Data Integration StrategyWHAT DOES IT MEAN & WHY DOES IT MATTER?

Amanda Tetanich, Omatic

I’m Amanda Tetanich

@Omatic_Software

I spent 5 years at Blackbaud in cross-product support and client training and most recently, 5 years at Omatic in client training and product management.

At both organizations I’ve specialized in data cleanup, importing, and integration.

PRODUCT MANAGER

About Omatic

• Founded in 2002, Blackbaud partner since 2004

• Over 2,600 clients worldwide

• 70+ person staff: Software development and customization, Consulting and support, Professional Services

Why Integrate?

• Vital to the success of your organization

• “Data Democracy”

• Complete constituent view =better constituent experience

Systemof

Record

Acquisition List

Special Event

Online Donation

Form

Volunteers

• Carl Smith

• Monica Nguyen• Carl Smith• Walter Jefferson

• Janet McDonald• Carl Smith• Monica Nguyen

• Monica Nguyen• Janet McDonald

Why You Need a Strategy

• Forces forethought, investment from everyone

• Highlights long term goals and benefits

• Keeps your team focused – which new products/services could fit into the strategy we’ve built?

The 4 Key Elements Integration Strategy

Well-defined

goals

Thoughtful timeline

Technology

The right team

The right team

USING A RACI MATRIX TO CREATE A TASK FORCE

Task Board of Directors

Dir. of Develop’t

Develop’tStaff

Dir. of Marketing

Marketing Staff

I.T. …who else?

Research

Products/Services I R C R C R ?

Timeline C R C R C C ?

Purchasing

Budget C C I C I R ?

Contracts I A/R I A I C ?

Data Prep

Deduplication I C R C R C ?

Standards/Tables I C R C R C ?

Implementation

Solution config. I A R A R R ?

Internal Readiness

Training I I R I R C ?

Go-live I A R A R R ?

…what else?

Responsible Doing the task

Accountable Owning the task

Consulted Assisting

Informed Keeping Aware

Using a RACI Matrix

Well-defined Goals

TECHNOLOGY GOALS VERSUS ORGANIZATION GOALS

What’s the difference?

• Technology goal

• “We want all emails to originate in Mailchimp instead of various different systems”

• Organization goal

• “We want to create a consistent image of our brand in all constituent interactions”

Your organization goals should drive your technology goals.

Organization Goals Should Drive Technology Goals

“We want to increase sustained giving and decrease reliance on major donors.”

• Ok, how?...

• “Get our message out in a way that will drive more people to donate”

• Ok, how?...

• “Send targeted messages to appeal to specific groups, based on what we think they’ll be most interested to hear”

• Ok, how?...

• “Get the right details into my email system to properly segment my mailing list, and get the results back out to my fundraising system so I can see what is working and what isn’t working.”

There’s our technology goal! ↑ Now we know how to evaluate potential solutions.

Thoughtful Timeline

CUMULATIVE, ANTICIPATORY, AND FLEXIBLE ESTIMATES

Cumulative Calculation

• Build, Buy, or Partner?

• Hire staff, purchase products, collaborate with a consultant?

• Onboarding staff and implementing individual solutions

• Testing, tweaking, and expanding

How long will we spend in each of these phases, and where does that land us on the calendar when we add it up?

Anticipating Threats

• How much do you actually control?

• Is this a product that has been out for years, or are you working with a company to develop something new?

• Are you this consultant’s only client, or do you have to fit into their availability?

Bend, don’t break.

• Re-evaluate constantly.

• What milestones were you expecting to hit, and what’s the impact of being behind (or ahead of) schedule?

• Do we have to make concessions, push the timeline out, redirect more staff to the issue, etc.

“Be stubborn on vision but flexible on details.”

- Jeff Bezos, Amazon

Technology

FIND SOLUTIONS THAT FIT TODAY AND TOMORROW

Technology Considerations

Manual vs Automated Data Flows

Which do we value more: control or speed? Plan for Growth

Will this solution scale with us as our organization grows?

Is there a limit to how many users, records, endpoints we can add?

Ongoing Management

Who will be responsible for maintaining this integration?

How much time per day/week are we willing to dedicate to monitoring our integration health?

To learn more about what was included in this agenda, stop by Booth #301 or:

OmaticSoftware.com

info@omaticsoftware.com