Difference between revisions of "Quick Start Guide for Administrators"

Revision as of 13:10, 5 August 2013

For full details of setting up your Charitylog system, please see the System Setup Guide.  

The Charitylog system

Charitylog is an all-in-one contact management (CRM) and data logging system for charities and Third Sector organisations. It is internet based, and so is accessible from anywhere you can get an internet connection. It is designed around desktop/laptop use, but works well on tablets and even smartphones.

The vision of Charitylog is that when implemented, the whole organisation will use Charitylog as much as possible. This means that the organisation gets maximum benefit from the software, and also ensures that the maximum possible amount of data is captured for logging and reporting.

The Charitylog system is not bespoke; rather, all our customers use the same basic system. This means that we can properly support everybody, and the system is very reasonably priced, unlike a fully bespoke system which usually requires a high upfront cost and then expensive development or extension work if required. Of course, Charitylog is hugely configurable, and can be set up to meet the needs of your organisation in any number of ways.

System administrators

To assist your organisation with the running of the system, we recommend that you nominate several members of staff to be your in-house administrators. They will have control of who can log on to the system and when, as well as being able to configure the system to your needs. They will be involved in setting up the system with your assigned trainer, and once your system is up and running, they will be in charge. Of course we are not trying to pass all the responsibility of running the system onto these people; the customer support line is open every day and ready to provide help to them, and you, whenever it is needed.

Often, some or all of the service managers in the organisation become the administrators. This helps when setting up the system, as each service manager is able to set up the data logging requirements exactly as they should be for their particular project. This is not a hard and fast rule, though. Anybody can be an administrator.

If somebody on the team of administrators is IT literate, this will help, but it is not essential.

Why have administrators at all?

Having in-house administrators gives your organisation more ownership of your system. Rather than just being provided a system and taught to use it, your organisation will be able to alter, extend and customise your system whenever you need to. Your administrators will also be able to add users and remove others, as staff join and leave; they will be able to teach new staff the basics of the system and get them up and running; and they will be able to set up new projects and services on the system when required.

I'm an administrator - what will I be required to do?

When we help your organisation implement Charitylog, rather than build and configure the system for you, we help you to do the configuration yourselves, for several reasons -

1. Throughout the build of the system, you will be able to control how it goes together, ensuring your organisation's needs are met
2. You will be able to change and adapt the system in the future for your changing needs
3. When changes are required, this can be done by your staff, for free - instead of having to pay for software development

Building the system in this way also introduces a "heirarchy of help", as this flow chart shows. In the first instance, end users have the online manual to consult. If they cannot find what they need here, they will be able to come to the in-house administrators (possibly via their service manager) before having to contact Charitylog. This has several benefits -

1. Questions can be answered by someone who knows the organisation properly
2. Response times are quicker than having to deal with an external IT company
3. Charitylog's support staff are free to handle more complicated questions, one-to-one

File:Qsadmin chart1.png

As you can see, part of the administration team's ongoing work is to help the end users with the system. When you first implement Charitylog, there will probably be a few questions, but over time the end users will become familiar with the system and are likely to be able to find the help content they need in the manual.

The other part of an administrator's job is to help with the initial setup and implementation of the system.

The first time that the administrators will see the system is on implementation day 1. The aim of this first day is for you to get a good grasp of the Charitylog system, so that you can think about the ways that it will work for you. Day 1 also provides an opportunity for your Charitylog Implementation Consultant to get to know your organisation well.

Day 1

On day 1 you will be shown the basic system, and taught how to:

• Log in
• Search for clients (and other types of Organisations or People) and create new ones
• Record contacts with them
• View the history of contacts that has happened with them
• See your outstanding work on the Action List

Depending on your organisation, and the pace of the day, you may well cover more material too.

After day 1

After day 1 your Implementation Consultant will leave you with some tasks to complete before the next day of implementation. These are likely to include setting up some Projects, and amending Drop-DOwn Lists.

What follows day 1 will depend on the needs of your organisation, and will be decided by your Implementation Consultant.