Challenge

Here the client had an issue where the system they used to track their programs only allowed them to get canned reports. While it had the data they needed it required them to then manually summarize the data by town and activity for the master spreadsheet management used. Since this was a multistep process it also increased the risk of miss entering data. Now, this spreadsheet was important in their fundraising efforts, it was vital to them to have accurate data.

Project Goals

• Eliminate the need for someone to tabluate and summarize data
• Reduce Errors

Our Solution

Due to the complexity of the source report, we decided it would be best to create a piece of custom software that would import the source report, process it, and then update the spreadsheet. All the user was required to do was select the file to import and the file to update. So, as to remain flexible, we also included code to allow them to change settings on how certain fields in the source report were manipulated and where the result was stored in the master spreadsheet.

Results

A task that once could take days to do, now takes less than a few minutes. For a non-profit, this makes a huge difference as they are very concerned with keeping costs low. Now, they can spend more time working donations and less time on entering data.