Moving towards an ideal solution - longer term

Currently reviewing several Church Management Solutions (ChMS), CRMs, Broadcast Email/Campaign Marketing Provider, Broadcast Voicemail, Google Apps, Workflow Automation, Automated Customer Service, Survey Solution, etc. to develop an integrated solution for a denomination of churches to handle day-to-day process management of their offices, develop automated or standard work flows, etc.

Specifically preparing them to handle an increase of contacts directly or funneled through a separate web site/phone system that will be backed by a sizable and ongoing community outreach & advertising campaign.  Goal of the campaign is to develop interest and feed/assign prospective members/leads out to local congregations and have them be able to route, process, follow up and be accountable – all online enabled.  This includes tracking and follow up with people with both fall out of the process as well as people who then are transitioned to attendees and later members.

We may specifically need assistance in integrating one of the online SaaS Church Management Solutions (Fellowship One, Community Church Builder, etc) with a CRM and Google Hosted Email apps to track communication/touches out to members and record that to their record.

We are potentially looking for a partner to handle development work to bridge a possible ChMS with a more functional CRM and then automate some workflows in between.

Online Form creation/editing and posting into Google Docs

http://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/viewListing?productListingId=5750915+15608083171490669718

frevvo Live Forms is an innovative web e-form application. Using a browser, anyone can create rich, dynamic Ajax forms with built-in business capabilities. Nurses have built forms.

Our customers

• Greater than 20x productivity improvements
• Ease of Integration
• 3 month ROI

CRMs with integration into Google Apps

http://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/viewListing?productListingId=5913159+3908965473657248245

Solve360 - CRM Meets Project Managmement for Serious Business

Product by Norada

Solve360 is a modern collaborative CRM service that integrates features to manage client projects. It's ideal for small teams that manage a lot of interactions between staff and and clients.

• Web app with agility and speed of a desktop app
• Well designed interface with powerful features
• CRM system fully integrated with Gmail's messages

ZOHO CRM


http://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/viewListing?productListingId=6668131+15545930171359560228

Zoho CRM for Google Apps provides CRM capability for Google Apps users. Zoho CRM implemented OpenID based login for Google Apps accounts to use Zoho CRM using their existing Google Apps credentials.

• Signin to Zoho CRM using Google Apps username/pwd
• Provides CRM capability for Google Apps users
• Free for the first 3 users

HEAP CRM

http://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/viewListing?productListingId=5490511+9007727729446780579

Heap is a simple customer relationship management tool for small business. It keeps track of everything, regardless of the type of data, allows you to search it easily.

• Built in Sales tracking, Contacts, Automation, etc
• Integrates with e-mail
• Integrates with Google Docs, Contacts & more

Really Simple Systems CRM

http://www.reallysimplesystems.com/

Really Simple Systems is a hosted CRM system designed for small to medium sized organisations, or divisions or larger companies

Tactile CRM

http://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/viewListing?productListingId=3743304+15054332267543611912

Tactile CRM is alow cost, affordable web based, simple CRM for your business - an easy way to track your sales, deals, emails and customer contact. It integrates with Google Contacts via the new API.

• Contact management
• Sales management
• Google Contacts/GMail Integration

Gbridge: Free instant VPN w/Google Apps

Google Solutions Marketplace - Gbridge: Free instant VPN for everyone!:

"Gbridge lets you sync folders, share files, chat and VNC securely and easily between friends or your own computers. Google Apps users can create their own free VPN within the organization instantly!
DesktopShare: Technical support made easy.
EasyBackup: Backup to remote computer!
SecureShare & AutoSync: Share files within group!"

Cordys Process Factory - Workflow for Google Apps

Google Solutions Marketplace - Cordys Process Factory - Workflow for Google Apps

Another Business Process Automation service with integrations into Google Apps.

Socialwok

Socialwok

Another great integration with Google Apps. Really helps close those gaps in communication. Trying to see where this fits in or possibly overlaps with project management and/or process management apps.

RunMyProcess - Workflow and Integration for Google Apps

Google Solutions Marketplace - RunMyProcess - Workflow and Integration for Google Apps

Another big win here -- run my process is also integrating with google apps / gmail!

Expensive tool need to look at further

http://www.unifyer.com/church/default.asp

Some churches are using this to unify communications.  Not sure on the exact functionality and what if any other tools out there may already exist or might be built-into an online crm or ChMS system.  If it is just a one-way tool to post to social network sites -- there are free ones of those.

