I am interested in learning how other higer ed institutions are using RE to capture CRM data that is linked to their economic development office or workforce training programs.

Ivy Tech is a large community college in Indiana and we have a large WED (Workforce and Economic Development) office state-wide.  They coordinate corporate contacts and workforce training throughout the state.  They are investigating what to use to track the companies they are involved with, the contacts, etc.  I didn't know if any other institution used RE for that type of purpose, which is outside of fundraising, but would certainly be CRM data.

Thanks in advance for advice and replies.

Teresa Goddard

Ivy Tech Community College

Indianapolis, IN

I don't work with CRM data, but here is a bit of insight to RE.  First, if you are only using it to record contact information then you will save money by finding a straight contact database.  If you will use RE both to record your contacts/organizations AND to record donations and donor information then it might really be worth it.

 RE allows you to build records and then link records as needed.  I gave a scenario below and for the sake of the example I assumed WED are specific students whose workforce training you need to track.

 Scenario:  Let's say you have Organization A and they have a dozen employees on their staff, each with their own contact information, professional titles, roles and responsibilities.  They can each have their own record and be linked to Org. A as staff or contacts or whatever you want.  Then WED workforce each have their own records and they are linked to Org A as WED.

You can also track WED specific jobs/ titles/ certificates/ date ranges, etc. with a number of options that come with the basic RE software.  There is also an optional Volunteer module in RE that is pre-set for recording Job Assignments, Time Sheets, Qualifications, availability, interests, special needs, etc.

Any gift made by Org A and its employees, or WED would be linked to their record as well.

you can also categorize records (constituency codes or attributes)  so you can group Organizations as Factory, School, Government, etc. and they can be labeled with as many categories as you see fit.

 hope this helps or someone with CRM experience sends a response!

Hi Teresa

We're just at the beginning of bringing our Corporate Training & Development Office data into RE as a way to centralize our contact management within our department (External Affairs)

We bought the Prospect module for that use but are in very early stages of implementation. I'd be interested to see where you take yours.

Janine

St. Lawrence College, Kingston, Ontario Canada