Advance CRM Implementation

25%

Status

In Process [In Process]

25% complete, updated on Thu 5/2/24 9:13 PM

Changed Health from Green - On track to Yellow - At risk with corrective actions.
This project was automatically moved to Yellow health because it had not been updated in 25 working days.

Details

Dates
Mon 7/10/23 - Sat 6/28/25

Acct/Dept

AU - All University

Service

Project Request / New Project Request

Type

Project / Annual Project Call

Health

Yellow - At risk with corrective actions

Portfolio(s)

2023-2024 Divisional Projects (Nadya Lucas)

Created

Fri 7/14/23 12:01 PM

Modified

Thu 5/2/24 9:13 PM

Link to Strategic Planning and Mandates

This will link the project to the University strategy it supports. If it is not a strategic project, don't select any.

Philanthropic Giving Imperative

Problem / Opportunity

Briefly summarize the problem or opportunity you propose to address. Write this in terms of the organizational problem being addressed, not in terms of the solution needed.

Problem(s)
• Outdated database/technology: The Advance database is 23 years old with few product upgrades/enhancements while the number of entity records has grown to approximately 500,000.
o Approaching end-of-life of current database. Soon the vendor will not release future updates/enhancements and will cease customer support for this product.
o CRM technology has vastly improved and offers more than just "transactional" data. CRMs today are much more interactive, integrated, and provide built-in capabilities, such as donor profile customization, visuals and analytics, and communication capabilities.
• Decreasing ROI in terms of cost (additional needed resources, staff time) compared to functionality and ease of use.
• The reporting tool native to our current database is not supported by IRT.
• Not consumer-friendly experience--no capability on mobile devices
• Not keeping pace with our constituents who are leading increasingly complex, engaged lives.
• Currently spend a lot of money on third-party platforms.

Opportunity
We are on the verge of completing our first comprehensive campaign, On the Rise: The Campaign for Sacramento State. By April 2022, University Advancement will have exceeded the fundraising goal of $225M to support student success and other University initiatives that support faculty, staff, and the greater Sacramento community. From a functional/operational side, the work required to support this momentous fundraising effort was NOT easy. There was a lot of manual work – smashing data into tables and finessing data into consumable reports – on the part of IRT, UA staff, and consultants. As we take a (short) break from this campaign and plan for the next one, a new database will be critical to meeting our next and bigger fundraising campaign to support students.

• Implementation of a new database/CRM will create efficiencies in operational tasks, such as reporting and data analytics, so that staff can focus efforts on identifying and soliciting larger gifts.
• Improved tracking of constituent engagement, which will help refine and prioritize communications to alumni, faculty and staff, community members, and other prospects/donors.
• Improved data hygiene. Inherent to a database implementation/migration is data integrity checks and an opportunity to review current practices. We have some tables that have been used inconsistently over the past 23 years, which has led to manual "clean-up" projects and a decrease in the value of the data when we extract it. For example, how we address and greet constituents has been an area of inconsistency and a high-visability mistake that we have to manually overcome. Prior to implementation, we will be able to correct these areas and document procedures and business practices to ensure good data hygiene in the future.

Goals & Objectives

Objectives are specific, measurable, and timed outcomes of the project that are stated in terms of the problem solutions or opportunities users will experience.

Below is a brief outline of the scope of work. Our consultants will provide a more detailed scope of work as we enter each phase. We would be happy to revise this project summary as future steps become more defined.
• Phase 1 (Feb. 2022 – June 2022). We are currently working with a consulting company on the early stages of this project. During this phase, IRT will have an advisory role requiring only a few hours of staff time.
o The consultants will review requirements (involving interviews with internal staff and campus partners) to get an overview of our current database and business practices.
o By the end of this phase, consultants will provide us with their recommendations for possible platforms/vendors.
o They will also work, in an advisory capacity, with IRT and Procurement on a RFP to vendors.
• Phase 2 (approx. Aug. 2022 – Jan. 2023). During this phase, IRT will continue its advisory role, but it will likely require a greater time commitment than Phase 1 (approx. 20–30 hours).
o Consultants will receive, compile, and analyze vendor materials.
o They will oversee communications with vendors and will schedule demos.
o By the end of Phase 2, we anticipate selecting and contracting with a vendor for our new database.
• Phase 3 (approx. Feb. 2023 – completion). This will be the database implementation time frame. Unfortunately, this phase cannot be reasonably forecast. Data implementation will have its own set of phases and milestones which will largely depend on the selected vendor/platform.

Area Lead

The person in your area who will help lead the following: document requirements, bring in appropriate resources (e.g., faculty, students, staff, etc.), and oversee tasks, testing, and training.

Lisa Woodad-Mink

Functional Teams and Other Resources

Please do your best to define personnel needed for your project, as well as your best estimate of the number of hours needed from those project team members.

Advancement Services
IRT -- 10 hours (Phase 1); 30 hours (Phase 2); unknown (Phase 3)

Risks and Dependencies

Identify any factors that can affect the outcome of the project including major dependencies on other events or actions. These factors can affect deliverables, success, and completion of the project.

We have not yet identified a vendor, nor is there an existing contract or ICT request pending. We are asking this committee to consider this project as a multi-year (at least two years, likely more) endeavor, which will be conducted in phases. As we are only in the very early stages of this project, the "dependencies" are yet to be identified, and we point to the projected "phases" as outlined above.
• A one-time funding request was submitted to the President’s Cabinet but was postponed given the timing of the implementation. Working with our IRT colleagues, we will submit a request for one-time funding over 2-3 years.

Executive Sponsor

Each project must have an executive sponsor (VP / Cabinet level executive).

Lisa Cardoza

Description

University Advancement would like to convert its 23-year donor database to an updated CRM that will provide more efficiencies, reporting tools, and data analytics to assist the University in raising more philanthropic dollars to support student success.

Manager

Pakou Woo

Sponsor