Who’s tracking the tracker?

So you've got this awesome CRM that’s fantastic at keeping track of your people.

Yay for that!

But what's keeping track of your CRM?

I mean, your people are changing all the time. Getting more involved. Making donations. Attending events. All of that.

And it's great to have a system that keeps that all straight for you, right?

But your CRM is changing all the time too. New configurations. New features. New custom fields. New permissions and rules and users.

Who's keeping track of that?

Well, hopefully you are. That's where your internal documentation comes in. That's where your in-house expert comes in.

Because as things change, keeping track is important.

You're doing it for your constituent data. Isn’t it worth doing for your CRM configs as well?

All the best,
A.

Who makes CiviCRM great?

Who makes CiviCRM great?

Well, you do.

Every time you tell a colleague about it, or share how you're using it with others, or even when you complain about it to someone who can help you (you know, me!)

And who else?

Lots of people. They contribute their time and skills to make the whole product better, create extensions, conduct trainings, write documentation, and more.

This list shows some of those contributors, but even that list only includes those who've a) opted-in to be listed (like me, who finally just decided to do that today), and b) contributed specific code improvements or documentation.

It doesn't include what folks have contributed by supporting others in MatterMost or StackExchange, or at live events, or in many other ways.

We're all out here helping each other.

I'm glad you're part of that, whether your name is on a list somewhere or not!

All the best,
A.

Paper wins again

As much as we love our fancy streamlined CRM systems, I've yet to see anything that beats good ol’ pen and paper for speed and flexibility.

I was on staff during the Starfish Benefit for the Child & Family Guidance Center of Texoma this past Saturday.

Besides the live auction that gets most of the attention, a fun part of the event is the “Heads or Tails” game. I won't bore you with the details, but the gist is that you must donate to play, and you must play to win, and winning is fun.

Thing is, many people weren't able to sign up for the game because of some issues with the mobile app for the event.

No problem, says the emcee. Before we start, I'll ask everyone who wants to play to raise their bid paddles, we'll note their bidder numbers, and then we'll just add that game donation to their auction totals.

Sure, fine idea.

But. Imagine you're trying to record a series of specific three-digit numbers as the emcee reads them from the crowd as quickly as he can. You know, 30 or 40 of them in a 60-second burst.

Are you going to type that into your notes app on your phone? Are you going to look them up one by one in the auction software?

The board member in charge of the Heads or Tails game tried that. It doesn't work so well.

Fortunately, somebody was ready with the right tools: one ballpoint pen, and one sheet of paper.

Problem solved.

Here's the thing:

It's really wonderful when you can do live data entry on the spot. The data goes right into your system, and your staff can see it right away. And once your live event is done, your data is there.

But someone needs to be ready with a fallback that is bone-simple and absolutely reliable. Just in case a surprise comes up.

Because in a live event, surprises will come up. Count on it.

All the best,
A.

Reality is imperfect

Last Saturday the Child and Family Guidance Center of Texoma hosted its annual Starfish Benefit.

I'm on the board there, and preliminary numbers indicate that we hit well above our fundraising goal. (Yay!)

Surprisingly, a few of our board members — and some of our guests — noticed a small problem during the event:

Some fundraising opportunities, which should have been available on our mobile app, were strangely inaccessible on some phones.

Naturally I checked on this with the representative for our fundraising partner, who manages the app. But since it wasn't a problem for everyone — and of course, it worked fine on their phones — they weren't able to resolve it immediately.

Fortunately, we found other ways to help any guests who mentioned it to us, so for those guests it was not much of a problem.

But I can't help wondering how many people tried to give, found it difficult, and simply moved on to enjoy the evening regardless.

From this I see a few lessons worth noting:

1. Test, test, and test again. During or after your live event is the worst time to learn that something's not working. Budget time for testing your systems, and test them in a wide variety of situations.

2. Remember that no system is really flawless. The real world is imperfect. When fortune smiles on us, things will go smoothly. But fortune is fickle.

3. Ensure your staff are well trained on alternative methods. If a problem comes up, a good contingency plan, though not ideal, can save you from a lot of pain (and missed opportunities).

