How to determine whether an organization’s technologies fit its data needs

Social impact organizations (SIOs) are increasingly relying on data-driven tools to organize their work and achieve their mission.  

However, in many cases these data tools are not being used optimally, creating frustrations amongst staff and stakeholders. When this occurs, the first thought is often to change tools. This guide is created to push back against that notion.  

The reality is the best tool is not necessarily one with the greatest functionality, the best user interface, or the highest customer ratings. The best tool is the one that fits your organization’s needs.  

This guide is designed to provide a framework for assessing whether your current data tools are meeting your organizational needs. And, whether the key challenges are based on the tools themselves or the staff’s use of them. 

Classify your current data tools by their function

An organization’s ‘data architecture’ consists of the tools that enable the flow of data through the organization. Every organization has a data architecture, no matter how complex or simple. 

In our experience, to understand whether a data tool fits your needs, you must first take a step back to visualize your overarching data architecture. By doing so you will have a better understanding of how these tools are connected to one another. 

In this first step, you will document your data architecture (i.e. the ensemble of your data tools) using a simple template we have created. You can see more detailed instructions on how to do this in the ‘Read First’ tab of the template, and in the video tutorial.

Document tool management attributes and relationships 

After placing each tool in its appropriate column within the Data Architecture tab, there are two key attributes of each tool to document:  

1. the level of management required to maintain the tool  
2. the tools’ interoperability with downstream tools within the process.  

For the level of management, the options include: self-managed, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). For tool interoperability, the focus is on automated or manual, which is essentially to indicate the level of human involvement needed to move from one column within the data architecture to the next.

Check out these definitions for a deeper understanding of these terms.   

Types of Data Tool Management Levels

• Self-managed: This model, often associated with the term on-premise or “on-prem”, refers to private data centers that companies maintain themselves, usually within their own spaces. This type of infrastructure can be used to run private clouds, where resources are virtualized similar to those of public clouds.
• IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service): This is when a third-party provider hosts servers, storage, and other virtualized computer resources and makes them available to customers over the internet. Examples include Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines.
• PaaS (Platform as a Service): This is when a third-party provider hosts application development platforms and tools on its own infrastructure and makes them available to customers over the Internet. Examples include Google App Engine and Microsoft Azure. 
   
• SaaS (Software as a Service): This is a software distribution model where a third-party provider hosts applications and makes them available to customers over the Internet. Examples include Google Sheets, Calendly, Microsoft Forms, etc.

Types of Interoperability: 

• Automated Connection: When two tools or applications are interoperable (i.e., they can talk to each other), without any human intervention in doing so
• Manual Connection: When two tools or applications require human intervention to talk to each other (i.e. you transfer the information)

Assess each tool based on the fit criteria 

Once you have entered your tools into the Data Architecture tab, you are now ready to move on to the Fit Assessment Tab. During this step, you will assess each tool individually based on a series of fit criteria.  

The fit criteria are here to help you dive deeper into determining what is, and isn’t, working for each tool. This level of detail is important in determining the appropriate next steps for ensuring your data tools are the best fit possible for your organization.  

Remember, depending on the complexity and size of the organization, the fit assessments could be handled by one person, by a committee, by surveys to a large group, or a number of other ways. For simplicity, we have focused on the assessment itself and how the process flows for one person, acknowledging each organization may handle this in different ways. 

Identify the key challenges for each tool 

Now that you have assessed your tools using the fit criteria, you can identify where your primary and secondary challenges occur. It could be the growing cost, lack of consistent team use, limited functionalities or even persistent security concerns. At this stage, details are important as they will help you articulate your concerns to your team or the tool’s support services.  

Use the notes column on the Fit Assessment tab to capture these details. While doing so we encourage you to think about the source of your challenges. For example, is the source of the challenge human or technology made? Could these challenges be addressed through professional development courses rather than changing a tool?

‘So what’ and next steps 

Through this guide you first mapped your data architecture to get an overview of the tools you use, and how they connect to one another. Then you assessed each one of these tools individually based on the fit criteria.  

Based on your assessment, you can now lead important conversations in your organization about how you can overcome the challenges you identified. This may include training key team members on the proper use of the tool or making clearer processes that can be scaled throughout your organization.  

And of course, if the challenges are linked to the technology itself, you can now use these fit criteria to select a new tool that will fit your organization’s needs.