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Tech Assessment Results

Let's see how you did!

00 - 06
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Low Score
07 - 14
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Medium Score
15 - 20
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High Score

Congratulations on completing your tech health assessment! As you have seen, there is a lot that goes into a making your technology work for you and your cause rather than against you.

Below, you will find a quick summary of how you ranked in each specific section and a couple of quick points to focus on. But that is just the beginning.

For everyone who completes this assessment, you'll be getting a comprehensive guide to streamlining your organization's technology (complete with specific tactics, playbooks, recommendations, and more). Stay tuned via email for your guide in the comping weeks - you'll be on the exclusive list to see it once it is published.

But in the meantime, here are your assessment results. You'll get your results via email for posterity, so be on the lookout!

Let's dive into your scores:

Integration of Your Tech Stack
Low Score Achieved
06
In this section, we took a look at the following:
 
  • Ease of working with all of my tools
  • Level of integration of tools (native vs custom, uni or bi-directional, or not connected)
  • Middleware
  • Automation between systems based on data sharing
The first step of fixing a problem is recognizing that the problem exists.  And yes, it sounds like you may indeed have a problem.
 
Your tech is currently not connected in a way that is ideal.  The tools that you use are likely not easy to work with due to excessive context switching and lack of connection between tools. Your integration and automation sophistication is not where you want it to be, and a strong middleware strategy is not in place.
 
And you know what? That's ok!  Plenty of organizations are in this boat.  So here are the first steps we recommend for addressing these issues:
 
  • Make a list of all of the tools you use to manage interactions with your constituents - donors, members, volunteers, event attendees, advocates, sponsors, etc.
  • Bonus points if you can put all of these into a diagram or chat using a tool like LucidChart or Miro
  • Note or diagram which tools can be connected to one another using an integration within the system itself (known as a native integration)) and which ones can be connected using middleware or an iPaaS like Zapier, Tray.io, etc.
  • Note or diagram which tools are currently connected and if the data flows in one direction or in two directions
  • Note or diagram which tools you would like to connect
  • Lastly, note what data you would like to share between tools and any potential automations that you could put in place if data were to travel from one tool to another
  • Now that you have done all of this, you have created a roadmap for an integration plan - congrats!  It is time to start your research.
  • Check to see if native integrations are available for the softwares you would like to connect. Your software providers should have documentation online that will allow you to check and see what integrations they support and if those integrations will allow you to send data out of that system, receive data from another system, or do both.
  • If your software solutions do not support native integrations, check to see if your tool is connected to a system like Zapier and look to see if the tool you are looking to connect can be a trigger, an action, or both. Then see if you can create new records, delete existing records, alter existing records, associate records, etc.  This will give you an idea of what type of integration you can build with an iPaaS.
The above sounds like a lot. We know. But understanding your current tools, how information flows between them, and your eventual ideal state is always the first step to getting your tech stack in order.
 
Documenting everything is necessary, so getting started on this process is the single-most impactful thing you can do at this point in your integration process.
 
Well done - you know that integrating your tech stack is important if you really want to understand constituent engagements and optimize the way that you respond to these engagements.
 
At the same time, your tools are not completely connected and your integration strategy could use a bit more sophistication, documentation, and streamlining. Here are some actions items to assisting you in taking your integration strategy to the next level:
 
  • Make a list of all of the tools that you use to manage interactions with your constituents - donors, members, volunteers, event attendees, advocates, sponsors, etc. if you don’t already have a list
  • Then, list all data that is currently shared from one system to another for each type of constituent.  Ideally, this would happen in a diagram/ERD that does not only include the tools at a high level, but also includes every property/field/interaction/engagement that is synced
  • You've just created basic documentation of your current state. So now let's build your future state. Map out the tools that you would like to connect in your future state. What's missing from your current state that you would like to get right this time around?
  • From here, determine how you are going to connect those tools.  At this point, you have likely already worked with multiple native integrations and have connected tools using an iPaaS like Zapier, Make, or Tray.io. Do the research and determine how you can connect your tech stack using these types of solutions.
  • Now that you know what is possible, update your diagram to include which fields/properties you want to see flow from one tool to another. 
  • Note the gaps that you have - what tools either cannot be connected at all using iPaaS or native integrations and what data syncing limits this presents
  • Define the triggers that will lead to syncing data as well as any dynamic variables you will use to enrich or simplify data sharing and any data transformation that needs to happen when data is synced.  
  • Bonus point: define the automations that will happen within one system when data is shared to it from another system.
  • Create a diagram for all of the dataflow requirements that you have just laid out. Doing this will save you a lot of time in the long run.
  • Create a step-by-step plan for how this new plan will be accomplished, including prioritizing.
While going through this exercise, you may find that you have some serious connectivity roadblocks that are getting in the way of the data syncing nirvana that you are seeking.  That is ok for now, but it should inspire you to start looking into better tooling that allows your nonprofit to operate like the sophisticated operations entity that it truly is.
 
