This is available to all our Blog readers totally free of charge from http://www.charitysolutions.co.uk/db_rep_blog.html

Hope you find the report useful.  Any comments (good or bad!) are very welcome.

It’s now time to find out exactly what the database providers are offering,  and how well their products meet your needs and budget.

When choosing your database provider, here are some things to consider.

If any database provider blinds you with science and offers what they see as great must-have features, please “stick to your guns”. Compare your list of requirements against what the provider can offer, and don’t be persuaded away from your ideal specification. This way you will not end up paying for features that you will not use.

Ask to speak to some of their customers and find out what actual users think  of the software and long-term support provided.  But remember that the provider will probably only give you names of customers that will give a favourable report – so use your own discretion here!

Get a database provider to give you a demonstration of the software.  A word of warning  – find out how big a database the demonstration is based on, and the specification of the computer it is run on. If you have a larger number of records and will be running your database on a less powerful computer, your experience of the speed and power of the database might not be so impressive!

Do your research and  it will pay dividends….  Search on-line forums. Network at charity events. By talking to similar organsiations you will be able to learn from their experiences and see what worked for them.   And remember, word of mouth recommendations are worth their weight in gold.

Choosing your database provider is an important decision. Mistakes can be costly and time consuming. Some providers will be totally upfront about all features, and some won’t, but it is up to you to find out the true facts and to evaluate them against the specific needs of your organisation.  Make sure you are confident that your final choice is the right one.

Post us a comment - we would appreciate your views and welcome any questions.

But having to look at and compare different software can be a mind-numbing experience and also very time  consuming if you are not sure what to look for.

Here’s a simple route map to help you navigate through this IT minefield. Start with a big list of all the features you think you and your colleagues might need, want or like on your database system for example:

1. Do you need to record fund raising results? If so, in what kind of detail?
2. Does it need to integrate with other programs (e.g. Word or Excel)?
3. Does it need to include Gift Aid processing?
4. Do you need a full audit trail for all donations and transactions?

It may sound obvious, but you will need to carefully consider who will be using the system.

Do you have a small set of full time people who will be using the system all the time and so will become familiar with a complex system? Or will you be staffed by volunteers who will only use it one day a week in which case a simple intuitive system that is easy to use will be  an essential requirement to add to  your list.

A good help file and good documentation could also be a big help, but realistically will your users really look at them?

So now you  have your list, you will need to review and “grade” how important each feature really is to your organization. Sort them into:

• - Must have features.
• - Should have features.
• - Nice to have but not essential.

Review your list with your colleagues and gauge whether your views match theirs. For instance a Finance Manager might feel Gift Aid processing is the most important thing, but a Fund Raising Manager might want more extensive features on campaign management.

A word of caution… It’s easy to be impressed with super features that, in reality, won’t really be of much use for your specific needs. So be honest with your own evaluation!

Then when you and your colleagues are all agreed, it’s time to go out and look at what the database providers can offer. We will talk about this next time.

Hope this post has been useful.   Please continue sending us your comments and questions and we will try and include them in future posts.  Just post a comment below or send an email to sales@charitysolutions.co.uk.

Yes…. and No.  Whatever you do, whatever system looks best, don’t forget the “extras”.

When comparing prices, remember there are more costs to consider than just the price per user of the basic system.  Some suppliers will be totally upfront about these additional charges, some may not – but either way it’s your budget on the line, so it pays to ask questions.

Here are some of the additional areas of cost that can easily get missed.

Maintenance Fees

Most suppliers charge a yearly maintenance fee  – make sure whether this is included in your first year’s purchase price or will be extra on top.  Check to see what the maintenance fee covers:

1. Does it include all updates or just the minor ones?  (In other words, does it include just big fixes – if a wonderful new version of the database software comes out during the year, with you be charged extra for it?)
2. Does it include Telephone Support help if you need it?  And if it does, what hours is this support available and does the provider give any type of SLA? (Service Level Guarantee – i.e.  a guarantee how long it will take before your problem is acknowledged or fixed.)
3. Does it include “onsite” support if required?  (If you can’t resolve a problem over the phone, will a technical representative visit your offices to fix things.) 
4. If any of the above are not included, what price will the supplier charge to provide these services?  Are these prices fixed for the next year or when could they change?

Installation, Commissioning and Customisation Fees

Almost every database will need some initial installation and setup.  If your organisation is fairly large, or if you already have a database and want to take the data in it across to the new system, there will be additional work to be done at the start to get the new database system working as you need it, with any data you already have working correctly with it.  This work can take time and can be complex, so make sure that your supplier gives you accurate costings of what they will charge in your specific case.   This is also an area where suppliers can “hide” costs, quoting an apparently competitive cost for the actual database software then piling on a rather hefty charge for the initial setup and commissioning work. 

