Two Accessible Data Management Solutions For Non-Profits
by Tiana Tran, Hawai‘i Data Collaborative
More non-profit organizations are discovering the power of data to enhance their effectiveness and share useful insights with their community partners and funders. They are creating, collecting and consuming data at unprecedented rates, but managing the vast quantities of data can be a challenge. Fortunately, if you find yourself in this situation, there are data management solutions that can help you store, manage and use your data more efficiently.
Finding the information you need quickly is critical for any organization. When time is of the essence, you simply may not have time to search multiple files or ask co-workers for data to make important, timely decisions. A data management system can help break down data silos in your organization and establish a single place for everyone in your organization to access, explore, and consume data. A good data management system not only improves efficiency by eliminating manual processes, but also allows organizations to leverage and optimize the use of the data they collect so that they can make decisions and take actions.
If your organization’s data management processes have become more of a cumbersome distraction to work around rather than a solution to streamline your operations, a data management system could be the solution. This guide will help you choose the right data management system for your organization’s needs.
Choosing a Data Management Solution for Your Organization
In my work with various non-profit organizations, I’ve found that when it comes to choosing a data management solution, there is no one-size-fits-all option. The right data management solution will depend on your organization's data needs and aspirations, in addition to the cost and staff bandwidth to make the transition.
Below is a list of key considerations that I use when working with organizations to identify a data management solution that effectively suits their needs:
Define Your Needs - Understand what problem you are trying to solve with a data management system and identify your data goals and aspirations.
Functionality - Look for a system that has the key features and functionalities that match your objectives.
Integration - A main data system is useful for your organization only if it’s the designated centralized location for all of your data. Ideally, every platform or tool you use should integrate directly with your data management system. Ensure that the system you choose can interface with other applications you already have in place.
Security - If there are any data rules and regulations that your organization must adhere to (e.g., HIPAA), make sure the system you choose is able to comply with those.
Team Buy-in - Involve your team in the selection process and keep them involved so that they don’t feel threatened or intimidated by the new system. The more ownership your employees have in the selection of a new tool, the more likely they are to adopt it.
Scalability - Ensure that the system has the capacity to grow with your data and your organization. Remember, you will likely add to the data all the time, so even though your requirement may be at one level right now, this can grow very quickly if you are gathering and updating your data regularly.
Data Management Solution Options
There are a wide variety of data management system options available. Here are two options that organizations I’ve worked with have found to be valuable: Smartsheet and Salesforce.
- Smartsheet is a spreadsheet-style project management solution for organizations managing multiple projects with dozens of moving parts. It combines a familiar spreadsheet format with richer work management and collaboration capabilities to help organizations of all sizes manage workflows and improve collaboration. It’s a great option if you’re comfortable using spreadsheets to manage your projects but feel limited by traditional spreadsheet software like Google Sheets and Excel.
- Salesforce is a customer relationship management (CRM) system that allows you to track and manage your organization’s relationships with individual people throughout your lifecycle with them using valuable data. If you have a lot of contact data and need to track the interactions of these contacts with your organization, a CRM system is ideal. Salesforce is a global leader in CRM and a popular choice among many organizations due to its robust features and tools. It’s also highly customizable; the platform can be tailored to your organization’s specific needs.
Through Salesforce’s Power of Us program, non-profits can access up to 10 free licenses for their Non-profit Success Pack, which is specifically configured for non-profits to capture and organize constituent, fundraising and program data. In addition to the free licenses, nonprofits also receive deep discounts on additional subscriptions, products and services.
Smartsheet offers a free 30-day trial so you can try out the application and see if it’s a good fit before committing to a monthly or annual paid subscription.
The graphic below outlines the main differences between Smartsheet and Salesforce:
Data Quality - Best Practices to Maintain Data Integrity
No matter which data management software you choose, it’s important to put in place practices that will ensure data quality. I like to emphasize to organizations that I’m working with that the quality of the data matters because without accuracy and reliability in data quality, you won’t be able to trust the data or make informed decisions. As the adage goes, “garbage in, garbage out.” The decisions you make using data are only as good as the data itself.
Improving your data quality starts by improving your methods of data collection and cleaning your data. Check out this blog post by DataLeaks to learn more about data quality measures, including data accuracy, completeness, consistency and timeliness and how you can improve these. Data cleaning can involve different techniques based on the problem, but overall data cleaning aims to remove, correct or impute incorrect data. This guide to data cleaning outlines various real-life problems and different methods to resolve data cleaning issues.
I know that choosing to adopt a new data management solution can feel daunting. While some stress is inevitable, I hope that sharing the key considerations I’ve developed along with a couple of good solutions can help to ease some of that stress, providing a good starting point for you and your team to move forward. At the Hawai‘i Data Collaborative, we strive to be a resource to support service providers in developing capacities to gain and share data insights. Please feel free to reach out to us to learn more.