Case Study - Penny Brohn Cancer Care
Title: Supporting Business Growth
Quote
A lot has been achieved in the past year and many manual processes have been, or will shortly be automated. We now have a process by which all our contact information is merged on a central database, ensuring efficient and consistent communications and much reduced duplication of effort.
Company Background
Penny Brohn Cancer Care is a national cancer charity that provides complementary care, the Bristol Approach, to people affected by cancer. They work alongside medical treatment, helping to take the fear out of cancer by providing practical tools to improve the quality of life.
Business Challenge
Ormak was awarded the project on 30 January 2006; giving them a tight schedule to ensure that Penny Brohn Cancer Care (Bristol Cancer Help Centre as it was then) had the right computer software and processes in place for their move to new premises in November 2006. The scope of this project included the help line, educational courses, residential courses, daily cancer care therapies and the shop. The challenge was to find systems that supported all these business operations with a central customer database shared with a fundraising computer package. They also had to link to the Sage accounting system.
The solution
The Ormak approach was adopted, taking the project through a number of phases:
- Review of the business processes required to support the business, recommending restructuring where there were duplication of activities.
- Undertake a gap analysis reviewing the new requirements against the current systems used.
- Research the software available on the market and provide a shortlist for Penny Brohn Cancer Care to review.
- Arrange demonstrations of the software, using score sheets to compare the packages directly.
- Support Penny Brohn Cancer Care in implementing the agreed solution
The results
- There has been a large cultural shift in the Charity moving it from 'disjointed' administration processes to a structured organisation with the capacity for increased growth that is planned for the next few years.
- The Helpline and shop system were implemented on schedule
- The Booking system, covering all the courses and therapies run by the Charity, was delayed due to the complexity of the business requirements. However, this will be fully implemented by the end of February.