1. Transitioning to a New Data Management
System:
Evaluating, Choosing and Migrating to a New System
November 2011

2. The Planning Process
In the first half of the project, define precisely what you’re doing.
Consider Explore
Identify Define
Improving Options and
Goals Needs
Processes Decide

3. Identify Goals

4. Identifying Goals
What do you
hope to achieve?
How will you
define success?
What is included
in this
project, and what
isn’t?
This could require just single meeting, or a month-long process

5. Define Needs
What Does Your System Need to Do?

6. Tracking Information
GiftWorks by Mission Research
www.missionreasearch.com
How can it help manage relationships, not just store contact info?

7. Getting Information Out
• Reporting and
Querying
• Mail Merging and
Emailing
• Integration with Other
Systems
• Relationship Milestone
Management

8. Ease of Use
• Online vs.
Installed?
• Better for Power
Users or Novice?
• How is it
Organized?
• Support and
Training
Think about who gets access- chairs of committees or just office staff?
Are there permission restrictions?

9. What Will It Cost?
• Interview and get
estimates from
consultants
• Talk to organizations
who have implemented
similar programs
• Call possible vendors
Make sure you right size the tool.
Choosing the most expensive system is often not the right choice.
This is the back-bone of your org.- don’t UNDER-invest either!

10. Synagogue Focus
What do you gain
from a synagogue-
specific tool?
What are you
missing from the
wider market?

11. Consider Process Improvements

12. Consider Improving Your Processes
Make sure you’re not just building a monument to the way
you’ve always done things
Understand how you’re
currently doing the tasks
related to the project.
Consider standardizing to
best practices, or optimize
them to reduce
inefficiencies.

13. Explore Options and Decide

14. Identify a Team of Stakeholders
Make sure everyone who will use or be affected by the system is
represented

15. Define Your Needs
Research common needs, and talk to
stakeholders to define your own.
What’s critical, versus just nice to have?

16. Explore Your Options: Research
Research what’s working for other
organizations like yours
Consult Idealware, NTEN, TechSoup
Talk to similar organizations

17. Explore Your Options: Demo
If you’re selecting
a system, choose
3-5 systems and
schedule vendor
demos.
Make sure to do
reference checks,
too.

18. How to Talk to a Vendor
1. Skip the power point
2. Come with a list of
questions
3. Ask your questions
one at a time
4. Run through a series
of real life processes
with vendor
5. Don’t get distracted by
the bells and whistles
6. Stick to your budget

19. Compare Options Against Your Needs
And choose the right one for you!

20. Implementing and Rolling Out
Make sure to allot resources to these often-underestimated stages
Implement Migrate Train and Measure
Define Support and
and Data Usage Users Check in
Configure

21. Implement and Configure

22. Implement: Setup
Get it
up, running, and
working in it’s final
location

23. Implement: Customize or Configure
Set custom options, fields or setting

24. System Migration

25. Data Migration
Moving data from one system to another is hard.
Get someone to help!

26. First, make sure your data is clean and solid

27. Migration Challenges
Mapping your data properly is essential.
Mistakes are easy to make.
• Hard to match the fields from one system to another
• Have to know both systems very well
• Some systems don’t let you easily get data in or out
• Migration always takes longer than you think!
Help will be essential in this process.

28. Test and Test Again
Review your transfer and
import to make sure you
trust that you data is up
and going.
Testing:
• Proper mapping
• Data correlation
• Field by field transfers
• Random checks

29. Define Usage

30. Setting Clear Guidelines
What rules should people follow
when using the new system?
Who’s responsible for the data
and will answer user’s
questions?
Who’s responsible for
continuing success and
reliability of the project?

31. How do you enter data uniformly?

32. Periodically Test and Clean Your Data

33. Reporting and Using Dashboards
What data are you reporting on?
What are you tracking in dashboards?
Common Ground by Convio

34. Train and Support Users

35. Train Users
Training is a critical
step.
Think about both
prior to use and
ongoing training.
Remember to train
on what to do with
the data, as well as
how to use the
system.

36. What kind of support do you get?

37. Measure and Check-In

38. Measure and Check-in
You’ve defined what success would mean… are
you achieving it?
What measures will help you
know if the transition worked
as you hoped?
Schedule an
ongoing process
to understand
what’s working
and how to
fix what isn’t.

39. Software Selection Timeline
Plan Implement
Identify Goals Customize and
Configure
Define Needs
Migrate Data
Improve Processes
Define Usage and
Research Options Support
Vendor Demos Train Users
Select Software Measure
The whole process would typically take 1-6 months

40. Questions?