4 Steps to Prepare Your Nonprofit for a New Software Implementation

By Mark Becker, Founding Partner, Cathexis Partners

Mark founded Cathexis Partners in 2008, providing technical and consultative services to nonprofits of all sizes and types. He previously served as director of IT consulting at a fundraising event production company focused on nonprofits. For more than 20 years, Mark has supported hundreds of nonprofit online fundraising efforts.

Moving to new software for your nonprofit can be an exciting time. New technology can give your organization added capabilities and help your staff work more efficiently – ultimately driving mission impact.

But a software change can also seem intimidating. Not only do you need to get the new software up and running, but your entire organization must learn how to use it.

The good news is that thoughtful planning can make the move to new software much smoother for your entire organization.

Let’s look at four simple, yet proven, steps you can take to prepare your nonprofit for an easier and more effective software implementation:

First, prepare your team. 

Designate a person to oversee the software implementation. This person should understand your nonprofit’s existing software and how it’s used throughout the organization.

Work with others at your organization to make sure this point person has enough time to manage both the software implementation project and regular work tasks. This might require pausing some of the person’s projects or temporarily shifting tasks to other staff members until the software implementation is completed.

Also, ask the point person to help build a cross-departmental team that can represent the needs of each functional area of your organization impacted by the new software.

Get your data ready.

When you switch to new software, you’ll need to move your organization’s data from the old software to the new system. But if the data is scattered around the organization, and if it’s full of duplicate and outdated data, then your move to the new software will be bumpy at best. Here are some tips to get your nonprofit’s data ready for a software implementation:

• Round up your data. Check with staff members at your organization to understand where all data resides. For example, ask if they’re capturing and maintaining data in places such as spreadsheets or email inboxes.
• Tidy up. Even the best new software won’t work as well as it should when it’s full of duplicate, incorrect, or outdated data. That’s why it’s important to clean your nonprofit’s data before migrating to new software.
• Review data tables, queries, reports, and exports. Create a list of all queries, reports, exports, and dashboards that your organization uses so that they can be created in the new system as appropriate. Also, decide if there is any data that you do not need to move to your new software.
• Update your database policies. Before you implement new software, it’s a good idea to update your policies based on the new software platform. Also, make sure you have a comprehensive checklist in your staff onboarding process to ensure new staff members have the right software access and know your data policies so they can do their jobs well.

Consider your training needs.

The switch to new software will require new ways of doing things. That means your organization’s staff will need to learn how to work in the software. There are many benefits to getting your staff comfortable and proficient with the new system as quickly as possible:

• Staff will be more productive.
• Employees are more likely to be more satisfied with their jobs (and stick around longer), which will improve staff turnover 
• Your organization will see greater benefits from your new software.

While your new software might include online, on-demand training, that isn’t always enough. If you have a complex implementation, with data integrations and software customizations, you might need to pay the software vendor or a third party (typically the company that is completing the software implementation for your organization) to provide training for your organization.

And keep in mind that training isn’t a one-time activity. It’s important to offer ongoing training for times when you make changes to your software and as staff comes and goes.

So, be sure to plan for initial and continuing training as part of your software implementation. It will be well worth the time and money spent.

Plan your implementation timeline.

Software implementations can take anywhere from weeks to months or even years. It all depends on the complexity of the software and how you’ll be using it.

Because the timeline varies with each implementation, build a timeline for your specific implementation, with input from all stakeholders at your organization, your software vendor, and implementation partner(s)). In general, the phases of implementation projects will include:

• Discovery/planning
• Design (This could entail the physical design of a public-facing component, such as a website or form, or it could mean reviewing workflows to ensure new technology, such as a CRM solution, supports your organization’s processes.)
• Development (This phase includes configuration of the new system, including data mapping and web development.)
• Testing and quality assurance.
• Training and deployment.

 Learn more about implementing new software for your nonprofit. 

When you’re moving to new software, it’s well worth the effort to plan and prepare for the switch. It will make the implementation process smoother, and deliver better results, for your nonprofit. You can learn more tips on selecting and moving to new software in the guide, The Ultimate Checklist for Selecting Software for Your Nonprofit.