Church Software, Web Based | Church Community Builder, CCB

Church Software, Web Based | Church Community Builder, CCB

Another option for a web based community with ChMS like functions. They are trying to be more friendly/open to Twitter, etc. Some of the twitter post out functionality could be made by using the "email to post" option direct w/twitter but also with other providers that repost to multiple sources simultaneously and they too accept items via "email to post" then syndicate across multiple sites.

Once again, Church Community Builder has gone and created new, innovative technology tools that integrate their web-based church management software with the ever-changing outside world of communications technology.

Today, I helped them announce a new feature that combines text messaging with Twitter. Who would have thought? This is a great idea -I’m not sure that anyone else out there is doing this. Here are the basics:

CCB Twext™ Offers the Following Benefits:

Group Texting: In addition to email and mail merge, every Group Leader has the option to communicate with their Group participants via Text Messaging.

Twitter™ Integration: If a group within the church has its own Twitter account, the Group Leader can add that account to their CCB Group. When utilized, a Text Message sent to the group will also immediately post as a Tweet on the group Twitter™ feed. This further extends the reach of the Text Message to those who may not receive text messages but are a member of the Twitter group.

Member Controlled: Group members have full control over their ability to receive text messages. They must proactively edit their CCB profile before receiving them. This ensures people don’t end up paying for text messages they do not wish to receive.

PhoneTree, Phone Tree, Message Services, Phone Messaging, Voice Messaging, Appointment Reminder, Emergency Notification, Text-To-Speech, Church Communication, Lab Test Results, Phone, Call, Communication by PhoneTree

PhoneTree, Phone Tree, Message Services, Phone Messaging, Voice Messaging,
Appointment Reminder, Emergency Notification, Text-To-Speech, Church Communication,
Lab Test Results, Phone, Call, Communication by PhoneTree

Another outbound voicemail option w/texing too.

Alternative solution for online donor management

http://www.donortools.com/

If we went with a ChMS / CRM without good donor tools and reporting or bad online donation/giving -- an external site that just does this very well might be an option.

Ekklesia 360 is another Online ChMS/CRM

http://www.ekklesia360.com/

Another Church Specific ChMS / CRM Option

http://www.faithhighway.com/church-management-software-and-other-church-software.php

They also do the Sermon Connect service.
http://sermonconnect.com/

Checklist / Tips for 70+ things to consider in a church web site

http://www.internetevangelismday.com/church-site-tips.php

1. Most church websites are designed entirely for their members, or unwittingly exclude non-Christians because of their choice of language and content.
   More  | Extra
2. A good church site must communicate with three very different target groups:
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3. This ‘three-way stretch’ is a challenge, but can be achieved.
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4. Take time to consider the needs and viewpoints of non-Christians.
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5. Avoid all ‘churchy’ jargon and ‘Christianese’ language throughout the site, especially on the homepage.
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6. Non-Christians may have negative images of Christians: boring, killjoys, judgmental, etc.
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7. Christian outreach often fails because Christians do ‘megaphone proclamation’ from behind the protecting walls of their ‘ghetto’.
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8. A primary task of the website is to convince non-Christians of these four things:
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9. Do not think of your church site in isolation, merely as a stand-alone online brochure.
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10. Church is people: the home page should have at least one photo of a church member. This is absolutely foundational to good communication, yet infrequently done.
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11. Internal pages on the site can include photos of both outside and inside of the church building.
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12. Include some ‘meet our members’ pages.
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13. All links, page titles, and sub-headings should sound enticing.
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14. If testimonies are used, they should be completely free of religious jargon, exaggeration and sentimentality.
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15. Consider a ‘New to this site?’ visitors link on your homepage. This enables you to offer a particular welcome to an outsider.
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16. Games and fun stuff are attractive and make a site sticky.
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17. Consider adding some ‘bridging’ pages to the site.
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18. Involve your church members in praying and supporting the web design team, and ‘owning’ the site.
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19. Demonstrate a specific welcome for people with disability.
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20. Summing up: the overall impression of the site must of a gentle, loving, enticing welcome. But...
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21. Sadly, it is this issue of welcome and assimilation that frequently breaks down.
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22. The context of your country, area and culture may lead you to apply these principles in different ways. Analyzehow some very effective church sites are using them: Brandywine | Southside | Bridge | King’s Church | Atlanta |North Branch | Questions
23. Church websites are not the only form of web evangelism.
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    Design

