It's time to make a change in your core database technology. Why? Your staff are spending way too much time entering data in multiple places, you can’t easily get the land management, member, or donor information you need - the list goes on and on. However, choosing a technology is not something you’ve done often and you're not sure how best to approach it. In this short session we can’t pick the right software for your land trust, but can help you determine the key factors and give you an approach to make the best decision.

1. How to Pick
Database Technologies
for Your Land Trust
Presented by Donna Whitig & Paul Keogan
from BackOffice Thinking for Rally 2016

2. BackOffice Thinking
Is this you?

3. BackOffice Thinking
Or maybe?

4. BackOffice Thinking
Complexity is not linear

5. BackOffice Thinking
NonProfit Needs

6. BackOffice Thinking
Land Trust Needs

7. BackOffice Thinking
STRAINONRESOURCES
How do you know if you need to change?
People
Process
Technology
OPTIMAL

8. BackOffice Thinking
What Triggers Change?

9. BackOffice Thinking
BackOffice Thinking Approach to Software Selection
DEFINE
SELECT

10. BackOffice Thinking
Requirements Gathering: A start
User Interview
Notes
Systems overview
CRM Review
Data Source Review
Internal Surveys
Development
Scenarios
BOT Experience
BackOfficeThinkingAnalysis
Constituent
Management
Events
Development
Data
Discovery/Reporting
Activity Tracking
Land Conservation
Data Security
Custom Workflows
Legacy Data Needs
Integration Needs
MaptoFunctionalAreas
Feature
Purpose
Notes
Native Support
Native CRM Support
CMS Integration
3rd Party or
Customization
Potential Issues
MaptoApplications
Demos
Compare Package
capabilities
Summarize Functions
Use case discussion
Admin Impact
User Impact
Adoption Effort
SelectPackage
Notes & Recordings
Primary Process Areas
Feature Index
Software Selection
Report Overview
Key Deliverables

11. BackOffice Thinking
Requirements Gathering: A start
1. Define the Goals, Timing, and KPIs (not budget yet)
2. Create a project team
3. List the people/departments affected (org chart helps)
4. Define who will be part of the process (interviewed)
5. Review work timing, please confirm and key dates, vacations, blackouts
6. Project high level schedule
7. Create list of your major pain points/ major drivers of change
8. Create list of your workflow processes and features you anticipate assessing
a. Example - this should be a good brainstorming effort, not looking for 100% accuracy)
9. Organizational/department cycles, rhythm - often this is yearly
10. List all systems
a. Include: Major purpose;Strengths/Weaknesses; Amount of data; Data quality; Cost per year (drivers); Cloud; integrations
11. Other key items specific to your situations
12. List any unknowns
13. Any other items you think are important

12. BackOffice Thinking
Key Points: Integrated Solution vs. Point SolutionsComplexity/Sophistication
Need of Integration
Somewhat
Valuable
Very
Valuable
Not too
Valuable

13. BackOffice Thinking
Key Points: Hosted vs. SAAS vs. Premise

14. BackOffice Thinking
Key Points: Feature /Function Index
Feature/Requirement Purpose Notes Priority Now Priority LT
Create Custom Fields Add fields in the
future
With admin permissions 2 4
Import Records Import legacy data 4 4
Multiple Permissions Field Level 2 3
Manage Monitoring
Tasks
Standard and Advanced
Tools
5 5
Not Needed (1) ----- Important (3) ---- Essential (5)

15. BackOffice Thinking
Selection Process
Market Assessment Detailed, feature level analysis

16. BackOffice Thinking
Selection Process: It’s more than Features
Metrics
worst → best
⚪ → ⬤
Solution
A
Solution
B
Rational
Long Term Cost ◑ ◕ XX has license and 3rd party fees, however YY is limited in ability to support without 3rd party
expertise, hosting and potential upgrade costs. (Detailed Cost analysis)
Quick Implementation
◑ ◑
Each package has trade-offs for a fast implementation. YY has more out-of-the-box functionality while
XX layout is easier to customize.
Adoption ◕ ◑ Layouts, user-profiles, record-types and workflows can make the XX experience more customized to
each team without custom code.
Implementation Effort and Risk
◑ ◕
Our detailed feature analysis shows that XX, with some 3rd party applications should cover most or all
potential needs
LT Project Risk ◕ ◔ XX is a leading platform and will certainly be able to accommodate future needs, although may require
3rd party extensions or customizations
Ecosystem / Extensibility
◕ ◑
XX has numerous 3rd party apps, APIs, import/export and reporting methods which make it more
flexible and better to integrate that YY
Innovation ◕ ◑
While YY features innovation is not strong, XX has strong innovation and is positioned to continue to
lead
Security ◕ ◑
YY has strong contact based security, but XX can support many more anticipated use-cases and as a
SAAS is more stable
Overall ◕ ◑ While YY could potentially address near term needs, XX can be a strong, long-term solution with lower
risks.

17. BackOffice Thinking
Key Points: The final choice

18. BackOffice Thinking
610.709.6570
BackOfficeThinking.com
Visit us at Booth 17