Categories
Blog

Why a “little i” integration might be right for you

Sometimes the needs of an organization are just not big enough to justify an API integration. That’s when you might consider something simpler: a “little i” integration. In this type of integration, you export well-designed reports from one system, minimally modify them, then import them into another system.

Categories
Blog

Top Qualities in a Great CRM/Salesforce Administrator

This post by Tracy Kronzak was first published on the Heller Consulting website. This post is one of our favorites on the Salesforce administrator topic. Heller Consulting has graciously granted us permission to repost it here. If you want your nonprofit’s Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) system to function at its best, you need a good…

Categories
Blog

Building iteratively: How to build a Salesforce system your nonprofit will actually love

“Why did your last implementation fail?” we asked. “Well, we got exactly what we asked for…” the program director said, “and it wasn’t what we needed.” Clients with existing systems often come to us for help getting it right. We like to start with the above question: “Why did the last implementation fail?” We’ve heard…

Categories
Blog

Moving legacy data into Salesforce: the Bigger Boat way

“I have all this data in my old system. How will you get it into Salesforce? What do we need to do?” These are questions we often get asked early in the process of talking to a client.   Each migration is unique. For example, a migration from Raiser’s Edge for one client may be different…

Categories
Blog Case Study

How to get a Raiser’s Edge Migration done efficiently, fast, and focused

Bigger Boat was able to help us assess what our needs were and get us on a path to success. We had a very short timetable for moving data from Raiser’s Edge to Salesforce. With Bigger Boat’s strong team, excellent project management, and agility we were able to get our minimal viable product (MVP) completed…

Categories
Blog

Guide: Staffing the Team for Success with Salesforce

Salesforce has the potential to make a huge, positive impact on your nonprofit. But in order to get the most out of Salesforce, it’s critical to have the right internal team in place, from before the implementation project even starts until long after the project is complete. What do we mean by the “right internal…

Categories
Blog

Salesforce Project Success (and Cost): Key Factors to Consider

How complexity, alignment, and commitment factor into project success and cost. One of the questions we often get early in a discussion with a potential client is, how much will this project cost? I’m always tempted to reply “how long is a piece of string?” In both cases “it depends…” It really boils down to these…

Categories
Blog

Four Reasons Salesforce Implementations Fail

Over the years, many organizations that started their Salesforce journey before we arrived on the scene have reached out to us for help. Some organizations need just an enhancement or two to keep their systems running smoothly. Some want to push into new horizons and build out new functionality. But others are disappointed. In Salesforce.…

Categories
Blog

Using custom metadata to provide flexibility in a managed package

We previously shared the details of PROVAIL’s supported employment managed package. That app needed flexibility to support different program models. Here’s how this was built into the package. Managed packages are Salesforce’s method of installing and distributing custom applications. Salesforce managed packages lock in certain elements, which makes it challenging to provide dynamic support for…

Categories
Blog

Investing in Nonprofit Measurement and Learning

Investing in a Salesforce administrator is a key factor for an organization to be successful with Salesforce. But what about someone who is also thinking strategically about how the organization is measuring their work and learning from the data? Lauren Shaughnessy serves in exactly that role for Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco. As Director…