You also need to consider whether you currently need the database system to do anything extra or different (or anticipate you might in the foreseeable future).  This could be anything from simply requiring a few field name changes or additions right through to requiring additional features. 

We will cover this in more detail another time, but basically you need to consider whether you are likely to need any changes and, if so, you need to determine whether you or your staff can do these changes or whether you will need to pay the supplier to do them for you.  If it is the latter, try to determine the costs involved now and see if the supplier will make any guarantees as to how long these costs will be guaranteed for – it is not unheard of for suppliers costs to increase dramatically after the initial product has been purchased and paid for.

Initial User Training

Will your users and administrators need training to use the software?  We will cover this in more detail another time (another long topic!), but make sure that you take any training costs into account from the start – they can vary wildly.  And however good the database you buy, it is going to be useless if the people who need to use it don’t know how to and can’t work it out.

Ongoing Administration and Maintenance

Most database software will need some form of regular maintenance.  Before you purchase, check what tasks are likely to be required and ask:

1. What technical skills will be required to do them – will they be something you can do yourself or will they require an experienced technical administrator with skills no one at your organisation currently has? 
2. How long will the maintenance tasks take? 
3. How often will they need to be done?

Additional Hardware and Software

Make sure your supplier tells you the what kind of computing hardware and software will be required to host and run your new database.  You can’t assume that the hardware and software you already have will be sufficient.  If the new database is to be used by several users it is probably going to need to run on a server of some type - and you may be surprised how many suppliers assume that they don’t even need to tell you that their software will require a machine all of its own.  If your workstation PCs are old, you will also need to check that they are powerful enough to use the database, with a new enough operating system to work correctly with it.

And while we are on this subject, remember that your database will probably need to run on…. a database.  OK, this might sound stupid, but most custom charity database (or CRM) systems rely on an underlying “core” database (such as Microsoft SQL, Oracle, MySQL, SYbase, FoxPro… and numerous others) to do the underlying “manual work” – the “database” you are actually buying is the program that sits on top of this organising information into screens and providing the features and functions you need.  Most charity database developers (in fact most developers of any system that uses database technologies) do not want to re-invent the wheel in developing the core “manual” database functionality – apart from anything else it is a very specialised field to work in – and one that isn’t of interest to most developers out there!

Some of the “core” databases are free to use, but many cost a significant amount.   They can be priced  in a number of ways (per server, per user, per processor, per database) so make sure that your supplier tells you exactly what you need.  And remember that some manufacturers give discounts on the cost of software to charities, so make sure that you are getting the best pricing – find out what additional software is required and ask another company to quote for it to make sure that you get a good deal.

To Summarise

When comparing solutions, make sure that you are aware of the total cost you are going to need to pay out to get the database installed and running properly in your organisation.  Don’t base your decision just on the actual database software or you could be in for a nasty surprise when you get that final bill!

Any comments or questions?  Just post a comment…..

So if you are working for a charity or NFP and have been given the task of finding a database, how do you go about making sure that you choose the right system?

You don’t want to waste your donors money (or your professional reputation) on a system that doesn’t work for your organisation. You can’t afford to waste the time of your employees and volunteers learning to use a system that turns out to be the wrong one. You need to be sure that the final decision is the right one.

There are hundreds of companies and products out there – all claiming to be the perfect answer to your needs. But chances are that you are not a world expert on sourcing charity or membership database software – and you probably won’t have the resources to hire one to make your decision for you. So where on earth do you start?

Over the next few weeks & months here on the Charity Solutions blog, we aim to try and help you through the minefield with a series of “don’t forget to consider” posts – key questions you should probably find the answers to (or at least consider) before you buy. Not all of them will necessarily be relevant to every organisation, but we aim with each one to provide information and suggestions that are useful, factual and unbiased.

Here are some of the areas we aim to cover:

1. What is the Total Cost of Purchase?  The purchase price the salesperson gives you is only one part of your total cost – don’t forget that you also need to consider a whole load of additional (and possibly hidden) costs such as maintenance fees, installation, commissioning and customisation fees, user training. Also, will you need additional hardware and software to run the database?
2. After the system is up and running, what kind of ongoing administration and maintenance overheads are there likely to be?
3. Features – Does it do everything you need it to?
4. Will it be fast enough?
5. Will it be secure enough?
6. Who will be using your system – now and in the future? What kind of training are they going to need to use the system efficiently?
7. What Reporting features does it include? How easy will it be to get the information you need out of the system?
8. Are you going to need to customise it?
9. Will it grow as you grow? Can you add more users or extra modules easily? And if so, what kind of costs will you be looking at?
10. What long term support will be available?

… and so on – more as we think of them or you ask us!

Please check back soon as we take a more detailed look into the first topic.   And in the meantime, please continue sending us your comments and questions and we will try to include them in future posts.