Data management made (kind of) simple!
April 11, 2019
Data management made (kind of) simple!
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Salesforce Platform (formerly Salesforce App Cloud)
Our entire organization uses the Salesforce App Cloud to manage all of our donor, program, and vendor/external partner data. When building out our Salesforce, we made sure to include fields for all the data we would need. This allows us to effectively store and find our data, even from different departments. This is a central location where all of our data lives and allows for the development team to find information about donors and foundations. It allows our program team to find information about our students and their families and stay up to date on their school performance and other external factors that might be affecting them.
- Due to the nature of Salesforce, it is highly customizable. You can build out the platform to create any number of fields and manage data in a way that is effective to your organization.
- There is an app that you can download that makes it simple to take the data on the go. There have been many times where I have to look up some information and have no access to a computer.
- Creating reports and dashboards with my data helps me visualize the progress we have made so far. It also lets me send reports to various stakeholders that are pulling the information I need automatically.
- Although Salesforce is highly customizable it requires knowing extensive knowledge about the database and the way it functions. This means we had to hire consultants to create a framework for us that we could then use. It means we also retain someone as consultants throughout the year for changes because we cannot afford to have a full-time staff member who knows the ins and outs of the database.
- The same can be said for generating reports. It took me a few months to really understand how to generate the reports I was looking for. It requires knowing a bit about the way fields are connected and working from there. I've learned that practice is key. Additionally, we had our consultants teach some staff how to pull reports as well.
- I primarily use Salesforce to track donor information. Since it is not specifically a donor management database there are some features that are missing that I know other platforms do have. For example, I can't batch upload acknowledgment letters to certain donation records as you can in Raisers Edge, etc.
- It's impossible to calculate an exact ROI because of the nature for which we use Salesforce. However, it has made reporting on income incredibly easy. I can pull reports on board member donations, or foundations, or corporate money. This allows us to see how our new strategies and campaigns are performing and adjust accordingly.
I have not used any other products like Salesforce.