Truth be told, so much nonprofit tech does not meet the needs of even the least complex organization. But the good news is that there are reasonably priced solutions out there that will allow you to meet your needs! 
 
Wow!  You are an organization with a plan and you clearly know what it means to sync systems!  Native integrations are second-nature to you and you can likely list several iPaaS or middleware solutions that can meet your data syncing needs.
 
Since you're seeking the ideal state of data syncing, automation, and constituent engagement visibility, you know there is still more than you can do!  Let’s take a look at some of the most common next steps for the most advanced systems integrators out there:
 
  • Pull out your master diagram and ERD that displays the syncing and relationships of data for your tech stack at both the tool level and property/field specific level.  
  • If there are any gaps in this map, be sure to update them.  If you need to add more detail, please do so that you are ready to scale your integration strategy.  
  • You likely have another diagram that defines all of the triggers, if/then branches, and data transformation workflows that occur when syncing your data, including the automations that occur once a new datapoint travels from one system to another. Again, if this document is not robust or up-to-date, go ahead and get it to a place where it is representative of your current state.
  • At this point, you have already worked with multiple native integrations and have connected tools using an iPaaS like Zapier, Make, or Tray.io. You've probably also dabbled in custom integrations, including those built in a CloudAPI environment or those requiring custom connectors to be built within platforms like Tray.io, Workato, etc.  Tool by tool, data point by data point, look at your options for closing your data integration gaps.
  • Before we get into evaluating what tech to use and how to ensure that you don’t acquire hefty technical debt when building out these integrations, you need to understand how complex your data syncing is to determine if an iPaaS or simple API driven javascript workflow will do the trick. Or alternatively, you may need a database in the middle, leveraging an MDM over an iPaaS or plugging MongoDB to get the job done. You may also need to consider if a data warehouse or data lake is required, (if you don’t already have one).  
  • Essentially, you'll need to determine how complex the data manipulations eW that you will  need to make. How many data sources will feed into these transformations? Where will your single source of truth live - one place or many places? Do you need to have a complete history of changes for your data?  
  • Once you have a plan, it is time to decide on the best way to execute your plan. Keep in mind that just because you are already using a certain method or tool doesn’t mean that you should continue using those tools for your re-imagined plan. In the long run, you would ideally run your integrations through as few tools as possible. If you have built 5-10 Zaps in Zapier but realize that Zapier cannot handle 60% of your integration strategy or that it would become cost prohibitive if you did, then it might be time to change course.  
  • Be sure to evaluate several options and if you think that you have reached a roadblock to an important data sync, call in an expert to explore methods that you may not have experience in and be aware of, especially if you are typically a front-end integration wizard. Another option if you are unsure is to check out the API documentation of the platforms that you want to integrate.  
Congratulations - documenting and defining all of this is a major feat!  Now it is time to figure out if you team has the time, talent, and resources to complete this project and if not, then seek an integration partner to get to work executing your plan.
Data Integrity & Full Constituent Relationship Visibility Rating
Medium Score Achieved
14
Reliable constituent data is everything for a nonprofit organization. From outcome predictability to ensuring timely and quality communication with your constituents, great data is the backbone of organizational success.  
 
We looked at four areas of data integrity and visibility, listed below:
 
  • Trust in data accuracy
  • Visibility of all constituent engagement in single system
  • CRM easy to connect to other tools
  • Specific interaction visibility in CRM

Based on your answers, let's review some immediate actions that you can take to continue to make improvements:

If you are reading this section, you may have some trust issues...data trust issues, that is. You aren’t really sure if you are getting all of the data you need about your constituents into the right systems. And even if you are, you aren’t confident that it is accurate. You're constantly context switching to piece together all constituent types and engagement histories. You might be able to find what you need, but it sure isn’t easy!
 
