Case studies
A community charity fund that had been running for over 30 years was managing a fund of over £12m through software an IT company had built for it, and it was not fit for purpose. The internal team flicked between screens to enter one piece of information. I reviewed the system with the people who used it, specified a replacement starting from what it needed to do rather than from a tech stack, and wrote the ITT that took it to market. The new system cut grant processing time by 50%.
A community charity fund that had been around for over 30 years had a fund managing over £12m. They had a system built by an IT company, who said they could do it, but it was just not fit for purpose. Coupled with that was a poor website with a hand built CMS that had been compromised.
The fund management system was so inefficient it caused constant strain on the internal team, who had to flick between screens to enter information.
They asked me to review the current system to assess its capability. That ran over a number of review sessions with key members of the team, each taking me through a different part of the system, from application through to finance.
It became apparent that the system had been poorly designed, in usability and in functionality. No thought had been given to how an external user would complete the application, then return later to view and edit it. The internal team struggled through multiple expanding accordion sections that held small pieces of information, meaning constantly opening and closing.
Once the review was complete and my assessment fed back, I was asked to specify a new system. Instead of starting with the tech stack, as the previous developer had, I started with "what do you need it to do". We went through several workshops outlining each section and what it needed to do, making sure all team members got what they wanted.
Starting with what you need rather than what a supplier wants to sell is the whole point of the questions worth asking before you commit budget.
Once the requirements were defined I wrote an ITT to go out to agencies to pitch for the work. That included the incumbent, to give them a chance to carry on working with the charity. The project was awarded off the back of the ITT to an agency who commenced the build.
Processing time fell by 50%. That is the hours the new system freed up, allowing them to concentrate more on their "customers", and to strategise how the charity can now grow and help more people.
Feedback from customers has been good. They now apply for grants in minimal time using a simple, intuitive application form linked to multiple auto look-ups, which reduces errors on application forms.
A system built to a technical specification rather than to how a team works will fight that team every day, and no amount of rebuilding the front end fixes it. Asking "what do you need it to do", function by function, before anyone mentions a platform is what turns a rebuild into a system people use. Inviting the incumbent to tender is part of the same discipline: it keeps the process honest and it gives the charity a real comparison.
The review behind this is a digital health analysis. On making limited budget go furthest, see digital on a charity budget.
Because the previous system had been built the other way round and did not fit how the team worked. Starting from "what do you need it to do", section by section in workshops with the people who use it, is what produced requirements an agency could actually build against.
Here, yes. The incumbent was included in the ITT to give them a chance to carry on working with the charity. Excluding them would have made the process look decided before it started, and a fair comparison is what the trustees needed to see.
By getting every part of the process in front of the people who run it. The review ran through sessions with key team members, each taking me through a different part of the system from application to finance, so the gaps were found by the people who hit them daily.
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