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Apricot - many pros, but some challenges
June 01, 2022

Apricot - many pros, but some challenges

Karen L. Serna, AFC® | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Apricot Core

Overall Satisfaction with Apricot by Social Solutions

Our existing institutional database options were not able to be customized to collect the data we needed to capture; so we looked for an external product that could meet our needs. We needed to track case management of 1,000+ participants with multiple staff members interacting with each participant. We had a need to track static data like demographics, as well as dynamic data such as account balances/transactions and changes in behavior over time. We wanted participants to be able to contribute to the data entry, so having online forms/applications was required. We also had a number of stakeholders we were reporting outcomes to, so being able to customize reports was an important feature.
  • Customizable reports
  • Easy to bulk upload data
  • Easy user management
  • Better formatting options for external (participant)-facing forms
  • More general templates for common forms, etc.
  • Ability to hide items under "search records"
We did --- but we purchased Apricot so we could scale. Of course, we did this in 2020, so our scaling didn't scale as much as intended pre-pandemic. We struggled to get our program expansion off the ground, and only met 33% of our expansion goal. Because we didn't meet our original (pre-pandemic) goal, we are struggling with funding to keep our program going. Our Apricot contract expires June 1. We asked for a 3-month extension so we could have more time to secure additional funding -- but were not granted an extension (Apricot's minimum term is 12 months). I was disappointed that we couldn't get an extension and the whole conversation around that request did not go well -- I felt like Apricot was more than willing to leave us behind. This week we have spent downloading our data, and will not use Apricot after June 1.
It did not help us secure more funding, but that wasn't a function of Apricot -- it was the disruption the pandemic caused.
We did evaluate three other solutions before choosing Apricot (I can't remember the names by now). We chose Apricot because of its customization ability, and the look of the user interface.

Do you think Bonterra Case Management delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Bonterra Case Management's feature set?

Yes

Did Bonterra Case Management live up to sales and marketing promises?

No

Did implementation of Bonterra Case Management go as expected?

No

Would you buy Bonterra Case Management again?

No

Getting it up and running and customized to your use does take a lot of time and resources. It's necessary to have team members who are very comfortable using/learning/navigating new technology and have expertise in data management. OR -- have money in your budget to outsource the set up. From conversations with Social Solutions staff prior to purchasing, I really thought it was going to be easy to set up. Easy is of course a relative term. For me, it was not easy. There were days I wanted to give up and go back to our Excel spreadsheets. Fortunately, I found an internal staff member who coached me through setting up a data base and suggested my team and I set up weekly "Explore" sessions with Apricot. As a team, we did that for 6 weeks, and we finally got things up and running -- once we overcame that major hurdle, we started to love Apricot. But, it wasn't easy.