That may be your current state, but it certainly doesn’t have to be your future state if you do these things:
 
  • First of all, execute on the plan that was covered in the first section of this assessment!  Data syncing via a solid integration strategy is essential to trusting your data and making it easy to surface important insights about the constituents you work with.
  • Next, configure your CRM so that you can easily see all of the ways and times that a constituent engages with your organization and see them in a way that allows you to gather insights. This can include custom and native CRM cards, activity feeds, reports, dashboards, etc.  
  • If your CRM does not allow you to get all types of constituent engagement in with proper associations between objects and engagement types, it might be time to consider a new CRM or central data management system.  
  • If your CRM does not provide you with a way to see all of this in a single view - number of donations, amount of donations, and dates of donations, frequency of volunteering and the last time that someone volunteered, if a membership is active, when it expires, and how many years someone has been a member, if your constituent chatted with a canvasser or signed a petition, etc. then it is time to consider a new CRM. Seeing all of this data in a single view with meaningful insights is possible, but not if you are using a niche or point solution.  
  • Now that you know what you deserve to have visibility of in your CRM, it is time to list out what is missing, what you want to see, and then you can get to work on making it a reality.

As you can see, the big thing to do when you're at this level of full constituent visibility is to ensure that you have a CRM that is up to the task. Consider the points above to help you make that determination.

 
If you are reading this section, you have a reasonable amount of trust in your data (but likely not complete trust) and you don't have to go on a complete scavenger hunt when you are trying to understand a specific individual/cohort of constituents.
 
But, you likely do not have a clean view of your constituent relationships in a single system that will allow you to quickly understand individuals or groups of constituents holistically.
 
Often, we'll see organizations at this stage having things like volunteering, financial transactions, event attendance, and marketing engagements all in separate systems.  While that has gotten you this far, disparate data and systems is unlikely to get you to where you want to go.  
 
So with that in mind, here are some things to consider:
 
  • First off, be sure you have executed on the plan that was covered in the first section of this assessment!  Data syncing via a solid integration strategy is essential to trusting your data and making it easy to surface important insights about the constituents that you work with.
  • Now, explore your CRM with a fine-toothed comb to see if there is any way to bring in missing data and to configure it in a way that makes your data easier to view and digest. Can you put together some nifty views of specific cohorts of constituents to understand their behavior or how many people are engaging in a specific way and what they have in common? How about being able to see every way that a constituent has engaged with your organization over the past five years and what other constituents or organizations they are associated with?
  • You likely have some gaps - figure out if you can live with those gaps.  It may or may not be obvious at this point if your current CRM will answer the mail.  If it seems like it might, then go ahead and configure what you can and continue to visit an extra system or two to put the whole picture together.  
  • If that option does not sound appealing or if the realization that you can actually get all of this into a single view just sounds too amazing to pass up, start looking for a CRM that will allow you to easily access the information you need without context switching and unreliable data.   
  • Now that you know what you deserve to have visibility of in your CRM, it is time to list out what is missing, what you want to see, and then get to work making it a reality.

Tech evaluations are tricky. There are a lot of unknowns. But it certainly sounds like you're on the right track. The big thing here is to determine if your CRM is up to the task. If you have questions, w'ere always happy to offer a free, no-pressure consultation that will help point you in the right direction. 

 

You have a complete picture of all of the ways that your constituents interact with your organization…or you are very, very close to it!  
 
Sure, you may have to hopscotch between systems to get that full view and likely lack a single page that lets you see every way that a single constituent has interacted with you over the last five years, but you know where to find all of the answers to your questions.
 
