Software upgrade prompts review of organisational processes at the Elizabeth Foundation

Situation

The Elizabeth Foundation is a voluntary organisation for deaf babies, pre-school deaf children from 0-5 years, and their parents and families. 

When the decision was taken for  the organisation to  upgrade from version 6 of fundraising management software, The Raiser’s Edge, to version 7, Sally Moger, Director of Business Development, wanted to maximise their investment in the new software;

“We were keen to review the way we worked” said Sally. “We suspected that our processes weren’t as efficient as they could be, and that our data wasn’t very well ordered. We also needed to get better performance reporting out of the system.  We wanted some help to make sure that we used the introduction of the new software as an opportunity to improve the way we did things”

Challenges

Upgrading the software was viewed as quite a significant change in the way the organisation worked.  Elizabeth Foundation needed to make sure users felt comfortable with the change, but at the same time ensure that key issues were addressed. They needed advice on best practice, but delivered in a way that ensured users bought in to the process.

Solution

Purple Vision were judged to have an approach to training and skills development that met the Elizabeth Foundation’s needs.

User involvement from an early stage is a key success factor in this type of project.  Purple Vision worked with users in advance of training, which meant that it was tailored for their needs. In developing new processes and refining the data structure, users were again asked for their input – which meant that the end results were both well thought through and well received.

Benefits

“Purple Vision helped us derive maximum benefit from our use of Raiser’s Edge.” said Sally. “Without their input, this project may well have remained on the back-burner.  They made a real difference, and also represented real value for money.”