New User and Program
July 20, 2020
New User and Program
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
Apricot Core
Overall Satisfaction with Apricot by Social Solutions
Our organization is using Apricot primarily as a case management database for our resident services program. Additionally, resident services will be utilizing it to track participation and outcomes of other group programs and events. In the future, we are hoping to potentially utilize it as a donor database as well.
Our resident services program is fairly new and still being developed. Apricot gives us the tools to track our work with residents all in one place without being tied to paper documents and physical files. It allows us to develop reports to provide our partners and donors. The database will possibly help attract more funding.
Our resident services program is fairly new and still being developed. Apricot gives us the tools to track our work with residents all in one place without being tied to paper documents and physical files. It allows us to develop reports to provide our partners and donors. The database will possibly help attract more funding.
Pros
- Apricot's sales staff are very informative and professional. They work at the pace of the organization without pushing a sale, but instead, providing feedback and assistance in making a final decision.
- I appreciate that you are provided with a decent amount of initial users (10), which can be cost effective to smaller organizations that can't afford to necessarily pay per user if they only have a few staff members using it.
- The ability for participants to access and complete forms online has been particularly helpful during the COVID-19 pandemic. In general, just being able to access all of our residents' data remotely has made the immediate transition to working from home much easier.
Cons
- It would be helpful if you could 1) reassign tier two forms, and 2) replicate forms or create custom templates to reuse.
- Tracking attendance and scheduling functions are very challenging to navigate and add to forms.
- The initial training felt very unstructured. We weren't given a lot of information on what to expect ahead of time and then we were left with little guidance on how to actually best utilize the training, especially for organizations building a new program vs. moving existing documents online.
- We are entering into a new partnership that will be paying us for providing resident services to our buildings. This arrangement comes with more intensive reporting commitments, which Apricot will allow us to do more easily.
- Our program is still new, but as we apply for more grants the reports Apricot can provide will be essential.
Our program is still new and being developed. But, we have a set amount of families in our 14 buildings that we can provide services to. Apricot will allow us to better track how successful we are at reaching out and working with our whole population.
We have been able to secure funding from a new partnership because we have the reporting capabilities now to track our work. We only got Apricot this year, and therefore, we haven't seen a lot of change yet. But, we hope that we will be able to secure more funding through reporting and documenting our program's success. Additionally, we hope that we can develop it to become a donor database as well.
- CaseWorthy and Penelope
When doing research for a case management system I looked at a variety of options including some not in your list (Charity Tracker, Sumac, and Notehouse). In the end, the decision was between Apricot and CaseBuddy by CaseWorthy. Ultimately, a large part of the decision came down to the accessibility and helpfulness of Apricot's sales team. Additionally, CaseBuddy had just been released and we were concerned with going with a brand new database system. Otherwise, the functionality of the two seemed very similar.
Using Apricot by Social Solutions
2 - Currently we only have two users. I am the primary administrator and user. Whereas our Tech and Compliance Manager is an additional administrator to allow access to reporting functions and ensure someone else is familiar in using it.
1 - I am the primary administrator. We did have an intern at the beginning of the year that utilized the system as well. I supported her in training and problem shooting, and this will be my role with future users as well. I was the key player in the implementation process and I have been the one building out the database. So, I hold the most inside knowledge. My background in working with similar systems helps me navigate and troubleshoot.
- Case management
- Program/Event Evaluation
- Reporting and data tracking functions
- Remote access to data has been even more important than ever with COVID-19.
- The function that allows clients to access and complete forms.
- We would like to eventually build a donor database.
Evaluating Apricot by Social Solutions and Competitors
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
- Positive Sales Experience with the Vendor
- Analyst Reports
Cost and functionality were most important to us as a small nonprofit developing a new program. We wanted the most bang for our buck, but also a quality product. Additionally, as we add more staff there is room for us to grow with the program.
I would have requested more information on what the initial training and implementation process was like.
Apricot by Social Solutions Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Change management was minimal
- We are building a new program and did not have existing documents to use as templates.
- We realized near the end that our forms were not set up or organized in a way that matched what we wanted.
- I thought the process would be more directed, and had a challenging time knowing how best to utilize my time during the implementation meetings.
Using Apricot by Social Solutions
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Easy to use Technical support not required Feel confident using | Not well integrated Slow to learn Cumbersome |
- In general, the basics of form building are easy to grasp.
- Once the forms are completed and the system is built out, it is pretty easy to go through workflows.
- Tracking attendance and scheduling functions are difficult to use.
- Search features are sometimes complicated.
Yes, but I don't use it
Comments
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