Now, it is time for you to collect, consolidate, and make that constituent data more accessible and meaningful for you, your team, and your executive director. Here'e what we recommendL
 
  • First of all, execute on the plan that was covered in the first section of this assessment!  Data syncing via a solid integration strategy is essential to trusting your data and making it easy to surface important insights about the constituents that you work with.  If you want to reach this ideal state of viewing your constituent engagements easily and with context, then you need all of that data to land in your CRM.
  • Now, list out all of the systems that you visit to view a complete picture of your constituents - donations, memberships, ticket purchases, membership attendance, volunteer hours, auction items purchased, household members, soft and hard credits, event sponsorships, company relationships, etc.
  • Note any improvements you would like to make in how that information is displayed, including the desire to view any of this data side-by-side, with pivot tables, in cohorts, etc.  Also take note of what you think is the ideal number of systems to have to visit to find all of this information.  
  • Find out if the CRM you currently use can help you reach your ideal state - list views of granularly filtered cohorts, robust single constituent or household views with all engagements present, and reporting dashboards that bring these things together.
  • If your CRM does not provide you with a way to see all of this in a single view - number of donations, amount of donations, and dates of donations, frequency of volunteering and the last time that someone volunteered, if a membership is active, when it expires, and how many years someone has been a member, if your constituent chatted with a canvasser or signed a petition, etc. - it may be time to consider a new CRM.  
  • One other option may be to visualize from a data warehouse or data lake into a tool like PowerBI or Tableau…but this is not ideal.  This will not allow you to drill down into a single constituent’s history within the same platform where you can update that person, send them a 1:1 email, or impact their marketing journey.  We highly recommend that you get all of this visibility within your platform where you engage with your constituents.
You likely have two paths right now - do some work in the awesome CRM you already have OR look for a CRM that can accomplish these goals and get to work on building a budget for migration and customization.
 
The ROI on full constituent journey and engagement visibility cannot be understated - even if it seems like a moonshot, make a plan for how it could happen and what constituent management and engagement life would be like if you made this change.
Automation Ratings
High Score Achieved
18
We all know how important automation is for data cleaning, syncing & updating, audience segmentation & personalization, and just streamlining everyday tasks. Regardless of where you are in your automation strategy evolution, there is always room to grow.
 
We looked at four areas of automation effectiveness in this assessment:
 
  • Self-rating of level of automation
  • Documentation of automation
  • What is needed to improve automation strategy
  • Benefits of automation strategy

Read on to find clearly defined steps that you can take to bring your strategy to the next level:

Your automation strategy may just be budding but it is full of potential!  Sure, your current automations may be minimal, your documentation has room to improve, and your plan to improve automation is not fully-baked yet, but you know that automation is important and possible.  
 
So now it's time to take on this low-hanging fruit:
 
  • Outline the tasks that take you the most time that you think you can automate
  • Outline the ways that you could automate communication with your constituents and how they would benefit your programs
  • Create a list of benefits for each of your automations
  • Prioritize these lists and choose 2-3 automations to build first
  • Check out your current CRM or MAP - can you build those automations within your current tools and subscription levels?
  • If yes, skip to the next bullet point!  If not, take a look at the plan you made in section one of this assessment and see what your automation tool of choice will be and what is possible within that tool. Not sure what tool to use? Check out Zapier or Make as they are the most user-friendly and powerful for those to new to automation…and they offer freemium versions!
  • If you currently have automations, document them in a chart or diagram, using a tool like LucidChart or Miro.  Then, create a new tab so that you can begin diagramming your new automations before you build them.
  • Now it is time to get building. Always document what you build. You never know when a new automation you want down the future will interact with and potentially change a new automation. Documentation will save you time and headaches down the line.
You are ready to get started.  Our best advice is to just do it!  If you need guidance, just reach out. You likely have tools already at your disposal that have out-of-the-box automations you can try.
 
You are becoming an automation pro - you know the value of automation, how to document it, build it, and manage it.  You have likely built automations in more than one tool and can, with relative ease, make yourself familiar with new automation tools when you encounter them.  
 
All of that said, you want to automate more, so let’s chart a course to get to the next level:
 
  • Pull out the diagrams and charts of all of the automations that you have currently built - if they are not documented yet, start there!
  • Outline all of the automation capabilities that each of your automation tools has - what types of triggers and actions are available? How advanced can your if/then branches be?  Can you use native and custom properties and fields within your automations? Can your automations update fields/properties that can then trigger or condition another automation? Defining the feasibility of your platforms will inspire ideas for future automations.
  • Make a list of things that you are doing manually that could be done automatically - merging contacts, updating fields, changing ad audiences, etc.  
  • Create a list of benefits for each of your automations
  • Validate if your new automations are going to impact your existing automations - will there be conflicts? Does one automation need to change to accommodate a new one so that you don’t send a constituent 13 emails at once? Check what you want to build against what you have already built to save your future self serious headaches.
  • Make a plan for building these automations, step-by-step, ensuring that your are not lowering your automation bar due to limitations within your current platforms .
  • Get building, and be sure to document! You never know when an automation you want in the future will interact with and potentially change an old automation you've had for years. Documentation will save you time and headaches down the line.  
If you ended up noticing shortcomings in your existing tools, don’t fret!  If your current automation foundation is strong and your current tools can accomplish most of what you want, then go ahead and figure out what platform can bridge the gap and stay the course with your existing tool stack.
 
