Business System Reviews for NFPs
Not for profits are often shaped (by necessity) around the latest round of funding they have secured. It’s hard to avoid this cycle, and it often results in disjointed ICT investment. We were approached recently by an independent community organisation who wanted to clean up their fragmented and diverse application environment to improve staff experience. The Executive Team recognised that the existing systems needed a review as they had been experiencing significant growth as a company.
As with many not for profits, this organisation’s systems were broad and covered all corporate functions including finance, payroll, Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS), rostering, contract management, document management, incident risk and reporting and asset/fleet management.
We were able to provide practical guidance on how they could improve effectiveness and think more long-term when it came to business system investment strategy.
When implementing a business systems review, these are some of our top tips:
What role does the “system” play in the delivery of the service – Work with staff to articulate exactly what is needed of their systems. This can take the form of workshops, surveys, one-on-one discussions or group sessions. Reach Consensus
Identify gaps and risks – List out the key pain points for staff/users. If there is no tool that fills all the gaps, a ranking system might help prioritise which are the most important gaps to fill.
Know the strengths – If a current system is deserving of praise, don’t skip over this! Make sure you understand what staff/users like about existing systems.
Don’t always blame the program – Some of the systems could actually meet the client’s requirements, but staff weren’t aware of full functionality or processes were to blame. Rather than implement a new system, talk to your current provider (or other providers of the system) undertaking staff training and review your process rather than reconfigure the system.
Flesh out your recommendations – Know what each recommendation will involve in terms of actions necessary, roadmaps, forecasted investments, risks and benefits to the organisation.
Framework for the future - Leave the business with a framework or roadmap that they can look to which has guidance on scalability of systems for future growth.
Empathise with staff - It can sometimes be difficult for staff to welcome a consultant into the fold. Putting in extra worked to demonstrate that you want to make peoples’ lives easier and ensure that their systems worked for them pays off.
Need a hand conducting a business system review? Reach out to us for a chat on 03 9895 9600 or email votar@votar.com.au.