When UAB Advancement began its transition to a new customer relationship management (CRM) system, it was clear the process would require more than learning new software.
It would take a good bit of collaboration and strong leadership to guide teams through the change.
For Kimberly Burnett, Director of Gift and Records Administration (GRA), stepping into that leadership role for our first functional area workflow, has meant a good deal of learning on her end, as well as guiding her colleagues through building a CRM that will work for everyone. Burnett was chosen as the working group lead for the Bio Demo, Campaign, and Gift epics because of her subject matter expertise in these areas.
As the working group lead, Burnett helps coordinate teams as they evaluate how FRED will support Advancement's work in those functional areas. Her role includes documenting decisions and identifying where new system capabilities can streamline processes. She also has the daunting task of keeping daily GRA operations deliverables running on schedule.
One of her biggest responsibilities on the project has been organizing multiple weekly Teams meetings with Huron and UAB working groups, as well as organizing weekly unit testing sessions where staff from across Advancement test new processes to use in CRM before launch. In the testing sessions for these epics, team members may practice entering gifts, adjusting pledge payments, or creating an annual giving campaign plan into a test version of FRED. The team members provide feedback to Huron, our implementation partner, about how the new processes function and if any changes need to be made.
"When we're all together in these testing sessions, we have that collaborative brainpower," she said. "If one person doesn't remember something, somebody else does."
The testing sessions have also helped colleagues better understand one another's work. "People who normally wouldn't sit in a room together are working through these things side by side," Burnett said. "You're trying to understand their side, and they're trying to understand yours."
Leading the effort has also pushed Burnett outside her comfort zone as she learned how the complex data mapping and system conversions happen behind the scenes. "The learning curve has been huge," she said with a laugh.
Balancing the transition with her day-to-day responsibilities has required careful coordination, but Burnett is excited about what comes next. "I can't wait to see how much easier FRED is going to make our work," she said.
"It's a little bit of short-term pain for long-term gain,” Burnett said. “I think it's going to make things so much easier for us and so much more accurate. I’m really looking forward to FRED being around for good!"
