Quick Start Guide for System Administrators

So, you've decided to go for Charitylog...what happens next?

First of all, congratulations and thank you!

You are probably already in touch with our staff team, but here's who you are likely to be dealing with and when.

• For the sale of your Charitylog system, you've probably been dealing with Ian, our MD.
• For ongoing support through the process, when you telephone us, you are likely to speak to Emily or Nigel, our Support Advisors, or Matt, our Support Manager.
• For implementation and issues around getting up and running, this will be handled by Jane, our Implementation Manager.
• For Data Migration, you will probably deal with Fiona, who is one of our programming team and specialises in data migration of existing systems to Charitylog.
• For your on-site training, you will be assigned a trainer who will guide you through the whole process. These trainers work across regions. If you're located in the South-East or London, you'll be working with Claire; in the South-West, Richard; The Midlands, David; and if you're located in the North or North-East, Rob.

Implementing the system

Choosing your in-house administrators

You will need some staff to be in-house administrators of Charitylog. They will be able to control access rights, and configure the system the way you want it. These will be the people who are most involved in the training and implementation, and are also likely to maintain the system as time goes on. We suggest you should have at least three administrators. You might like to consider the following when choosing administrators.

Should you be on the administrator team yourself?

The vision of Charitylog is that the whole organisation uses the system to maintain their contacts and record their work, so we recommend that chief executives use the system along with everybody else.

Some CEs like to be involved in the running of the system, whereas some take a more hands-off approach, but we advise that you should have administrator rights, and should take some training so that you know your way around the system. This will help you understand the ways that your staff are trained to use the system.

Reporting needs

To be able to create the reports that you need, the right information needs to be put in at the start of the implementation process. Therefore, it is very useful if a service manager from each service/project is on the administration team. They may not administer every part of the system - they may end up focusing on their own service/project - but it is vital that each service "has a voice" during implementation.

IT literacy

It's not essential that all members of the administration team are skilled with computers, but if someone in the organisation is particularly good with them, it will probably help if they are on the team.

Data Migration

You may need to have data migrated into your new Charitylog system from an existing database, or more likely, a series of spreadsheets. For full details on this, please see the Data Migration Guide.

Training

Training will be carried out at your venue, or you are welcome to book an external venue if you feel it would make training more effective.

What do we need to provide to make training effective?

One computer per person
Projector
Fast internet access
Lunch arrangements