24. Your church site will be the first point of contact for many people in your community. First impressions count.
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25. Do not place too much information on your homepage.
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26. And all important information should be ‘above the fold’.
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27. Avoid ‘churchy’ graphics – open Bibles, stained glass windows, doves, candles. And appeals for money.
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28. Use at least one graphic of a person’s face on the homepage.
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29. A 3-column layout is often the most suitable for a church site.
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30. Never use an introductory ‘splash page’.
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31. Every page should display the same overall appearance, with the same navigation options in the same place.
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32. All links, menu options and buttons should be clearly identified as ‘active’ – they should change color when hovered.
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33. If you use Javascript for any effects, ensure everything on the site still works for those with Javascript disabled.
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34. Don’t use frames for site design.
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35. Learn how to use ‘include’ files – a great time-saver.
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36. Also learn how to use CSS.
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37. Use colors correctly: understand how to choose a color scheme, how colors relate to each other, and what mood they communicate.
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38. Don’t use patterned graphic backgrounds behind body text.
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39. Consider a ‘liquid’ page design: the content should flow naturally and fit together, at any screen resolution (i.e. size of the monitor screen measured in pixels) or reasonable font resize by a user.
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40. And don’t put ‘best viewed at resolution’ or ‘best viewed in browser Y’ on your website.
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41. Don’t include ‘mailto’ email addresses in plain coding on the site.
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42. Your site need not be large or complex.
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43. Don’t leave out-of-date content online.
    More 
44. Use several people to proof-read for typos and poor grammar.
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45. Make your pages printer-friendly.
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46. Take time to assess your target audience, their interests, needs and circumstances.
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47. Not least, pray – both for planning and implementation.
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    Your church webmaster/team

48. A church webmaster or team needs a clear job description.
    More The church should encourage the webmaster or web team in their back-room role.
49. What if there is no-one technical in your church, to take on the webmaster role? You can use a pre-designed template system. These also answer the problem of what to do if the only technical person in the church moves on, leaving a website that no-one really knows how to update. Follow ‘Extra’ for a listing of providers and how to assess the features they offer.
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50. A larger church site can benefit from ‘CMS’ – Content Management which enables multiple users to keep the site updated.
    More  | Extra
51. Learn from others. Help is only a mouse-click away.
    More 

    Readability

52. For normal body text, use black font on a white or near-white background.
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53. Do not used fixed font size in your coding.
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54. Therefore make all font sizes relative, so that users can resize text if they wish.
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55. Choice of fonts is important. The Verdana font is designed for computer monitors, and is widely perceived as the most readable for body text. (Note how upper-case I is distinguished from number 1 or lower-case l.) Test it yourself: view this page in helvetica | arial | default sans-serif | default serif | times new roman | restore verdana.
    More  | Extra
56. Understand how to make your site user-friendly to color-blind and visually-impaired visitors. color tester. More 

    Testing

57. Test your site from a technical viewpoint in different browsers, and at different screen resolutions.
    More 
58. Also test your site with real first-time users. Remember, you know your site backwards. They do not.
    More  | Extra
59. Find non-Christians to critique your site. Yes, non-Christians! They are your primary target audience.
    More 

    Navigation and usability

60. Good navigation allows a first-time non-technical visitor to move round your site easily.
    More 
61. Good navigation gives visitors constant clues to fulfill the vital requirements: ‘Where am I, where have I been, and where can I go’. Many websites, of all types, fail to be effective because they lack a good intuitive navigation system.
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62. Do not offer too many links in your navigation menu.
    More 
63. You can use ‘paper prototyping’ to plan different ways of structuring links within the site.
    More  | Extra
64. Make sure your pages download quickly.
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    Being found – online and physically

65. The title tag in the head of your homepage, which should contain the full name of the church, plus town, state and country.
    More  | Extra
66. Your church name, street, town, area/state, country and phone number should also appear in unabbreviated form in a small font in the footer of your homepage (or preferably every page).
    More 
67. Submit your church site to main search engines and secular directories.
    More  | Extra
68. Make every page of your site a logical entry point to your site.
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69. Framed pages present problems to being listed in search engines.
    More 
70. Ensure the church URL is easy to remember. Take every opportunity to give it a high profile.
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71. Make full use of press releases to local newspapers and radio stations. These should always include your URL. Larger churches can consider publishing regular news using an ‘RSS’ feed.
    More  | Extra1| 2
72. Include clear directions for finding the church. Give details of parking, public transport links, and a map.
    More 

    Responding to emails

73. Ensure that every day, someone reads incoming emails to the church.
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74. Some people may be emailing for help on serious life issues.
    More  | Extra
75. It need not necessarily be the pastor or pastor’s secretary that does this, especially out of hours.
    More 

ACS People is back up and running

I called ACS and the file was ready -- they did not email or it was "lost". Downloaded and imported the backup. Learning the system while updating the member record information to the office copy.

