A Tech Systems Assessment is an investigation into one or more technologies a nonprofit uses to carry out its mission. These are often precursors to more expansive projects and can be a great way for a team to get to know us and our work.
That’s what we did with Empower House, a Texas-based nonprofit that provides health, education, and youth development services for women and girls of color in the San Antonio area. They hired us in the fall of 2023 to take a look at their Salesforce system. Obviously, we are not going to share the results of that study, but by providing you with some redacted selections, we hope to offer a concrete sense of how a Tech Systems Assessment might proceed and the benefits you might receive.
Consistent with our value of collaboration, every research project strives to take a holistic view of how people and technologies work together. We start with qualitative and quantitative data collection (focus groups and surveys) before we ever look at the inner workings of a system. It is important to begin with people because their experience of using the technology is what matters most.
“We quickly figured out it was a different kind of collaboration and style than what they had experienced before. There was a real commitment to understanding our technical requirements.”
Andrea Tucker, Data Analyst
Our focus group with Empower House helped us in two ways. First, it provided insight into common pain points, some of which are unique to Empower House, but many of which are common among all nonprofits. We used that information to customize a survey, designed to gather insight into how much people used Salesforce and what they used it for.
Staff responses gave us insight into their perceptions of Salesforce and the capacities they had to use it. We compared those perceptions against objective measures we could gather from the system itself, such as login trends. Wide-spread system avoidance can be a sign of low buy-in, poor fit, and/or a failed initial adoption strategy.
After initial staff data had been gathered, we analyzed the inner workings of Salesforce, starting with the backend. It is important to evaluate the relationships between different data objects (what holds the data) in order to resolve issues that compromise speed, security, and stability. We also researched specific aspects of different fields (where staff enter data) that could impact data quality and efficiency.
From there, we analyzed the frontend user experience (UX). We find that a lot of developers do not pay enough attention to design when they first set up a new system. But how easy (even fun) something is to use has a direct bearing on how much people use it. A “clunky” system takes longer to learn and longer to use. Not to mention that staff tend to avoid it, which reduces the return on the tech investment.
A few small improvements can often make a big difference. To prove it, we like to make a handful of updates ourselves. For Empower House, we added two field validations and two formulas, which they reported save them a couple of hours per month in reporting time. Most importantly, the things we did could be copied and replicated throughout the system. According to Andrea Tucker, the data analyst,
“The report gave us some things we could do immediately, and it’s a blueprint for what this year looks like for me. The report built the trust. It’s also something that somebody else coming after me can refer to and see what’s already been done. My recommendation is to do this every few years, especially if there are other big changes happening to the structure of the organization and the types of services that are provided.”
We believe the best way to make lasting change is to build capacity. That is what we are focused on, no matter the size or scope of the project. Our number one rule is that clients must benefit from our services more than we do. According to Andrea, that seems to be what happened.
“It was more than I had even hoped we would be able to get out of the investment. It really was. The report could have been half the size and I still would have been very excited that we had a good return on the investment.”
If you know you have tech challenges, but you are not sure where to begin, it can be well worth the investment to bring in an expert to give you advice. Our initial consultations are always free. Click below to get started.