If you notice that you have a lot of missing functionality, then it may be time to explore a new CRM and/or iPaaS/middleware option. Take a look at what platforms can cover the gaps that you have and if needed, you can always get in touch. There are lots of tools out there that can get the job done, and we've worked with most of them!
You have a pretty darn impressive automation strategy - congratulations! You have built abundant automations for your organization, you have them documented, you know why they matter, and you have a plan for going forward.
 
Here are some steps that you can take to accelerate the growth of your strategy:
 
  • Pull out the diagrams and charts of all of the automations that you have currently built - if they need some updating because you have made changes or added some new automations since the last time you documented, get these up-to-date before moving to the next step
  • You already know all of the capabilities that your automation tools have (eg. the triggers and actions available, how advanced your if/then branches can be, etc.), So now take a look into custom-coded actions, custom integrations, or advanced front-end data manipulation workflows to cover your gaps or advance your strategy.  
  • You do not have to know how to build your own API connections or write java or python to do this, but you do need to know what is possible. If you understand API documentation and understand what java and python can accomplish, then go ahead and diagram out your future automation state. If not, then chat with someone who does understand. Before talking to an internal stakeholder or an outside consultant, get very clear on what you want to accomplish and all of the conditionalities surrounding your plans so that you make it easy for someone to help you.
  • Validate if your new automations are going to impact your existing automations - will there be conflicts? Does one automation need to change to accommodate a new one so that you don’t send a constituent 13 emails at once?  Check what you want to build against what you have already built to save your future self from some serious headaches. If you are introducing new iPaaS or custom-coded solutions, consult an expert to ensure that you are not going to end up with conflicts.
  • You already know this, but make a comprehensive plan for testing. Try as hard as you can to break what you built so that it is not one of your constituents or teammates who realizes that your automation plan had a conflict in it.  
  • Make a plan for building these automations, step-by-step, ensuring that you are not lowering your automation bar due to limitations within your current platforms .
  • Now it is time to get building.  Always document what you build.  You never know when a new automation you want down the line will interact with and potentially change an old automation you've been using for years. Documentation will save you time and headaches down the line.  
If you ended up noticing shortcomings in your existing tools, don’t fret! If your current automation foundation is strong and your current tools can accomplish most of what you want, then go ahead and figure out what platform can bridge the gap and stay the course with your existing stack.  
 
If you notice that you have a lot of missing functionality, then it may be time to explore a new CRM and/or iPaaS/middleware option. Take a look at what platforms can cover the gaps that you have and if needed, just reach out.
Technical Debt Rating (Number of Tools, Difficulty Maintaining Them)
Low Score Achieved
07
If this term is new to you, it is only because you have not heard it called this specific thing before. Every organization we have ever worked with has technical debt - including us! The reality is that you will probably never get rid of all of your technical debt but you can more certainly become aware of it and reduce it.
 
In this section we covered:
 
  • Number of tools used
  • % of functions of tools used
  • FT staff needed to manage tech
  • Number of systems needed to connect your tech stack

Now let’s take a look at how you can work on reducing that debt:

Welcome to technical debt 101!  If you are seeing this feedback and recommendation section, it is because you have a relatively high level of technical debt.  You have some combination of excess tools, low % of tool/tech functionality being used, too much tech management demand relative to the team’s bandwidth that is available for managing those tools, or that you're probably using an excessive number of tools to connect your technology!
 
