Long-Term Nonprofit System Success: Setting Up Internal Tech Support

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Aaron Winters, Peer Health Exchange & Dean Wilkinson, Exponent Partners

Why Tech Support Matters for Your Organization

Organizational Strategy

IT Support Strategy IT Roadmap

IT Project Plans

Program Strategy HR Strategy Technology Strategy Financial Strategy

IT Staffing Plans

Greater System Adoption Increased Staff Efficiency Accurate and Complete Data for Performance Management

How Do You Get Started with Internal Support?

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The Basics: •  Identify tasks people need to perform •  Collect data on how staff spends time •  Set up step-by-step guides and

documentation Foundation for Efficiency: •  Set up ticketing system to prepare for

scale and track patterns and trends

How Should You Scale Internal Support?

Scaling •  Evaluate staffing capacity/needs •  Continue to documentation and use for support •  Survey your users •  Create a plan for new users •  Analyze tickets and trends Classify your support work!

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Classify your IT Work to Optimize

How-to Tech Support: by request, reactive •  Do: use ticketing system •  Don’t: have people email you because it gets lost

Enhancements: changes that impact more than one user, ex: layouts/fields •  Do: batch enhancements, decide your process for

releasing changes •  Don’t: simply prioritize the noisiest person

Larger Projects: bigger changes •  Do: create a roadmap and technology strategy •  Don’t: be reactive

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What Level of Support Does Your Organization Need?

Small Organization/Simple System •  May begin with smaller team, or part-time role •  Documentation will ease strain •  More efficient to batch tasks – a ticketing system is key Growing Organization/System •  May need full-time role, training •  Plan for your needs as a larger organization Large Organization/Complex System •  May need to move towards full-fledged IT team •  Classifying work and technology strategy becomes critical

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What Does a Successful Admin Do?

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Project Management •  Pulls together frameworks, tools •  Establishes best practices for tech projects Business Analysis •  Internally consults on process, system support,

new ways of working that provide better service •  Translates expertise into implementation Salesforce Specialization •  Learns the new technology deeply •  Invests in knowing what the system is capable of

What Are the Key Qualities of a Successful Admin?

Patience • Must be able to handle many questions and challenges with both technology and people Prioritization • Must prioritize many demands and changing requirements

Approachability • No one wins if they worry about approaching you Thirst for Knowledge • Internal motivation is the most important characteristic

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Go Further with These Resources

Watch our free webinar on Setting Up Internal Support.

Read more about how internal support can help your nonprofit succeed.

Blog: www.exponentpartners.com/blog

About The Authors Aaron Winters Director of Technology and Operations

Dean Wilkinson Customer Success Lead

Aaron Winters is a social enterprise leader experienced in managing strategic planning, operations, IT and complex projects at high-growth organizations. Before managing Peer Health Exchange’s technology operations, he led internal technology support on the Salesforce platform for data-driven nonprofit Upwardly Global for 4+ years.

Dean Wilkinson is an innovative and results-oriented systems analyst, specializing in nonprofit business processes and Force.com-based solutions. Before providing support to Exponent Partners’ nonprofit clients, Dean was the sole Salesforce admininistrator and built out internal tech support for nonprofit Give2Asia.

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