We recently had a charity get in contact with us to see if we could help them with a database solution. They run a series of workshops for young people (14-18) to help prepare them for entering the workplace. This involves having regular (and recurring) events at schools and colleges, that they were currently managing with a series of spreadsheets, PowerPoint documents and numerous hours of manual calculation. To complicate matters even further all of their staff were home based and therefore they had no office within which to place a more traditional solution (an access database that they had been offered elsewhere).
After a series of meetings with staff, we implemented the installation of SuiteCRM for them, with a number of custom modules to take away the pain of the manual processing. Hosting it on our secure server network means that they can access the system from where-ever they are.
SuiteCRM is an open source software system that has a wealth of feature including:
- Lead management
- Control over your accounts and contacts
- Data workflow automation
- Sales reporting
Based on this we configured and customised the software for our client to include:
A central database of Schools, Colleges and partners;
A central database of contacts at the above institutions;
Workflow process to remind staff of key tasks (Due to schedule next event, tasks for in-progress events etc.);
Expanded events details to track specific key tasks and indicators around the events;
An additional module to store and process event feedback data;
An additional module to auto-generate pre-event worksheets for attendees;
An additional module to auto-generate post-event PowerPoint documents sent out to institutions and volunteers;
Various Reports built either in the standard reporting tool or as a custom dashlet;
Implementation of Google Maps Integration to allow easy viewing of volunteers near to events;
The power of SuiteCRM is that being an open source and highly customisable Customer Relationship Management system it allows you to create simple client records, up to workflow-driven custom database systems. It has a healthy community and client base with a series of commercial modules that allow you to integrate with the major online services that business require, see here for more details.
If you’re looking for a customised data management solution for your business then please do give us a call. Our job is to advise on finding you the right technology solution for you so before you spend many thousands on software that might no do everything you want it to talk to us first!
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