Fear not, you can start making your tech stack more of an asset and less of a liability by following these steps:
 
  • Get a spreadsheet ready and in column A, starting in row two, list out every single technology tool that you use. Have one section for tools that you pay for and one for tools that are free. If you want to group them into types of tools, like marketing, development/advancements, CRM, etc. then that will work, too!
  • Before you do the next step, duplicate this sheet three times so that you can use your tool list again with different values places into each row.
  • Now, in row 1, for each cell, list the functionality available for all of your tools - emailing, donor management, membership management, membership creation, ticket purchasing, etc. Try to capture all functionality.  
  • Bonus: list out features that you want but don’t currently have in any of your tools.  You can later, when calculating the number of cells with a value logged per row see how many and which rows have no coverage by your current tools. That will help you in determining what to do next!
  • Next, tool by tool go through and put a 0 in the intersecting cell for the row and column of a feature for a specific tool that you do not use and put a 1 in the box if you have the feature and you do use it. 
  • Once you have done this, you can make all cells with a “0” one color and make all cells with a “1” another color.  
  • You will be able to visualize a few things by doing this.  You will have a color map of features you have vs. features you use.  You will also be able to see where you have multiple tools with the same features.  You can also calculate the total number of cells with a value at all and then divide that into the total number of cells with 0s vs 1s to see what overall percentage of features are being used or not.  
  • Of course, there are other ways to do this type of evaluation but we really like this option for getting started! Now you know where you are, overall, and how efficiently you are utilizing your tools.
  • From here, it is time to take cost into account - you are going to need to go into the sheet that you copied at the beginning, before you added features, and place the values for % of tool used and % of tool not used into columns after you have labeled the columns in row 1. We recommend having a column for % of tool used, % of tool unused, cost of tool, cost of unused portion of your tool.
  • You can create some simple calculations to multiply the % used or not used by the total tool cost and then, at the bottom, create a sum for total money spent on % used vs. not used. You can also break this down by user if that is helpful for your analysis, or by team who uses each tool to see a department by department breakdown. 
  • Note: This is not a perfect science.  Clearly, not all features have equal value but this will give you a high level snapshot of where there is waste and where you can consider reducing tech, better utilizing tech, or finding tools that cover more overall functionality in one place than your current stack.  
  • Next, take a look at feature overlap. Go back to your first sheet and at the bottom of the row for each feature, calculate the number of cells with a value in that row. This will show you have many tools you have with the same features.
  • Now take a look at tool ownership. With that second copy you made of your tool list, create a column for department using the tool and create a dropdown property of all of the departments in your organization. Next, create a column for the department managing/owning the tool and make a drop down list of all departments and if you have an IT team, be sure to call them out as well. This will allow you to see how many departments are using the tool, how many departments are “owning” or administrating the tool, and how many tools are managed by IT, or someone outside of the department(s) using the tool.  
  • Analyzing this will help you to see where you might have too many administrators and not enough ownership, tools that are used by the most departments and are likely going to be hard to replace, and tools that are requiring IT administration. The cost of ownership and how that is calculated is unique to every organization but this will provide you with an objective overview of tool ownership.  
  • It is time to use that 3rd copy of your tool list, your 4th sheet, to take a look at how many integration platforms and types are used to integrate your tech stack. In row 1, in each cell enter an integration type option. Native integration, iPaaS, Master Data Management, Custom API Integration, Webhooks, etc. are a few options.  
  • For each of your tools, check the box that applies for ways that you are integrating that tool - you may have more than one cell checked for one tool.
  • From here, it is time to start considering your tools. If you have a tool that has a lot of overlap with other tools and you are using a small percentage of it, then maybe it is time to retire that tool and merge its functionality with that of other tools.
  • Of course, shifting your tech stack will require more considerations than this. Are you wanting features that you currently don’t have and considering a complete tech stack overall? Is your tech stack disconnected and perhaps, rather than building a bunch of integrations, you consider a constituent management platform that covers more functionality and houses more important data and engagements in one place. Then, there is the organizational politics and how these types of decisions are made that you will have to consider. Regardless, you now have data about how tech is being used, or not, where your gaps are at, how much money is potentially being wasted, and can start having an objective conversation with the necessary parties about what is next for your organization.  
Welcome to technical debt 201! If you are seeing this feedback and recommendation section, it is because you have a moderate level of technical debt. You a handful of excess tools with low % of tool/tech functionality being used, a bit too much tech management demand relative to the team’s bandwidth that is available for managing those tools, or use an slightly excessive number of tools to connect your technology!  
 
