"Technology Decisions in Capacity Building", Brown Bag Lunch August 13, 12:30-2pm

*Title:
"Technology Decisions in Capacity Building"

Please note new time! 12:30PM TO 2 PM

*Brief Description:
Organizations that expand their programs should be aware of the strategic
technology options available to them, and the benefits and risks associated
with each option. August 13, 12:30PM TO 2 PM, (We supply drinks and cookies) Free.

*A more detailed description:
Join Annkissam and Management Consulting Services for lunch (we supply the
drinks and cookies) and a workshop on the kind of technology decisions that
nonprofits face when scaling up their program operations. It's a great
chance to learn and network over lunch, and the event is free.

REGISTER HERE:  http://www.managementconsultingservices.org/node/95

Every nonprofit organization is unique, and so is the way they accomplish their
goals. Organizations that expand their programs should be aware of the
strategic technology options available to them, and the benefits and risks
associated with each option. We will discuss the options and break into
groups for a case study, after which we'll share each group's
conclusions. Hope to see you there!

For a discussion forum on this topic: [ link to discussion forum on MCS website
]

When: August 13th, 2008 12:30 PM through 2:00 PM

Location : Management Consulting Services 6 Beacon Street Suite 415 Boston, MA
United States

Contact Gavin Murphy for more information. Phone: 617-306-4454
Email: gavin.murphy@annkissam.com

http://www.managementconsultingservices.org/node/95

MCS Seminar

Goals

• An
  educational, truly useful experience for attendees; not a sales pitch
• Opportunities
  for seminar attendees to talk to each other
• Attendees
  leave with ideas and practical information

Overview

• The
  seminar will use a narrative/case study to engage participants and make it
  easier to draw parallels between the seminar and their own organizations
• We’ll
  send or post the case study in advance of the seminar so that it’s clear
  to attendees that they aren’t coming to a sales pitch
• After
  introductions, we’ll give attendees a few minutes to review the case study
• We’ll
  present the case study
• Attendees
  will break into work groups at the case organization’s decision point
  • Each
    work group will share experiences and make recommendations for the case organization
• Work
  groups will present their recommendations for the audience of attendees
• Attendees,
  MCS and Annkissam will ask questions to encourage discussion
• Annkissam
  will summarize the groups’ findings and recommendations, and discuss our
  experiences with organizations that have been faced with similar problems.

Case Study:

• We
  will likely create our own case study.
  We may use a case from a real project on which we’re working. We may also find a published case.
• The
  case will have the following primary attributes:
  • An
    organization is founded
    • Mission
    • Budget
    • Staff
    • Constituents
    • Programs
    • Founder
      back-story
    • Initial
      infrastructure
  • The
    initial technology phase is ad hoc
    • Founder
      keeps track of everything in word docs, excel, e-mails, paper files,
      voicemails
    • Back-ups
      are rarely done if at all
    • Electronic
      files are stored locally
    • No
      network
  • As
    the org. grows, they enter the infrastructure
    phase
    • They
      now have:
      • A
        shared drive
      • An
        e-mail server
      • A
        shared calendar
      • Some
        sort of accounting software like Quickbooks
    • Each
      person/department has their own processes for operations
    • The
      share drive grows organically and in silos
    • Excel,
      word docs, paper files, e-mail and voicemail are still largely used for
      tracking and storing organizational information
    • Statistics
      are kept by individuals
      • Statistics
        are only as good as the person keeping them
    • Reporting,
      when necessary, is a big administrative project requiring aggregating
      different people’s information from many different sources
      • Reporting
        generally only happens when an outside source requires it
      • Reporting
        is rarely used for internal management
  • Either
    the organization’s ability to process information declines as it grows,
    or the organization is able to predict what will happen and decides to be
    proactive, and the leadership is faced with a decision point.
  • The
    organization may be able to improve their technology infrastructure and
    this may be the time to do it (i.e. because scalability, integration,
    reporting, etc. are required)
  • They
    could:
    • Keep
      the tools they’re currently using
    • Purchase
      software products to support their operations
    • Build
      custom software to support their operations
    • A
      combination of the previous two options

Work Groups:

• At
  this point, attendees will break into Annkissam assigned work groups
• Each
  work group will discuss experiences
• Each
  work group will develop recommendations for the case organization
• Each
  group will present their recommendations to the entire group
• Follow-up
  discussion and questions

Proposed Schedule:

• Sign-In
  and Introductions 10
  minutes
• Case
  Study Review 10
  minutes
• Workgroups 25
  minutes
• Workgroup
  Presentations 30
  minutes
• Our
  Experiences 10
  minutes
• Final
  Thoughts 5
  minutes

Total 90 minutes