also gather COST and CONTRACT TERMS as well.  Once you've got a decent inventory you'll want to develop some questions regarding how the product is used, what are the features that folks like/dislike, and how well it is working for the organization.  When thinking about how well it is working you'll want to think about external and internal audiences.  Sometimes products are chosen because it makes life MUCH easier for the parent/donor/alumnus/event registrant but means a bit more work for staff.  Other times, the product is selected because of the efficiency it creates for internal teams.  


Change management can be hard, and when talking to folks about tools they can sometimes get anxious because they think you'll take away something that works well for them - or that a new tool will mean more work for them.  So reassure them that you are simply gathering information and that your hope is to streamline and create efficiencies in the long run - but that nothing is going to change overnight.  Sounds like it might be worth spending some time updating the current policy & procedure manuals to reflect current use.


Some of your contract terms may be such that you can't make a change immediately, so I'd focus on those that are coming up for renewal sooner rather than later.


I definitely support using ImportOmatic for automating a lot of the manual entry.  It will decrease human error and increase efficiency.  You can import gifts directly into batch - so you should be able to create some efficiencies with your gifts processed through Authorize.net.  Additionally, you can import/update parent/student information during your annual "rollover" season - and throughout the year from your student information system.  


Investing in IOM as well as creating a full inventory and understanding use-cases will be a great start.


Good luck!