Comprehensive Study

In October 2020, at the recommendation of Michael Carter, Kerry Witcher and the Vice Chancellors, the Foundation contracted with Huron, a highly-regarded consulting group, to guide us through the selection and implementation of a new CRM. Our CRM project kicked off officially on November 10, 2020, with a meeting between Huron, Kerry and the Steering Committee.

The engagement with Huron provided a critical opportunity for us to reflect on the capabilities needed to enhance current advancement processes and to determine what technology will be necessary to support operations in the next 5-10 years. As a first step, we conducted a needs assessment by surveying 130 key stakeholders and inviting each person to participate in at least one moderated discussion.

This needs assessment was the most comprehensive evaluation of UTFI data operations ever conducted.

Findings of CRM Needs Analysis

Working with Huron, we compiled stakeholder feedback into a list of more than 125 unique needs, from which several consistent themes emerged. With input from the CRM Steering Committee, we identified our ten top priorities for ACE:

1. Full integration with other key data systems.
2. Seamless transfer of historical data and documents from ANDI.
3. Data standardization, including consistent data definitions and data input processes.
4. Intuitive, effective user interfaces.
5. Self-service reporting with real-time data.
6. Automated pushes of data, as opposed to users always having to pull data.
7. Mobile-friendly tools for inputting and extracting information.
8. Engagement analytics across all communication methods (email, text, phone, websites, etc.).
9. Comprehensive, at-a-glance constituent profile pages.
10. Secure access to the CRM via configurable roles (development officer, gift processor, etc.) that provide users with a customized experience.

Current Requirements

During the implementation phase, as we work through each project sprint and data integration, we continue to identify new requirements. As of April 2023, the Requirements Tracking Matrix (RTM) has grown to more than 1,200 items, each of which is assigned a status (Not Yet Started, In Progress, Approved, etc.).

In other words, the stakeholder interviews that began at the end of 2020 continue to drive daily decisions in our implementation.