Evaluation of Church Management Software for UUCSV. Dixie Wiles, Scott Riley, Sandra Henry-Stocker, Mary Haskins, Bob Haskins

Transcription

1 Evaluation of Church Management Software for UUCSV Dixie Wiles, Scott Riley, Sandra Henry-Stocker, Mary Haskins, Bob Haskins

2 Process Used Created Project Plan Selected Team Members Gathered, reviewed and documented existing systems and processes Gathered and documented requirements from Staff and: worship, membership, caring, stewardship, auction and social justice Developed requirements must haves and nice to haves Focused on small to medium church solutions

3 Process Used (2) Narrowed search based on: cost, customer reviews, our requirements, vendors, and current users of systems Downloaded/reviewed system demos Focused on the following attributes: ease of use, functionality, quality, value, training and support

4 Church Management Software Vendors Capterra Ratings Seraphim Touch point Web church connect Elexio Phone tree Church community builder CDM+ Church windows Church office on-line Simple church Tithely church giving Grplife Group ahead Servant Keeper Breeze ACS Technologies Realm Church teams

5 What is the Cloud? 40 years ago, computers were big and slow (think mainframes) Users accessed via terminals Eventually, remote access was invented 20 years ago, computers got smaller and faster Pendulum began swinging towards the desktop PC s became common in businesses and homes All software and data resided on your PC Data transmission still slow Large businesses did both mainframes and PCs This would cause integration issues

6 And then comes the internet While PCs were developing, DSL was invented Cable modem and DSL service got ubiquitous and fast Large systems were integrated together Pendulum starts to swing back towards centralized computing The advent of the smart phone Multiple platforms for viewing applications and data Now desktops, laptops, tablets, smart phones, phablets, toasters

7 The Advent of the Cloud Due to the number of devices, syncing data became critical , data and apps available on all those devices High speed internet allow real time access to apps and data Pendulum has continued swinging back toward centralization Cloud based storage as well as computing Your computer/phone/tablet acts as a terminal Your data is available constantly and backed up online Google Drive, icloud, Dropbox, Carbonite, LiveDrive Many applications today are on the cloud Google Docs, Office365, and QuickBooks

8 Cloud Applications Allows any internet capable device to access the application Everything looks and works the same, even your data No need to install software on dedicated hardware Easy to add multiple users Can be accessed anywhere from any device

9 Search Results After analysis, our finalists were: Breeze Servant Keeper (legacy system)

10 Breeze Benefits Ease of use Cloud-based Vendor-provided data migration at no cost Vendor enthusiasm for improving the product Integration with other tools (e.g., MailChimp)

11 Benefits of Breeze (2) Useful features our existing solution doesn t have/do well No limits on the number of users Controls on user privileges through administration of user groups One price, no hidden costs, no extra fees for special features Extensible

12 Breeze API Application Programming Interface Defines a method to allow one program to talk to another Enables 3 rd parties to develop functionality that the original developer might not want/be able to do Even end users can extend the functionality! Breeze API examples: Integration with UUCSV web site Auction management

13 Cost Comparison Breeze $50/mo unlimited users $0.01/text above 250 texts/mo Servant Keeper Standalone Upgrade to v8: $299 Additional seats: $50/ea Support: $300/yr Other features cost additional Cloud up to 3 users $30/mo up to 5 users: $50/mo up to 30 users: $100/mo

14 Recommendation? The Breeze!

15 Next Steps Step 1 Replace system Step 2 Staff walkthrough Step 3 Presentation to CoC Step 4 Push out to committees