All the best,
A.

Constraints

Highway construction on my way to work has recently made a big impact on my morning commute. I don’t like it, but it’s beyond my control.

What is within my control is how I deal with it. I can scout an alternate route. I can use the drive time to soak up that audiobook I’ve been wanting to get through.

Here’s the thing:

Whatever your mission or current goals, you’ll find that there are always constraints that are beyond your control.

• Time

• Money

• Manpower

• Regulations and compliance

• Security concerns

• Stakeholder demands

• Cash flow

• Impending calendar dates

• Uncertainty and lack of information

It’s tempting to be discouraged by these constraints, or merely to wave them off because “there are always constraints.”

On the other hand, because they always exist, you can get a lot out of identifying them, quantifying them, adjusting priorities for them — even turning them into opportunities.

Long commute? Why not an informative podcast or audiobook, to enrich your mind along the way?

Tough regulations and compliance requirements? Why not tout your excellent compliance to your donors, to demonstrate your commitment and inspire their support?

There will always be constraints. And there will always be a way to deal with them.

All the best,
A.

Preview CiviCRM’s upgrade alerts

Here’s a nice tool that will help you get ready for your next CiviCRM upgrade: CiviCRM Upgrade Message Previewer.

How does this make upgrades easier?

Upgrades in CiviCRM will sometimes present you with alert messages that need a little extra thought — and sometimes need a little extra action.

Normally, the first time you encounter these messages is while you’re in the middle of an upgrade. That is, after you’ve already loaded the newest CiviCRM code files on your site.

Considering that some of these messages call for additional action on your part, it can help a lot to know what to expect ahead of time, so you can be ready.

How does it work?

Just tell it your current CiviCRM version, the version you’ll be upgrading to, and your CMS (Drupal, WordPress, etc.), and click the button.

You’ll get a full list of the pre-upgrade and post-upgrade messages you can expect to see in that upgrade, including helpful descriptions and links to additional documentation when it’s relevant.

Shouldn’t I see these messages when I upgrade my sandbox site?

Yes! If you’re making the extra effort to upgrade a sandbox copy of your live site first — as a test before actually upgrading you’re live site — that’s great! It’s the recommended practice.

And when you do that, you’ll see these same messages. Since the site is just a sandbox copy and not your actual live site, you’ll have time to react to those messages.

But for folks who still have a hard time building a sandbox copy of their site, that kind of prevew workflow is not an easy option.

All the best,
A.

How accurate are mailing statistics?

This (paraphrased) question came in today from a client:

CiviMail is reporting that over 50 recipients clicked the link to register for our event, but this seems very unlikely. How reliable are these numbers?

It’s a smart question. Truth is, the "Click-through" numbers can be artificially high, for reasons beyond your (or your CRM’s) control.

How could this be?

One reason is that the company that hosts your recipients’ email accounts may do things that make it look like the recipient clicked one or more links in the email.

This is true regardless of what system you might use to send the email — CiviCRM, your own gmail account, some other newsletter software, whatever.

Why would they do that?

The usual rationale here is that the email hosting company wants to block email messages that contain links to known fraud or otherwise malicious content.

So, they'll actually open every single link in the email message, before it even gets to the recipient's in-box.

(For example, several of my clients’ recipients appear to have clicked on all 11 links in a given mailing, but we agree that’s just unlikely.)

Can’t CiviCRM figure that out and adjust the statistics?

Unfortunately, there's no easy way to know if the link was "opened" by the actual human recipient or by the email company's scanning software.

This has the effect of artificially inflating the click tracking in your mailing reports.

FWIW, there are some ideas floating around out there "on the web" about how to deal with this kind of problem, but these ideas don't have a lot of traction yet.

Most mass-mailing solutions (including CiviCRM) will need work before they're able to implement such ideas to help get more accurate numbers in the face of this kind of "pre-scanning" activity.

So these numbers are just useless?

Not entirely. Because not all email hosting services are doing this kind of thing, the click-through rates on your emails are still good as relative indicators:

• if one of your mailings shows a click-through rate that’s relatively lower or higher than your other mailings, that probably indicates that more or fewer real people clicked those links.

