Case Study

The Acorn Project Hawke’s Bay : Cloud Database

The Acorn Project Hawke’s Bay supports young people and families affected by cancer and required a better way to manage member information and reporting. DB Gurus delivered a cloud-based contact tracking system that improved data management, reporting accuracy, and operational efficiency for the charity.
The Acorn Project: Cloud Database DB Gurus
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Client
The Acorn Project Hawke's Bay
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Platform
Cloud Database
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Industry
Charity
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Services
Dashboard, Database, Reporting

Project Brief

At The Acorn Project Hawke’s Bay we strive to do everything we can to support, guide, grow, and empower young people and their family who have cancer in Hawke’s Bay. Regardless of what stage they are at, we provide young people in Hawke’s Bay with the chance to make informed choices around their decisions, and to live their lives with a sense of being valued, visible and heard.

Supporting young people, aged 12 to 24 years and their family, living with cancer, in Hawke’s Bay

The Solution Delivered

We created an online member contact tracking system which enabled the charity to be able to run multiple reports accurately and helped with funding.

Review

What was the project timescale?
It was a 3 month project – from initial prototype to a number of iterations until the “Go live” result.

What challenges have been faced along the way?

The project started with an idea, as it was all paper based to begin with and we worked with the team to understand what needed to be created to solve the problems they were having at the time. This entailed many emails of lists and images based on the prototype we had created and changed as the project expanded.

What were the successful aspects of the project? 
Getting an initial prototype built that made sense to us both. We were able to deliver a lot of information essentially on one screen, using tabs and a sub heading format, all the while keeping it as easy to use as possible.

What special or new features have been used? 
Various controls were used in this build from checkboxes, fixed and predictive dropdowns, number fields to list boxes.

 

Project Snapshot

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Business Need
The Acorn Project Hawke’s Bay needed a digital solution to replace paper-based processes and better manage member information, reporting, and funding requirements.
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Solution
DB Gurus developed a cloud-based member contact tracking system that centralised information and streamlined reporting.
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Technologies
Cloud Database, Contact Management System, Reporting Tools, Custom Forms & Data Capture.
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Duration
3-month project from initial prototype through to go-live and iterative enhancements.
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DB Gurus Services
Custom Database Development, Cloud Solutions, Contact Management Systems, Reporting Solutions, Support & Maintenance.
"When we set up our charity The Acorn Project Hawke’s Bay back in February 2019 we were struggling to find a database to suit our needs. Having worked for different organisation previously I knew all too well the ones that we didn’t want to use.Ideally we wanted to have a database built but we had no idea where to start and knew the hidden costs associated with so many companies would be beyond our reach.Based in New Zealand we thought our best option would be to use a company in the same country however we came across Ben from DB Gurus based in Australia and we instantly felt at ease. We asked many questions and shared the specifications we needed and Ben reassured us it could be done.Ben kept in touch regularly sending us trials so we could actually try out our options and see what the best fit was for us.What was reassuring was every step of the way we were given choices, there was no unexpected bills or added extras. Over the time as our needs changed, we made contact with Ben and the tweaks and changes were made without a problem.
The database we have is fantastic, easy to use, it collects all the data we need, runs reports at the touch of a key and our new staff member said “it is the most user friendly database she has ever used”, functionality is key and ensures everyone is happy to spend the time updating it and inputting the information.Ben and his team have been a call or email away whenever we have needed them, nothing is ever too much trouble, and their communication is exemplary even during lockdown.We cannot express our gratitude enough and would be more than happy to chat to anyone who is looking to use Ben and his team to build their database.What started off as an overwhelming project has resulted in increased productivity, great clarification and a business relationship we are keen to maintain as Ben and the team have been nothing but supportive and professional every step of the way. "
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