Fear not, here's a plan of action for you to start making your tech stack more of an asset and less of a liability:
 
  • Get a spreadsheet ready and in column A, starting in row two, list out every single technology tool that you use.  Have one section for tools that you pay for and one for tools that are free. If you want to group them into types of tools, like marketing, development/advancements, CRM, etc. then that will work, too!
  • Before you do the next step, duplicate this sheet three times so that you can use your tool list again with different values places into each row.
  • Now, in row 1, for each cell, list the functionality available for all of your tools - emailing, donor management, membership management, membership creation, ticket purchasing, etc. and capture all functionality.  
  • Bonus activity: list out features that you want but don’t currently have in any of your tools. You can later, when calculating the number of cells with a value logged per row see how many and which rows have no coverage by your current tools.  That will help you in determining what to do next!
  • Next, tool by tool put a 0 in the intersecting cell for the row and column of a feature for a specific tool that you do not use and put a 1 in the box if you have the feature and you do use it. If a specific tool does not have a feature reflected in a cell,
  • Once you have done this, you can make all cells with a “0” one color and make all cells with a “1” another color.  
  • You will be able to visualize a few things by doing this.  You will have a color map of features you have vs. features you use. You will also be able to see where you have multiple tools with the same features. You can also calculate the total number of cells with a value at all and then divide that into the total number of cells with 0s vs. 1s to see what overall percentage of features are being used or not.  
  • Of course, there are other ways to do this type of evaluation but we like this option for getting started! Now you know where your overall is and how efficiently you are utilizing your tools.
  • From here, it is time to take cost into account - you are going to need to go into the sheet that you copied at the beginning, before you added features, and place the values for % of tool used and % of tool not used into columns after you have labeled the columns in row 1. We recommend having a column for % of tool used, % of tool unused, cost of tool, cost of unused portion of your tool.
  • You can create some simple calculations to multiply the % used or not used by the total tool cost and then, at the bottom, create a sum for total money spent on % used vs not used. You can also break this down by user if that is helpful for your analysis, or by team who uses each tool to see a department by department breakdown. 
  • Note: This is not a perfect science. Clearly, not all features have equal value but this will give you a high level snapshot of where there is waste and where you can consider reducing tech, better utilizing tech, or finding tools that cover more overall functionality in one place than your current stack.  
  • Next, take a look at feature overlap. Go back to your first sheet and at the bottom of the row for each feature, calculate the number of cells with a value in that row. This will show you have many tools you have with the same features.
  • Now take a look at tool ownership. With that second copy you made of your tool list, create a column for department using the tool and create a dropdown property of all of the departments in your organization. Next, create a column for the department managing/owning the tool and make a drop down list of all departments and if you have an IT team, be sure to call them out as well. This will allow you to see how many departments are using the tool, how many departments are “owning” or administrating the tool, and how many tools are managed by IT, or someone outside of the department(s) using the tool.  
  • Analyzing this will help you to see where you might have too many administrators and not enough ownership, tools that are used by the most departments and are likely going to be hard to replace, and tools that are requiring IT administration. The cost of ownership and how that is calculated is unique to every organization but this will provide you with an objective overview of tool ownership.  
  • It is time to use that 3rd copy of your tool list, your 4th sheet, to take a look at how many integration platforms and types are used to integrate your tech stack. In row 1, in each cell enter an integration type option. Native integration, iPaaS, Master Data Management, Custom API Integration, Webhooks, etc. are a few options.  
  • For each of your tools, check the box that applies for ways that you are integrating that tool - you may have more than one cell checked for one tool.
  • From here, it is time to start considering your tools. If you have a tool that has a lot of overlap with other tools and you are using a small percentage of it, then maybe it is time to retire that tool and merge its functionality with that of other tools.
  • Of course, shifting your tech stack will require more considerations than this. Are you wanting features that you currently don’t have and considering a complete tech stack overall? Is your tech stack disconnected and perhaps, rather than building a bunch of integrations, you consider a constituent management platform that covers more functionality and houses more important data and engagements in one place. Then, there is the organizational politics and how these types of decisions are made that you will have to consider. Regardless, you now have data about how tech is being used, or not, where your gaps are at, how much money is potentially being wasted, and can start having an objective conversation with the necessary parties about what is next for your organization.
Welcome to technical debt 301! If you are seeing this feedback and recommendation section, pat yourself on the back because your tech debt is relatively low. You have a plan for managing technology and feature overlap, but still could stand to do an audit to evaluate current usage, feature gaps, and if there is a cleaner, better way to manage all of your organizational activities and constituent engagements and relationships.
 