• But as an absolute indicator of “who clicked what”, yes, these numbers are less useful than you might have thought.

To sum up:

It's a problem that lots of other people are talking about (not just in CiviCRM) but no one has a solid solution yet.

As a result, meanwhile, you should assume that the click-through numbers are artificially inflated.

To quote one blogger on this topic, "Having misleading statistics is just something we have to deal with as a marketer."

More info:

For reference, here's a (rather long) blog post from civicrm.org that tries to explain all of this. It might be interesting if you have the time.

All the best,
A.

“Ought to”?

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.

“I don’t much care where—” said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

“—so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.

“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

From Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll

Here’s the thing:

No one can tell you which way you ought to go. It depends a good deal on where you want to get to.

All the best,
A.

Plan ahead for good reporting

Now and then a client will ask for help reporting on some metrics from their historical data.

Problem is, it can be difficult to get that data because it was not well tracked at the time.

For example, say you need to report accurate numbers on the question, "In each of our training events in the past 2 years, how many attendees were school district employees at the time?"

It's not a bad question, if you have a goal to get school district employees into your trainings.

But it's almost impossible to determine retroactively.

Here's the thing:

If your strategic plan calls for hitting certain metrics in the next year, or 3 years, now is the time to think about how you will report on those numbers.

With a little forethought, you can be well placed for good reporting.

Without it, you might just never know.

All the best,
A.

Good uses for a hammer

Imagine picking up a hammer and asking yourself, "How can I use this hammer around the house?"

You could, after all, use it to open a locked door; or plant tulip bulbs in your garden; or remove a screw.

But why start with the hammer?

Why not ask, "What's the best way to open this locked door? Or plant these tulip bulbs? Or remove this screw?"

You'll probably get better results that way.

All the best,
A.

Start with the problem, not the solution

This morning a client asked me about using tags in CiviCRM.

Essentially the question was, "How could we use tags to track metrics related to our strategic plan?"

It's a fair question, so we discussed it, but soon we decided to zoom out a little and look at things a different way.

I suggested: What if we start by looking at the metrics you'll need to report on? Depending on how those are measured, we can find the best way to track the data, whether it's with tags or something else.

And with that small shift in perspective, we started to home in on the tracking mechanisms that would actually meet her needs.

Spoiler: It's starting to look like tags won't be a big part of her solution.

Here's the thing:

Starting with the tool, or the solution, is one way to go.

But you'll usually get better results by starting with the actual problem, and then selecting the solution that will best solve that problem.

All the best,
A.

Worth the risk?

Witnessed this morning on my way to work:

A truck driver parked his big old semi in the middle of the street, blocking an entire lane, while he walked across the street to Jack In The Box, got his to-go breakfast, and walked back again to drive away.

This was on a major thoroughfare here in town.

Parking ticket? Hassle from the cops? Getting written up by his manager? Having his truck damaged by some driver who was on their phone? Getting yelled at or maybe even pushed around by some hot-head with a penchant for road rage?

These are all concerns he had to weigh, against the value of a breakfast sandwich and a cup of coffee.

Who's to say whether that prize is worth all of those risks?

Only him.

Here's the thing:

We all take chances, everyday, one way or another.

In your personal life, and in your work.

Nothing is guaranteed.

Who gets to decide whether the potential upside is worth the potential risk?

Only you.

All the best,
A.

I’m so fancy

As I write this, I'm sitting in the outdoor lounge at my co-working space.

Down the sidewalk comes a man pulling a hand cart containing one push mower, one weed-eater, and several gas cans. He has a t-shirt that says “Bill's Yard Work.”

While he is still walking by, he’s passed by a large pickup truck hauling a trailer with two zero-turn mowers and a wide assortment of other equipment. The truck is wrapped in a custom paint job reading, “Garcia's Outdoor Services.”

The truck is quickly out of sight. The man just keeps walking.

Observation: These are two businesses in the same line of work, and I have no idea which one is “more successful.”

