G.A.I.N. – Powered by Lowe’s
Hylaine volunteers supported Changed Choices in the second phase of G.A.I.N. by providing a Salesforce review which will ultimately save the nonprofit 75 hours annually.
Changed Choices exists so that women who have experienced incarceration lead restored lives marked by healthy decisions, self-sufficiency, and contribution to their communities. They empower current and recently incarcerated women to achieve lasting, positive change through programming and personalized mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual support.
Background
Changed Choices implemented Salesforce in 2018. Over time, various applications and objects have been added to the program to support business and Salesforce changes. Recently, Changed Choices made the decision to switch to a case management system due to client feedback. The year before release is the most anxiety-ridden time in a person’s life. Being in the Changed Choices program, the incarcerated woman has already established a bond with their case manager. For the last 8 months, Changed Choices has allowed the same coach to remain as the case manager after the woman is released from incarceration. Because of the change in this system, Salesforce needs to be as efficient as possible.
When Changed Choices switched to Salesforce in 2018, they began highly customizing the product. Due to this, there are many reports and objects that are not needed. Gauntner, Changed Choices’ previous Director of Development, sought help from Apparo to reduce these applications and make Salesforce less cumbersome. Their intention is to make the product easier and more efficient to use for case managers and for nonprofit staff.
Volunteers
In the second phase of their G.A.I.N. journey, Apparo matched Changed Choices with skilled volunteers from Hylaine, Hieu Truong and Michael Tankersley, who analyzed their Salesforce program. They were able to run an application called Field Pro Audit to help determine which custom applications and objects were necessary. “Hieu and Michael provided invaluable knowledge and experience for Changed Choices, and our continued CRM growth. Thank you to them and Apparo for sharing your knowledge and expertise with us,” Gaunter shared of her experience with the volunteers,
Pain Points
The skilled volunteers made note of Changed Choices pain points when it came to using Salesforce as their main CRM (Customer Relationship Manager). These included:
- Too many custom objects and applications made the database cumbersome to use
- Onboarding clients took too long due to inaccurate view and data
- Checkbox usage
- Record pages showed incarceration admissions information which should not be on the front page of the client record
Solutions and Anticipated Results
After the volunteers ran Field Pro, they met with Changed Choices to decide which client-facing applications and objects needed to remain. Due to the clean-up, Changed Choices anticipates saving 75 hours annually while onboarding clients. The data is now more easily accessible to their case managers and not as confusing, allowing them to reduce lag time. They onboard 4-5 clients a year, and these highly motivated women are ready for change. Onboarding the women more quickly, allows the nonprofit to begin helping them in a timelier manner.
Truong and Tankersley also helped Gauntner and the Changed Choices staff to think about “active” data vs. “static” data. Previously, the nonprofit used checkboxes within Salesforce; however, through this process they realized checkboxes are only able to show one point in time. They made the decision to only use checkboxes to signify whether the client was active, inactive, or deceased.
Due to the cleanup, the case managers have been able to use Salesforce more efficiently. This has not only helped with onboarding, but also allows them to see the full picture of the client and become better coaches. Ultimately, this may allow case managers to serve more clients.
During this process, the nonprofit realized that having the client’s prison admissions information on the front page in Salesforce was a disservice to them. Gauntner says that information “doesn’t define them and who they will be as they move through the program.” This information will be moved to background information to allow a clearer and more accurate picture of their clients to be viewed.
In Conclusion
Due to the Salesforce changes, Changed Choices will be better aligned to help their clients through incarceration and as they re-enter society. “Changed Choices has an amazing mission statement and is doing great things to help those in need. I was privileged to be able to provide my Salesforce expertise to the organization and enjoyed interacting with the stakeholders. I’m looking forward to seeing the outcome from our engagement,” Hieu Truong, Hylaine volunteer shared. Michael Tankersley, Hylaine volunteer, also shared, “Changed Choices is a wonderful organization helping those most in need. I was fortunate to be able to help the organization and hope to provide more help if they need it.”
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