An Accenture volunteer provided business process improvement consulting to Apparo for their joint Mission Possible Program and gave recommendations as this program expands to new cities.
Apparo transforms the community and improves lives by connecting local nonprofits to technology expertise and resources that amplify their impact. Apparo delivers its mission through various programs and services, one being the Mission Possible Award program. This program, in partnership with Accenture, provides up to 15 hours of pro bono consulting services, including process improvement consulting, with an Accenture consultant to eligible nonprofits, helping them complete a technology-focused proposal. The award winner receives a $10K cash grant and up to $50K in Accenture consulting services to implement the proposed technology solution via a Community Impact Project.
Currently, the program only serves nonprofits in the greater Charlotte community. However, Mission Possible is expanding into the Raleigh market this year. In order to sustainably grow this program and ensure successful delivery of this program in both Charlotte and Raleigh, Apparo wanted to streamline their processes, which includes Art of the Possible scheduling for nonprofits and Accenture volunteers, nonprofit application collection and formatting, and judging scorecard collection and formatting. In the past, these business processes have all been done manually in Excel and Word documents. Accenture’s process improvement consulting provided a plan that will improve the way Apparo manages this program. This will allow the program manager to free up time to focus on other organizational and programmatic tasks.
Process Improvement Consulting Process and Results
Paul Umansky of Accenture provided process improvement consulting to Sarah Gregory, the project manager at Apparo, based on several pain points she sited.
The pain points Sarah sited included: manual work, duplicate work, and using apps not compatible with Sharepoint. Sarah shared the Excel spreadsheet she used to track Mission Possible participants had become too cumbersome to handle. She also needed help automating processes within the spreadsheet. Previously, she had used Wufoo to gather survey results on availability, but it created duplicate work for her.
With the process improvement plan implemented, Sarah anticipates saving 110 hours per year. This time savings will be critical as the Mission Possible program expands into other markets, including Raleigh. Improved processes included moving from Wufoo to Microsoft Forms, which is compatible with our existing system, Sharepoint. Paul also automated the Excel spreadsheet used for scorecard distribution, allowing the project manager to save valuable time. With these improved processes, Sarah will be able to better manage the Mission Possible program, increase success rates, and impact more nonprofits as Apparo expands into other markets.
Apparo Employee and Accenture Volunteer Share Their Thoughts
After the wrap-up, we spoke to Paul Umansky of Accenture, and he shared, “I was honored to be able to contribute to Apparo’s mission in my small way. Working with Sarah was an absolute joy. She made me feel like part of the family from day one, and her collaborative spirit and positivity were infectious. I look forward to offering whatever help I can to Apparo in the future.”
Sarah Gregory of Apparo, Mission Possible’s project coordinator, also shared, “As a nonprofit professional, there are days I am wearing multiple hats, leaving me with little time to take a step back and find better ways to do things. I was spending so much time on manual processes (hello, potential for big errors!) for the Mission Possible program, that I couldn’t find the time I needed to improve these processes. With the help of Paul and this project, I now have processes in place that will not only save me time but create better efficiencies for this program. I am SO grateful for Paul and his support throughout this project! I hope he knows how valubale his time has been and the impact it will make in the future.”
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