The Garcia crew looks fancy, but Bill, with his hand cart, seems happy enough.

• Which of them is making a greater profit?

• Which of them takes greater joy in their work?

• Where will either of them be, in terms of what matters to them, in a year, or two?

Here's the thing:

Unless your mission is "looking fancy" — and I’m guessing it’s not — what matters is not how slick your tools look, but how well they help you reach the goals that matter to you.

All the best,
A.

Directions

In my small town, anyone can tell you the best place to get a cup of coffee.

Head down main street. It's the cafe on the right, after you pass the cigar store.

Those directions work great. Every time. Unless:

• You're coming from the less-traveled other end of town.

• You've already tried that cafe and don't like their coffee.

• You're in a hurry and just want any coffee.

Here’s the thing:

Good advice is based on a clear understanding of your starting point, your desired outcomes, and your available resources.

That's true whether it's about coffee, or systems to support your organization's mission.

All the best,
A.

Complex or simple: your choice

I have clients whose CRM system is pretty much on autopilot, and I hear from them once a year or even less, because it's just working for them.

I have other clients who are constantly trying to improve their systems, their programs, their team workflows, and their membership offerings; and for them it's a constant but worthwhile effort to keep their system configured according to their needs.

In between, I have clients who are constantly improving (i.e., changing) their policies and procedures, but who still assume that their robust and flexible CRM system should "just work" for them and they don’t need to think about it much. These folks are struggling, to one degree or another, because their experience hasn't matched their expectations.

Here's the thing:

A simple tool is easy to use but does only a few things very well.

A complex tool can be made to do many things well, but requires more effort to master.

CiviCRM can be either of those things. But, like most things, it can't be both at the same time.

Complexity and simplicity each have their place.

If you know which one you're aiming for, you can usually appreciate both the benefits and the limitations.

But trying to have them both is not usually a recipe for success.

All the best,
A.

Piles

Believe it or not, piles are a fabulously useful organization method. You probably use them a lot.

• Sorting laundry

• Moving into a new house

• Todo lists

• Separating recyclables

They’re not great for the long term, but are wonderfully useful in the short term.

And here's the thing:

A system doesn't have to be perfect for everything.

It just needs to be good enough for the results you need.

Making it any more robust than it needs to be, doesn’t really make it "better".

But it does make it harder, and for no good reason.

All the best,
A.

Branding your CRM

Sometimes inspiring trust means shielding your team from too many technical details.

They just need to believe — with good reason — that their systems are sound and will help them in their work.

I have a couple of clients who take this axiom pretty seriously, even to the point of not naming the underlying CRM software.

To their staff, it’s not “CiviCRM”, it’s just “the CRM” or “our CRM”.

I won’t say that you must do this, but I do agree that it removes needless technical detail from the list of things that compete for your staff users’ attention.

That’s a good thing. It allow them to remain focused on things that matter.

It’s not so hard to do, either:

1. Decide on a name your CRM. You can call it simply “CRM”, or come up with something unique to your organization like “XYZ Association CRM”.

2. Be consistent in referring to your CRM by this name: in emails, in conversation, in training.

3. Use CiviCRM’s own “Word Replacments” feature to replace the word “CiviCRM” with your own CRM name; this replacement will be applied everywhere within CiviCRM, so even CiviCRM will refer to itself by the name you’ve chosen for it.

4. Edit labels for CMS menus that link to CiviCRM, so that they refer to your chosen CRM name instead.

It’s a small step you can take to help your staff users be less concerned about tools, so they can be more focused on outcomes for your mission.

All the best,
A.

Trust issues

If I can convince you that your car's brakes are unreliable, you won't be very likely to drive it unless absolutely necessary.

If your home security system seems to misbehave in ways that you can't understand, you may not sleep so well at night.

That's because even the best system in the world will not be well used if the people who rely on it do not trust it.

This means that giving your staff a great CRM is not, all by itself, sufficient for them to work efficiently.

They must also develop a natural trust in the features of that system and the data they get from it.

So let’s ask:

What steps are you taking to inspire confidence in your systems among your staff?