Let’s do an evaluation to see where there is still room to improve:
 
  • Get a spreadsheet ready and in column A, starting in row two, list out every single technology tool that you use.  Have one section for tools that you pay for and one for tools that are free. If you want to group them into types of tools, like marketing, development/advancements, CRM, etc. then that will work, too!
  • Before you do the next step, duplicate this sheet three times so that you can use your tool list again with different values places into each row.
  • Now, in row 1, for each cell, list the functionality available for all of your tools - emailing, donor management, membership management, membership creation, ticket purchasing, etc. and capture all functionality.  
  • Bonus activity: list out features that you want but don’t currently have in any of your tools. You can later, when calculating the number of cells with a value logged per row see how many and which rows have no coverage by your current tools.  That will help you in determining what to do next!
  • Next, tool by tool put a 0 in the intersecting cell for the row and column of a feature for a specific tool that you do not use and put a 1 in the box if you have the feature and you do use it. If a specific tool does not have a feature reflected in a cell,
  • Once you have done this, you can make all cells with a “0” one color and make all cells with a “1” another color.  
  • You will be able to visualize a few things by doing this.  You will have a color map of features you have vs. features you use. You will also be able to see where you have multiple tools with the same features. You can also calculate the total number of cells with a value at all and then divide that into the total number of cells with 0s vs. 1s to see what overall percentage of features are being used or not.  
  • Of course, there are other ways to do this type of evaluation but we like this option for getting started! Now you know where your overall is and how efficiently you are utilizing your tools.
  • From here, it is time to take cost into account - you are going to need to go into the sheet that you copied at the beginning, before you added features, and place the values for % of tool used and % of tool not used into columns after you have labeled the columns in row 1. We recommend having a column for % of tool used, % of tool unused, cost of tool, cost of unused portion of your tool.
  • You can create some simple calculations to multiply the % used or not used by the total tool cost and then, at the bottom, create a sum for total money spent on % used vs not used. You can also break this down by user if that is helpful for your analysis, or by team who uses each tool to see a department by department breakdown. 
  • Note: This is not a perfect science. Clearly, not all features have equal value but this will give you a high level snapshot of where there is waste and where you can consider reducing tech, better utilizing tech, or finding tools that cover more overall functionality in one place than your current stack.  
  • Next, take a look at feature overlap. Go back to your first sheet and at the bottom of the row for each feature, calculate the number of cells with a value in that row. This will show you have many tools you have with the same features.
  • Now take a look at tool ownership. With that second copy you made of your tool list, create a column for department using the tool and create a dropdown property of all of the departments in your organization. Next, create a column for the department managing/owning the tool and make a drop down list of all departments and if you have an IT team, be sure to call them out as well. This will allow you to see how many departments are using the tool, how many departments are “owning” or administrating the tool, and how many tools are managed by IT, or someone outside of the department(s) using the tool.  
  • Analyzing this will help you to see where you might have too many administrators and not enough ownership, tools that are used by the most departments and are likely going to be hard to replace, and tools that are requiring IT administration. The cost of ownership and how that is calculated is unique to every organization but this will provide you with an objective overview of tool ownership.  
  • It is time to use that 3rd copy of your tool list, your 4th sheet, to take a look at how many integration platforms and types are used to integrate your tech stack. In row 1, in each cell enter an integration type option. Native integration, iPaaS, Master Data Management, Custom API Integration, Webhooks, etc. are a few options.  
  • For each of your tools, check the box that applies for ways that you are integrating that tool - you may have more than one cell checked for one tool.
  • From here, it is time to start considering your tools. If you have a tool that has a lot of overlap with other tools and you are using a small percentage of it, then maybe it is time to retire that tool and merge its functionality with that of other tools.
  • Of course, shifting your tech stack will require more considerations than this. Are you wanting features that you currently don’t have and considering a complete tech stack overall? Is your tech stack disconnected and perhaps, rather than building a bunch of integrations, you consider a constituent management platform that covers more functionality and houses more important data and engagements in one place. Then, there is the organizational politics and how these types of decisions are made that you will have to consider. Regardless, you now have data about how tech is being used, or not, where your gaps are at, how much money is potentially being wasted, and can start having an objective conversation with the necessary parties about what is next for your organization.