Penelope

Formerly Penelope by Social Solutions

We have used a database from one of our sister agencies in the past but it was not catered to our specific needs and services the way Penelope is. We were able to create our own personalized database with only information pertinent to our organization in particular as opposed to having to fit into a pre-developed template. If we needed something changed we had to go through two separate contacts and wait for changes to take place, which could take weeks if they were even approved. It was not efficient and often took more time out of our day to use instead of saving time.

Penelope is more controlled, well designed, and easy to use. We like that Penelope has some structure to it while having a decent amount of opportunities to be configurable to our own specific needs. Our staff finds Penelope easy to navigate and enter their data into the system in a reliable and easy way. We valued that at the time of purchase, Penelope was a Canadian company that understood our specific needs as a Canadian nonprofit.

While I'm not familiar with using many other systems, we did perform an exhaustive database search before choosing Penelope. We liked Penelope because while it wasn't the cheapest, it offers an abundance of features that aligned with our operation and seems the simplest to onboard and maintain.

We looked at many different programs available and we felt that Penelope met our needs the best. It was also in the right price range for our organization. Penelope’s staff were also the nicest, most helpful of the sales staff that we talked with. We also had really liked Civicore but in the [end,] we went with Penelope.

I did not select Penelope by Social Solutions

Sorry, I don't remember the names of the systems

Creating our own database allowed us to fully customize it to meet our needs. The Xencia system allowed us to select from a plethora of choices to create/customize the system that worked best for us.

have note used anything else

None.

Penelope is the only system that I have used.

I have used the HMIS (Homeless Management Information System) data base. I have not ever evaluated this particular data base. One thing different about it, we do not build our own profile, someone does it and it is the same for everyone that uses it. Also, they provide much training for this particular data base and provide many workshops.

Working at this particular job, this is the first time I have ever used Penelope and I have never used any other products by Social Solutions. Penelope, for me, is for a company that loves to be organized, who loves to save trees, and who needs things done in a timely manner.

Different use case scenarios. Penelope by Social Solutions is a better fit for case management and management of a nonprofit company as opposed to management of a private therapy office which is what I used therapy notes for. Penelope by Social Solutions would be recommended to others in the nonprofit field as well as social work.

My last job at a law firm used Needles and, although it was user-friendly, it wasn’t as pleasing, aesthetically. I wouldn’t say I “selected” Penelope, as it was upper management who chose the program. However, both programs are equally viable options in an administrative arena. To me, Needles strikes me as better for larger caseloads. For instance, I oversaw 2,300 cases with needles. Whereas at my current job, I have about 20 on average.

Therapy Helper was one I looked at 10 years ago, but none really since then. Came across Dr. First for e-rx but haven't used it in the hopes Penelope will integrate.

I have not reviewed any new software in detail. I have looked at new software in summary and was informed the cost was too high to pursue a change in applications at this time.