What steps are you taking to ensure that you yourself can have an appropriate level of confidence in that system?

All the best,
A.

CiviCRM Doc Bot

Want some quick help with CiviCRM but don’t feel like poring over the documentation?

The CiviCRM Doc Bot is an AI assistant that’s been trained on the official CiviCRM documentation. It’s not too shabby, as AI bots go.

Give it a try at its live page here, or install the extension in your own CiviCRM instance (as usual: Administer > System Settings > Extensions >> Add New >> “Doc Bot”) for easy access via a dashlet in your CiviCRM dashboard.

I asked the CiviCRM Doc Bot: “Should I designate an in-house expert for CiviCRM?”, and it said:

Based on the information provided in the CiviCRM documentation, it can be beneficial to designate an in-house CiviCRM expert for your organization. Here are some key points:

• Familiarity with CiviCRM: The documentation states that "a coworker or consultant might be a place to start" if you are not already familiar with using CiviCRM. Having someone in-house who is experienced with the system can help onboard and train other staff.

• Configuration and Customization: The documentation mentions that after installing CiviCRM, you should review the initial configuration tasks to customize it for your organization. An in-house expert can take the lead on this setup and ongoing maintenance.

• Troubleshooting and Support: The documentation suggests talking to a CiviCRM consultant if you run into issues. Having someone internally who can provide first-line support and troubleshoot problems can be very helpful.

• Community Engagement: The documentation encourages users to be active in the CiviCRM community, such as on the CiviCRM StackExchange. An in-house expert can help facilitate this engagement.

The documentation states that "many organizations employ the services of a CiviCRM expert service provider" for tasks like upgrades. However, having someone internally who is the designated CiviCRM expert can complement this and provide ongoing support.

So in summary, the CiviCRM documentation suggests that designating an in-house CiviCRM expert is a good practice that can benefit your organization. This person can help with configuration, training, troubleshooting, and community engagement.

Like I said, not too shabby.

All the best,
A.

CiviCRM upgrade oddities: Joomla wierdness

If you’re not running CiviCRM under Joomla, you can skip this email.

But if you are, you should be aware of an oddity in CiviCRM upgrades that happens specifically under Joomla:

Sometimes the upgrade should have removed some old files, but it does not. This can lead to serious problems:

• An upgrade that can’t complete, requiring you to revert to backups.

• Unpredictable errors such as “file not found” and “Call to undefined method”.

Why is this an upgrade oddity?

The fix for this involves some tasks that non-technical site admins would probably want to avoid, such as one of these:

• Uninstalling and reinstalling CiviCRM. If done correctly, this won’t cause any loss of CiviCRM data, but will require a complete re-doing of your CiviCRM-related user permisisons in Joomla. Yuck.

• Manually identifying (er, how?) the files that should not exist, an then manually deleting them from your server. Double yuck.

Does this problem happen on every upgrade?

No, sometimes you’ll get lucky. But sometimes you won’t. And you won’t know until it happens.

It happens enough that it’s mentioned in the CiviCRM “Upgrade in Joomla” Documention:

… files from previous releases that are no longer required are not removed. Generally this is not a problem but it can cause failures. If this happens you can either … [essentially, the solutions I’ve mentioned above].

Is there an easy way around this?

Not really. You won’t know about it until it happens, and even then the solution is not always obvious. The “Upgrade in Joomla” docs encourage you to “Check on StackExhange or Chat to see if others are reporting the same problem,” which I think no-one would describe as “an easy way around this.”

What if this happens during your upgrade?

If you’re not a developer (and don’t want to become one), your best bet is to revert to your pre-upgrade backup and call in some professional help. An experienced CiviCRM expert can help you get it sorted out pretty easily, but it’s not a battle you’ll want to take on alone.

It’s something to keep in mind.

If your upgrade goes well, and your immediate post-upgrade testing goes well, then you can be reasonably confident that you’ve avoided this problem.

But if it does come up, be glad you have a designated in-house CiviCRM expert and a connection with an outside expert who can help you sort it out. (You do have both of those, right?)

All the best,
A.