Lesson 0 · Why one system?

From scattered lists to one person's record.

Goal of this lessonTo see why a non-profit's work belongs around one person's record.

The problem: the same person on five lists

In an association the member who pays dues, the person who gives to a campaign, the parent at the reading workshop and the volunteer carrying books at the weekend are often the same person. Yet that person sits on four lists, spelled four ways; the address is updated on one and stays old on the others.

Scattered tools and one systemIn most organisations todayThe member list in a spreadsheetDonations on the bank statement, matched by handEvent sign-ups in a separate form toolThe grant report is rebuilt every periodDecisions get lost in e-mails and foldersWith SODOOMembers, donors, volunteers in one recordDonations and dues posted, shown on the recordWebsite sign-ups land in the eventEach grant on its analytic account, report readyDecisions and documents versioned, permissioned
Every line on the left is a copy and a manual job; on the right they are records of one database.

The answer: one record, eight jobs

An organisation's work around one person's recordMembership and duesinvoice · paymentDonationsweb · transfer · campaignEventsregistration · ticket · check-inProjects and grantsanalytic account · budgetVolunteeringtask · hoursCommunicatione-mail · SMS · surveyThe boardmeeting · decision · documentAccountingincome · costs · reportThe person's recordmember · donor · volunteer
The member who pays dues, the donor, the attendee and the volunteer are often the same person. In SODOO they all link to one record; the organisation's eight jobs turn around it.
Rule
A fact is entered once. Membership, donations, events and volunteering link to the same record; when you need a list it is produced by a filter, never kept separately.

Case: the year-end thank-you letter

Before
Merging three lists took two days; 37 people got two letters.
With SODOO
One list from a tag and a donation filter; one letter per person.

Check yourself

Why should the member list not be a separate file?
The same person can be a donor and a volunteer too; a separate file is a second copy and a mismatch.
What is a role (member, volunteer) in SODOO?
A tag on the contact record; lists come from filters.