Item: Bonterra Apricot
Rating: 8
Author: Kaitlin Sorensen

Overall Satisfaction with Apricot by Social Solutions

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Apricot as our data entry software as a Victim Services Provider. We use it in the Victim Services Department to record services provided and client information for our own use as well as to report to grantors on what we are doing with their money.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Very customizable.
Good support documents to help train.
Quick responses by account managers.

Cons

Reporting mechanisms become a bit clunky sometimes and aren't updated as frequently as other features.
Support structures for lower-level payment options are almost non-existent which is difficult.
More options for using connect.
There needs to be a better way to build around existing forms while keeping old data instead of the archiving mechanism. we are trying to revamp our system but we will the options for keeping and being able to run reports on old data with still utilizing the new structure isn't great.
I would like to see a way to run reports and have a printable report that looks more put together than the option we have now.

Return on Investment

We have been able to create meaningful annual reports with the data provided by Apricot which helps our community understand the need to support us.
We can accurately portray to grantors what effect their money is having.

Program Delivery

We are working hard right now to do an overhaul of our system since our program has changed drastically in the last 5 years. We are trying to get our Connect online, take advantage of signatures in the forms, and just make it a better user experience. We are currently working through this, so we have no concrete way to say that we've achieved that yet. Having the new features from CORE added as well as having Connect expand to include more than just administrators has been extremely helpful.

Diversified Funding

We have two large federal grants from the Victims of Crime Act that require an excessive amount of data and documentation and our ability to record and report that in Apricot has kept our organization afloat and able to continue to provide those services. It has also given us data to show the community what programming looks like in places where we need more funds to meet our capacity.

Alternatives Considered

I have not used or evaluated any other products like Apricot.

Other Software Used

Trello

Likelihood to Recommend

Apricot is a great database to use if you have the funds to be able to get enough users for what you want to do, can afford the support to make sure everything you're building is done correctly, and if, when you want to make changes, you have the support you need to do it correctly. I wouldn't recommend Apricot to brand new organizations because there is so much to learn about it and without the two tools I listed above, it would be a burdensome task to become fluent in it.

Comments

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Very customizable and flexible

Software Version