C06 Session: MSO Constituent Tracking Systems

Collaboration in MSO Constituent Tracking Systems

Thursday, August 3, 9:00am - 10:30am

Track:  Technology

Presenters

Description

Centralized data on your MSO is an important way to track the depth and breadth of services and relationships that exist between the provider and participants - both organizational clients and the individuals who represent them.  This session will share the approach and results of a collaborative development of a Microsoft Access database for MSOs to track organizations, training sessions, consulting engagements and other relationships.  The session will cover reasons for centralizing MSO data, a review of alternative methods for tracking client activity and progress, and theories of why database projects fail.  Emphasis will be on the impact, benefits, and challenges of centralizing stakeholder data.

About the Presenters

Tim Mills-Groninger, IT Resource Center

Tim Mills-Groninger is the Associate Executive Director of the IT Resource Center, a 21-year-old Chicago-based technology focused MSO. He is also a contributing editor to the NonProfit Times, the leading news and information periodical read by over 85,000 full time nonprofit executives around the country. Information about the IT Resource Center is available at www.itresourcecenter.org; the NonProfit Times is at www.nptimes.com. His extreme out-of-box thinking is often mistaken for irreverence.  One of the original "Geeks for Good," his 25-year career in nonprofit technology has involved numerous teaching, staff, and board positions in local and national initiatives. Among his national roles he was the chairman of the Technology Resource Consortium during the planning and consolidation process with the Nonprofit Management Association and Support Centers of America into the National Alliance for Nonprofit Management. He was part of the National Strategies for Nonprofit Technology (NSNT) program that became the Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network (N-TEN) and he has been a grant reviewer for the Dept of Commerce's TIIAP/TOP program, the Ericsson Erica Awards, and other technology grant programs.

Jeffrey Forster, Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management, Robert Morris University

Jeff Forster - is the Director of Technology Services at the Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management at Robert Morris University. Mr. Forster has assisted a variety of nonprofit organizations in the Pittsburgh area, specializing in policy analysis and the use of databases for process improvement. Mr. Forster holds a masters degree in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University and a bachelors degree from Yale University. Most recently, Mr. Forster served as Policy Analyst in the City of Pittsburgh's Planning Department.