The Challenge:
Managing all of the data associated with active Chi Omega members was
a laborious task, consuming a majority of the customer service
department's time and keeping it from focusing on member retention,
growth and fundraising efforts. In order for the central Chi Omega
office, including customer service, to take on a more strategic and
mentoring role for the local chapters, the data collection and
management processes needed to be addressed from the bottom up.
Central to this challenge, the fraternal organization had disparate
tools for capturing information about each of the 19,000 active members.
Chi Omega primarily relied on members themselves to update their
profile information, such as address, age, member level and chapter
position, name changes and dues. Most changes were done via paper form;
some chapters had online databases, while others relied on simple
spreadsheets. At the chapter level, Chi Omega collected a different set
of information, including overall collegiate GPAs, recruitment
statistics, fundraising activities, financial data and chapter
leaders.
Compounding the problem was the lack of automated integration between
each chapter's data and the central office's database. Chi Omega
decided to take a top-down approach to these operational and
administrative problems. The organization realized it was
underutilizing its database management solution, iMIS, and required a partner that would be able to
help the organization improve its procedures and maximize its IT
investment.
The Solution:
Chi Omega identified just the Authorized iMIS Solution Provider (AiSP) partner for the
job—Computer System Innovations (CSI). CSI worked with the
organization's leadership and day-to-day staff to configure and
implement the Web-based platform to solve the challenges faced by Chi
Omega.
Most important for Chi Omega was that iMIS 15
fully integrated across the entire organization, enabling automated data
exchange between any PC in the network. The central office also needed
to be able to establish and enforce policy over everyone who had access
to the system without creating a process deterrent that would discourage
users.
Once the data transfer infrastructure was established, members and
local chapters needed a 24-hour customer service portal from which they
could update their personal information in real time, input data and
access central office information, such as new policies, fundraising
campaign information and information about other local chapters. For
data collection and consistency, iMIS 15
allowed Chi Omega the ability to build its own unified tables and
database fields, ensuring that all data collected was in the same
format—and alleviating the problem of disparate records. At the chapter
level, the organization used the software to make historical data, such
as scholarship levels and elected leaders, available. iMIS also facilitated the national office’s analysis
of collegiate chapter data, gauging performance levels and capturing
"report cards." In addition, the flexible solution managed all of Chi
Omega's fundraising data, and allowed staff to easily find and pull the
exact information they needed the first time they searched for it.
The Results:
iMIS enabled Chi Omega to reduce a
significant amount of administrative overhead by automating data capture
at the local and regional levels. By creating a networked, central
database that all members can access through the Web, Chi Omega has been
able to put the responsibility of updating 290,000-plus member records
in the hands of members themselves. No longer requiring a major
administrative commitment from customer service, the department has been
able to focus on driving member retention, acquisition campaigns and
educational programs.
CSI helped the organization fit industry best practices, its existing
procedures and data, and iMIS' core management
features together into a seamless process. The powerful, yet simple to
use, database entry system has generated the capacity for Chi Omega to
vastly improve the quality and quantity of information available about
their members. Fundraising activities for the organization have
directly improved based largely on this information. Through the
enhanced billing system, Chi Omega's membership dues invoicing process
has been significantly streamlined as well.
"iMIS has provided us with the best
combination of member management, chapter management and fundraising
capabilities," said Anne Emmerth, executive director of Chi Omega. "The
Web-based platform, with the close partnership of CSI, has taken the
support we provide to our chapters from an administrative level to a
very high leadership position—and ultimately improved our members’ experiences." |
