Our Salesforce journey so far…By utilising this world-leading CRM platform, it is our vision to establish Salesforce as the heart and brain of Nottinghamshire YMCA.

As a dynamic intelligence system that tracks, evaluates and shapes user experience – Salesforce is quickly becoming a major driving force for managing and developing our stakeholder relationships within a single unified platform.

In addition to providing a coherent strategy for ensuring data protection across all departments, Salesforce features a variety of apps which will improve prioritisation and reporting to guide our business narrative across every area of the charity. With support from our new Salesforce expert and champion, we plan to maximise engagement with internal staff to understand outputs and shape the best insights to meet the growing needs of our HR department, housing, gym and youth programmes.

Where are we?The overall structure and some key projects within our Salesforce platform have already been delivered, with other areas still in development. Intelligence gained will facilitate everything from people management and storing user information to pulling reports and identifying how areas cross-pollinate. This in-depth knowledge will become a cornerstone when directing the future of our movement.

Finance’s Payroll system and the new HR portal, both by XCD, launched in Spring 2019 to centrally manage staff databases, timesheets and improve staff engagement (among many other benefits) in an effective and user-friendly interface. Our external HR Recruitment module (also by XCD) for online job applications is in the process of being launched, with an eye to linking up applicants’ data with Salesforce.

The Funding team’s solution and Marketing’s Pardot app are also now in place, though there is scope for optimising the features and reporting further. For Housing, we are excited to be part-way through implementing the Inform app, which is planned for completion by September 2019. Inform will enable our team to facilitate resident journeys by storing their personal details in addition to tracking a person’s progress through their stages towards regaining life independence. Most importantly, this will help identify how YMCA can support their positive transition.

Plans are under discussion to launch a Learning and Development programme and Performance Management module through the HR portal. The future of general financial management (expenses etc.) is also under consideration, with input required for identifying fit for purpose routes with core managers for each department.

Residential Care and our reporting mechanism for complaints and accidents/incidents management will also require full re-scoping and implementation.

Opening digital doorsOur new Salesforce expert will be responsible for bringing the system to full fruition by spearheading the project’s direction through new app implementation and ensuring coherent strategies are in place to track and manage all user journeys.

Assessing whether the apps and programmatical outputs we deliver are fit for purpose and helping to educate the logistics of packages still under construction will be essential for improving staff usability figures and ironing out the system’s creases.

Optimisation of staff training in Trailhead will also ensure staff are all on the same page as Salesforce nurtures Nottinghamshire YMCA to develop rapidly into its next exciting chapter.

The long-term goal is to position the charity as a leader in this arena, creating a support package to identify features and key benefits that will best facilitate the resale of our Salesforce model to other YMCAs around the country.

Learn more about Nottinghamshire YMCA by visiting nottsymca.com.

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