{"id":600,"date":"2020-09-08T18:15:10","date_gmt":"2020-09-08T18:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev-tech-impact-guides.pantheonsite.io\/donor-management-systems\/?page_id=600"},"modified":"2020-09-25T16:57:05","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T20:57:05","slug":"what-do-these-systems-do","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/guides.techimpact.org\/donor-management-systems\/what-do-these-systems-do\/","title":{"rendered":"What Do These Systems Do?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As we\u2019ve said elsewhere in this guide, and which we\u2019ll repeat to make sure the point is clear, there is no \u201cbest\u201d system\u2014the right system for <em>your<\/em> organization is the one that helps you do your work better and more efficiently. As you begin to assess your own needs, it can be helpful to understand the features and functions available among the systems in this guide to meet them.<\/p>\n<p>Remember, there\u2019s often an inverse relationship between functionality and ease of use. Systems with more advanced functionality\u2014or that have more features\u2014can seem daunting to non-technical staff.<\/p>\n<p>When considering ease of use, keep a few questions in mind:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are screens neatly laid out, with clear links and action buttons?<\/li>\n<li>Does the design help you see important information?<\/li>\n<li>Are fields and functions intuitively named and easy to find?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The order of steps to follow also matters. Do you select a set of constituents, then choose an action? Or do you choose an action first, then select the set of constituents? Either can work, but make sure the system makes the order clear\u2014and that the order fits the way you prefer to work.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s OK for software to have a learning curve, but it should be learnable\u2014if staff need cheat sheets or guesswork to run basic processes, they\u2019re more likely to opt out of using the system or resort to workarounds, making your investment in the new software a waste of time and money.<\/p>\n<p>Systems should not just support basic users, they should also effectively support power users\u2014in this case, often development staff members who spend hours each day using the tools. Being able to quickly add gifts, find information, and run the right queries and reports can make a big difference in their efficiency and win over their support for the system.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/guides.techimpact.org\/donor-management-systems\/donation-management\/\"><strong>Next Section<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As we\u2019ve said elsewhere in this guide, and which we\u2019ll repeat to make sure the point is clear, there is no \u201cbest\u201d system\u2014the right system for your organization is the one that helps you do your work better and more &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/guides.techimpact.org\/donor-management-systems\/what-do-these-systems-do\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-with-ads.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wp_popup_display_lightbox":0,"wp_popup_suppress":"","wp_popup_trigger":"","wp_popup_trigger_amount":0,"wp_popup_disable_on_mobile":false,"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What Do These Systems Do? 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