Systems Support Advice Much Needed for Regional NFP

What would tech savvy people recommend we do for the following needs? We have been recommended both Salesforce and Microsoft 365/Sharepoint and don't have the skills to determine which is best for our organisation and don't have the skills to do a lot of the backend work to make either one function effectively for us. Advice or service proposal would be much appreciated... Our basic issue is: We need to use a cloud server to access documents, database from various locations in regional NSW. We have attempted to set this up ourselves (as there is not a local provider) but are having trouble integrating it all and set up the databases we need to use for tracking and reporting on our work. We are a not-for-profit incorporated association. I, as EO, am the 'tech' person for the organisation. We are a member of Donortec and recently bought Microsoft 2010 Office suite through them for all our users. We operate from home offices, the main office, on the road. We use a variety of devices: desktop PC, laptop PC, ipad, iphone, mobile and now seem to have icloud and have had to use Docs to Goas well. Bigger but not necessarily better. Everything is everywhere. We need it all in one place. We previously used Dropbox and are trying to move it over to our Team Site. We need something very simple, accessible, not likely to have to many hitches, easy to train in from regional NSW if training is required, handles a range of tracking and reporting tasks that are specific to us. We have recently switched to Office 365 and are using our Team Site (or trying to use our team site) as our server folders (like Dropbox -we don't have a server ourselves) but with the calendars, databases and other platform associated with SharePoint. Currently backing up still to Dropbox but trying to share our calendars and associate docs to our Team Site with Sharepoint (we seem to be having trouble moving some folders over and syncing and not sure why). But we lack the training and skills to set this up in a manageable way ourselves. We need assistance but are in regional NSW. We access our files both online and offline but have staff in and out of the office. In addition we need a database that can work from our team site and sync with our computers, sync with outlook (and our mobiles etc) so that we can manage our contacts, project management, events, develop particular networks for mailouts and specific information, project reporting and monitoring our enquiries and log our responses. We currently use Mailchimp, RANSW database, Excel, (we've tried Microsoft access but too hard to develop the back end of the databases ourselves), etc. Believe SharePoint and its lists to be a good solution as it corresponds with all our programs. Enquiries Register Project Tracking Contacts Database Finances (Would have primary key of codes we use in MYOB for our financial administration) Variety of Enquiries and Project Reporting (in line with our KPIs in the 9 year strategic plan) How to manage links and reporting relating to: How do we streamline our system (can this be done for us) and manage it (once again is it best to outsource this). We are really struggling and finding it very difficult to manage our work at the moment so happy to look at short term solutions with longer term additional development.

Reply by from Community Data Solutions on Thursday, 8 March, 2012 - 13:35

Hi, Our company specialises in providing affordable database and document management solutions for NGO's. We have many pre-built modules that handle enquiries, projects, contacts, KPI's and much more. Feel free to give us a call and we can have a chat and provide a no obligation quote. We service the whole of Australia and have a number of customers in regional areas. 1800 503 981 www.communityds.com.au Cheers, Chris Director - Community Data Solutions www.communityds.com.au

Reply by Colin Thompson from TechBrain on Friday, 9 March, 2012 - 13:58

Hi There. Sounds like a real headache. We provide IT support for a number of regional Arts centres in WA through our association with Aboriginal Arts Centre Hub in WA (http://www.aachwa.com.au). You might wish to try to get in contact with them and see if they can suggest a relevant NSW support organisation that can help with the same thing they do for their members over here and then hopefully that organisation might point you to a support company that provides the same services as we provide to their clients.

Reply by from IT Leaders on Thursday, 24 May, 2012 - 12:21

Good Morning, I do apologies for the delay in our response to your query, as we have only just noticed your post. IT Leaders provide Cloud Based Services, Consulting and labour to NFPs throughout Australia and have the capacity to be able to service regional areas. Our Private Cloud facility is based in Brisbane which meets your legislative requirements as an NFP. If you still requires assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us. 1300 596 560 www.itleaders.com.au Rachael IT Business Consultant IT Leaders