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Sprint + Expansion

Nonprofit Salesforce: From spreadsheets to a governed system

Family services outreach — unified intake, privacy-safe notes, program outcomes, and grant-ready dashboards.

Start simple. Prove value. Then scale what works — without breaking privacy or reports.

~14 days
Baseline Salesforce live (Sprint)
6–8 wks
Expansion: flows, security, dashboards, migration
30% faster
Case processing • 0 report errors in audits

Where they started

A growing family-services nonprofit with multiple programs (Outreach, Care Coordination, Housing). Work lived in spreadsheets, email, and personal drives.

📝
Intake via paper/Google Forms/phone notes — scattered and inconsistent
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Duplicate entry into trackers to produce monthly/quarterly grant numbers
🔒
No role-based access — sensitive notes visible across programs
🎯
Different terms for the same concept (case vs. client vs. household)
⏳
Reporting delays — 2–3 days of manual work at month-end

What success needed to look like

✅
One guided intake that captures the right fields per program
✅
Standard language & validations to keep data clean
✅
Privacy by design — least-privilege access and clean audit trails
✅
Live dashboards by program and outcomes — exportable to grant formats
✅
Migration plan that preserves history and avoids “day-2” breakage

The Sprint (Weeks 1–2): Get out of spreadsheet land

We focused on one goal: a calm, reliable workflow that lets staff do outreach while the data takes care of itself.

Foundation & fast wins
🗂️
Unified model — Households, Clients, Programs, Services, and Cases; standardized picklists for channels, outcomes, and eligibility.
🧭
Guided intake flow — one screen sequence (eligibility → consent → needs → service) with skip logic; avoids duplicate entry and routes to the right queue.
🔐
Privacy by design — sensitive notes shielded via permission sets; managers see progress/outcomes without PHI/PII fields.
“Day-10 Demo” dashboards
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Program Outcomes — services delivered by program & channel, 30/90-day trend, funnel from referral → served.
⏱️
Intake Timeliness — referral age buckets, overdue flags, and queue balance by staff.
Admin guardrails & adoption
🛡️
Role & sharing — leadership vs. program tiers; field-level security on notes; restricted export for sensitive objects.
🧪
Validations — required consent on first touch, standardized outcome terms, and “reason for closure.”
📨
Comms basics — email templates, merge fields, and opt-out respect; quick text for standard follow-ups.
Success criteria (checked)
✅
Staff completes intake in under 3 minutes; no duplicate records; dashboards refresh automatically.

The Expansion (Weeks 3–10): Scale without chaos

With the foundation working, we layered in automation, security hardening, deeper reporting, and a full migration — turning the org into a governed system the team could grow on.

Buildout & automation
🧩
Programs & Services — templates, service units, and outcome mappings; record types + layouts per program.
⚙️
Record-triggered flows — case stage automation, overdue nudges, service caps, and risk alerts.
🧷
Referrals & waitlist — queueing rules, SLA timers, and assignment notifications.
✉️
Comms pack — email templates, merge fields, and opt-out handling.
🧹
Data quality jobs — nightly jobs to flag dupes/incomplete records with review queues.
Security & compliance
🏛️
Role hierarchy — by program and leadership tiers; sensitive fields shielded.
🔑
Permission sets — for special actions (export, merge, report build).
🗂️
Field history & audit — on key objects; compliant retention windows.
Reporting, migration & adoption
📊
Dashboards v2 — outcomes over time, program comparisons, funnel drop-offs, equity slices.
📦
Grant exports — one-click CSV/PDF with definitions; versioned “board packet.”
🛰️
Data migration — 3-year history normalized with Power Query; deduped Households/Clients; backfilled lookups.
Governance & adoption
🚦
Admin runbook — change control, deployments, and a sandbox workflow.
🎓
Training — 2× staff cohorts + leads workshop; in-app help text and tip banners.
🗓️
30/60/90 metrics — monthly data reviews and backlog grooming.

Built from the Ground Up

Behind the scenes: the intake flow and data model that make the numbers trustworthy.

Salesforce-like intake flow screens and entity diagram side-by-side
Guided intake with skip logic + a clean Household/Client model means less rework and cleaner reporting.
Outcome mapping and standardized picklists visible on a dark UI
Standardized outcomes + picklists keep cross-program language consistent.

Visual Showcase

Representative frames from the system. We favor screens and totals — not PII.

Board presentation with outcomes dashboard on a large screen
Board-ready: outcomes over time, funnel drop-offs, and equity slices in one view.
Slide 1 of 3

The impact

⏱️
Less admin, more outreach
Guided flows cut duplicate entry and intake back-and-forth; staff completes intake in minutes.
🔒
Privacy by design
Sensitive notes stay protected (field-level security + restricted exports) without blocking leadership dashboards.
📈
Grant-ready dashboards
Metrics that used to take days now export in minutes; a versioned board packet is a single click.
🧠
Shared language
Standardized picklists and validations keep data clean across programs and cohorts.

Tools

🧰
Salesforce (core objects, Flow, sharing & security) · Power Query for migration · Light Excel for data prep.

Want a calm, governed Salesforce org that staff actually loves?

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