There is a lot of work to be done to sync and improve the data we collect and back fill in things that should be recorded so that they can be reported. Then we need to standardize how certain items are recorded.

One area I already see as a huge impediment to communication to the 18 - 40 (or even older) generation is they don't get emailed or mailed items since they are often listed under the parents physical address or email. I have to learn the process to split them out of the household but keep the familial connection.

UPDATE: Completed the first round of changes transferring info into the database from the maual edits to the office's copy of the member directory.

ChMS next steps... Revive ACS People

I am going to try and see if we can revive ACS People as soon as possible before heading too far down the ChMS & CRM discussion.   Plus we really need to get the membership data in some database to manipulate it for outreach i.e. be able to get it synced with office version of the directory and then be able in the near future to email, mail, phone call, etc.  Plus once it is in there and updated -- will be easier to export and import into another ChMS if we make that decision.

ACS People has been down for the count at least a year when the office PC died and the replacement came with Vista.  At that point ACS People was not being heavily used and they did not have a Vista compatible version.

I’m thinking about taking a day maybe tomorrow to try and get this one solved if I can download the software.  If I can’t and need to wait for a mailed/shipped disc – will be later in the week/when disc arrives.  

I may have to look into a short term GoToMyPC type service if we only have one license for the People module and it must remain in the office.  Unfortunately the data is so out of date and if its on the Church sectary's PC that means considerable data entry may need to happen.   My free time is mainly when my kids are in school/office open -- but that may be when she is working.  

Goal is to get the data in sync & updated with the manual church directory and to be able to categorize current active attendees separate from Visitors and Lapsed members/attendees.  What this allows us to do is communicate and give tools to current members as well as allow us to try and develop a plan to reach back out to lapsed and previous visitors.

UPDATE: Ed just sent me the ACS info, links to download 10.x and support credentials.  We do have the ongoing support at the Preferred level and cost is ~$85/month.  St. A's owns:

9010

People Module

Active

9015

Contributions Module

Active

9110

General Ledger Module

Active

9120

Accounts Payable Module

Active

9975-DOS

Parochial Report Module - DOS

Discontinued

9067

Parochial Report Module

Active

Other CRM & ChMS Options

A few more from Ed...

CRM

http://www.reachcrm.com/  --- soon to be released?!?

http://proclaim-crm.com -- this looks promising... check it out, if you haven't yet. my qualm is that it is an MS Outlook integration.

  

 ChMS

open source ChMS solutions i looked into previously... i think i even installed them at one point in time:

ChurchInfo -- http://sourceforge.net/projects/churchinfo

Web Based Church Information Management -- http://sourceforge.net/projects/osc/

More resources / sites to check out from Ed

http://healyourchurchwebsite.com/ -- pretty good blog

http://www.churchmetrics.com/  -- this one looks AWESOME!!!

http://groups.drupal.org/node/24494  -- this is a pretty specific page outlining the possible features for a Drupal for Churches distro. i refer to it constantly for ideas about possible features to add.

http://www.onthecity.org/ -- commercial SaaS from Zondervan

Tools: Other CMS Options info from Ed

Pixie CMS (light CMS with DB and RSS)
http://www.getpixie.co.uk/

(the next version of this CMS is going to rock! check out the demo)
1. The site can be found here: http://www.getpixie.co.uk/test/
2. To login visit: http://www.getpixie.co.uk/test/admin/ and click
"login". This sets a cookie and fakes a login for now.
3. Look for black "edit" buttons on pages. use these to edit the
content.
4. Once a change has been made, a green edit button appears in the top
right. Pressing this saves the changes.


also looking into:
TextPattern
Frog CMS
Concrete 5
Pritlog -- http://pritlog.com

EditEase -- http://code.google.com/p/editease/

Tools: Email blasts, Groups and Campaigns

This is another area where the main piece of software selected may not have this needed functionality or enough of it.  Several different solutions exist but the overall all goal would be to integrate it so it is easy to track all customer contact attached to that one record natively or worst case data from the email campaign software can be batch processed back into the primary system.


There are a number of major, minor and open source options if we need to purchase this function outside of the main solution including: 

• Constant Contact