Care Data Systems takes big step forward with DataFlex

“Using DataFlex’s extensive mobile web framework, the development team were able to have this up and running in very little time and, most importantly, at a very acceptable development cost.”  Peter Bragg, Chief Systems Engineer, Care Data Systems

The Care Data Systems (CDS) team in the UK has reached the peak of an intensely busy two-year period with the release of its new donorflex software application to an excited client base in September 2017. Powered by DataFlex, the CRM and fundraising database software drives charities and not-for-profits across the British Isles, and has twice been voted Britain’s best charity CRM database supplier by the Institute of Fundraising, the UK charity sector’s representative body.

The newest release of donorflex has been shaped by two closely woven driving forces:

• The demand on CDS’s UK charity users to increase fundraising and deliver more services to their causes during challenging economic times, and
• The changing legal landscape, which requires UK charities to comply with tougher laws governing the use of supporters’ personal data

While the Birmingham-based organisation’s development team, led by Chief Systems Engineer Peter Bragg, has crafted client feature requests into the enhanced functionality that will underpin their mission-critical work for the years to come, the rest of the CDS team has systematically prepared users for the transition from the old to the new. That key task has involved:

• The relaunch of the donorflex website and a product rebranding to reflect the move to the new era, conducted in partnership with Data Access Europe, in Holland (read the blog)
• Two nine-date seasons of regional client events across the UK to keep excited users close to the development programme and the new system they’ll be using
• A two-day national donorflex User Conference, attended by 400 delegates, to unveil the new product
• Close engagement with key national UK bodies – such as the Institute of Fundraising and the Fundraising Regulator – as the new rules governing the way UK charities operate have been moulded

During this intense period, it’s also been business-as-usual for CDS supporting clients in their use of the existing donorflex product, which gives them the tools to plan, record and measure their supporters’ fundraising activities in areas like lottery and raffle management, committed giving, events, merchandise, legacies and the UK’s tax-efficient Gift Aid system.

The attention to detail that saw CDS’s support team scoop two accolades as the UK’s ’Best Charity CRM Database Supplier’ also resulted in them being named as the only database supplier shortlisted in the Institute of Fundraising’s 2016 ’Most committed supplier to the sector’ award.

So, the scene is set for an exciting 12 months to come – which also marks the start of Care Data Systems’ 30th anniversary celebrations.

“Crucial to the re-write of the new donorflex windows application has been the ability to expand its reach to offer fundraisers the ability to access and update core data from their mobile devices,” says Peter Bragg. “Using DataFlex’s extensive mobile web framework, the development team was able to have this up and running in very little time and, most importantly, at a very acceptable development cost.”

Read the Study in Fusing Technology with Design blog showing how the creative department at Data Access Europe embraced the challenge of increasing donorflex's market reach.

Read the previous story about donorflex’s award as “Britain’s Best Charity CRM Database Supplier.”