Automate with your eyes open
Automation has been hailed as a game changer for productivity with the power to streamline and turbo charge repetitive tasks especially in administration. However, one small charity found itself in a nightmare scenario when its automated procedures started to break down and their whole system needed to migrate to a new platform. Hiring an expert would have been expensive and complex, so the charity turned to the Scottish Tech Army (STA) for help. Using its wide network of tech volunteers, the STA managed to match the charity with the right specialist who could diagnose, repair and update the system. Once again, the STA showed how important human connections and the generosity of volunteers are for enabling technology in the Third Sector.
MindMosaic Counselling and Therapy: A Vital Service in Inverclyde
MindMosaic Counselling and Therapy is a small charity based in Inverclyde that offers psychological support, primarily on a donation basis, but with paid counselling also available. All funds generated by paid counselling are reinvested in the charity to support others in Inverclyde who may not otherwise be able to pay for the quality of counselling they require. It provides a vital service to people in the area supporting more than 400 active clients at any given time. The charity had been using Microsoft Dynamics for the last two years including more than ten automated flows to handle its administrative tasks such as storing client data, scheduling sessions and sending out automated text messages to clients as reminders prior to their appointments.
However, updates and improvements to the platform made by Microsoft meant that MindMosaic's automated flows were starting to break down. The original contractor had not implemented any alerts or created any documentation, leaving MindMosaic largely in the dark as to what was happening or not happening within its system. To top it all, it was faced with having to migrate the whole system to an updated platform or face being locked out of all its data and admin procedures for good.
This is a challenge that hs to be borne in mind when implementing automation. Having to deal with a complex system which is beyond the skilled amateur to repair, means that a small organisation has to engage an expert without knowing how long the work may take or what it might cost; or worse still, be faced with a return to pen and paper and a loss of all data.
Scottish Tech Army Intervention: Connecting Human Expertise with Technology
This was the situation when Charles Burns from MindMosaic turned to the STA for help. Being able to reach out to the STA's core team and connect with someone who cared about their predicament made all the difference. It was clear that the charity needed a specialist for databases and Microsoft automation, who could diagnose the problems in the flows whilst working on a live system. Once again the STA's community of volunteers really came into its own and allowed it to match MindMosaic with a highly skilled expert, who was willing to support the charity on a pro bono basis.
A Collaborative Effort: Mayur and Charles Restoring System Functionality
Enter Mayur Yadav, who is head of data management in his day job. After an initial meeting between Charles and Mayur supported by the STA, Mayur quietly set to work in a methodical manner. He was very aware of the fact that MindMosaic was offering a vital service to vulnerable clients, which he did not want to disrupt any further. First, he backed up everything and checked where the existing system was failing. Also, he located updates for the existing elements, learned about MindMosaic's database tables and then planned how to migrate the whole system. The next step was to prioritise with Charles what needed to be fixed immediately. He also attended to system administration issues such as de-registering devices from staff that had left and signing up new devices.
His analysis of the existing flows involved writing lots of tests to pinpoint what was happening with data in the current system. The real skill was in untangling the system and changing it in a way that did not break the live system. Mayur and Charles went on to test new flows together; Charles inputting data at the front end of the system and Mayur checking what was happening to it at the back end in real-time. All of this took real expertise, patience and lots of time. Finally, Mayur implemented the new flows and migrated the whole system to the new platform. He created alerts so that the MindMosaic admin team would be notified if the system developed problems in the future. He also wrote documentation so that future problems could be addressed much more easily. His aim was to give the organisation the ability to control and monitor their own system.
For Mayur the work for MindMosaic was an interesting technical challenge and a change from the strategic role he has in his day job. He enjoyed volunteering using his technical expertise and being part of a community of like-minded individuals with the Scottish Tech Army. For MindMosaic Mayur's help was invaluable. It allowed them to repair and update their automated admin system without additional disruption or having to spend funds dedicated to supporting clients to pay for it. For the STA the team effort between Charles and Mayur is a real success story about what can be achieved by using technology and community to connect the right people.
MindMosaic Counselling and Therapy
MindMosaic is a charity providing counselling and therapy services to people in Inverclyde and beyond. It provides amongst other services high quality counselling and psychotherapy, trauma therapy, specialist child and adult survivor services, perinatal mental health services for families, and counselling training. MindMosaic currently receives no statutory funding and relies mainly on grants and income generation. Services are primarily on a donation basis, but with paid counselling also available.
