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Interview with Steve Hazzard
Steve is the Director of Information Services for Development, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. Interviewed on 10.04.99 by Michael Feagans.
4npo: Give me some information about your current system.
Steve: We have 60 plus users. In addition, we supply data to other parts of the university that may not be directly connected but they may request information about alum's.
4npo: What is your current hardware setup?
Steve: It's what is called a thin client environment, so everything from the client side, from the desktop is browser based. Everyone at Temple is connected to the web, all we need to do to roll out our system is make sure they have a browser on their computer. So in order to give them access to our system we just say point your browser to www.oursystem.edu. That works great and for us it's low maintenance. From the user perspective with the old style systems, pre-web systems, you had to go install software on everybody's computer.
On the primary system we have 3 servers running Microsoft NT. A server called the IIS which is the web based server, the front end for the web. We have a database server. And we are doing what is called replicating reporting as well. This replicated server is basically a copy of our database server and we do all of our reporting off of that. This balances the processing load so we are not doing data entry, reporting, and everything all on one server.
4npo: When you first came to Temple in the development office you were going to do an implementation of a new system. Is that correct?
Steve: Right, the reason for a roll-out of a new system was twofold. First and foremost it was a Y2K solution, because the old system was not Y2K compliant. And then the other side was to start adding more functionality. The old system was mainframe based and had outlived its usefulness. By putting this in as a Y2K solution we got to kill two birds with one stone, new systems, new hardware plus we get better functionality.
4npo: Now, what does the software do?
Steve: Our software is basically a development, advancement services system. It provides a tracking and stewardship system for philanthropy and people that donate to the university. We also have a component that we are currently implementing called Events, which manages our constituent events, another component of Development.
4npo: At any point during the software selection process was the staff involved in evaluating the software?
Steve: Absolutely. I wasn't involved with that but I was really impressed the way Temple did it. In developing the RFP they involved virtually all major areas within Temple and particularly within the department. For example we have a corporate and foundation department, we have a major gifts department, we have a telefund or a calling outreach department. They were all given responsibility to document their needs. This needs assessment was ultimately incorporated into the final RFP.
4npo: What's the next step?
Steve: You roll right up to the implementation. If you have good leadership and good oversight on the project, the committees that you worked with to develop the RFP are the same ones used for the implementation phase. If you developed a strong team with strong project management skills that team is responsible for implementing the system.
4npo: In the training did you find anything that was particularly difficult?
Steve: Implementations can go very well, very poorly or they can go on forever and ever. I've never done an implementation by the book. Often implementations have to be done using current staffing levels. Ideally you should overstaff so you can train people while you still keep the business going. In reality what often occurs is you still keep the business going with the same staff while teaching them a new computer system. So it often tends to be a compromise.
The biggest threat that I have found to a successful implementation from a training standpoint, is that people do not have the time to devote to learning a new system and getting the most out of it. It is a common constraint of businesses, and in particular non-profits because they don't have the kind of resources, where they can totally outsource what they are doing or double their staff while they do an implementation.
4npo: From planning to having a fully operational system, how long did it take?
Steve: Temple had been involved in vendor selection and just looking at a system probably for a year prior to my arrival. Once the vendor was selected, from our contract negotiation phase to our go live phase was just about a year.
4npo: What was the most difficult part of the entire process?
Steve: The most difficult and easiest for me as well was assembling the team and getting them to work together. It's really kind of amazing when you step back and look at a project like this, and realize how many different players there really were. And how everybody and all of these elements have to come together seamlessly. When we implemented our system we had to have new equipment that involved working with our purchasing department and our technical purchasing group. It involved re-cabling our offices. It involved changing some of the environmental components, like having our computer room air conditioned, that hadn't been done before. So there were a significant number of people that were involved in this project. Trying to coordinate them and trying to figure out who needs to be involved is probably one of the most difficult things to do. I've been fortunate enough to work with a lot of good people and it came together really well.
When your organization identifies an implementation like this as one of their major priorities it's amazing how well things can go. Conversely, I've worked in other environments where the effort has been half-hearted and the commitment from the organization is not really there and people within an organization do not clearly understand and internalize what the priorities are. When it comes to major capital expenditure projects, what makes or breaks your implementation, is the organizational committment and the people that you work with.
4npo: If you were to do it all over again is there anything you would do differently?
Steve: I've likened this implementation to the first of my career where all of the stars aligned. Everything sort of came together in this implementation. I had the right technical people. I had the right commitment. I had the right financial resources. Most of my other implementations one or the other components were missing. There is really not a lot I would do differently. This implementation was one of the most successful in my career. I think if I had to do some things over again there's not a lot I would change.
4npo: I just want to get an idea of what people do outside of work, are you a volunteer anywhere?
Steve: Yes, I volunteer at the New Jersey State Aquarium. I'm a scuba diver there. That's my way of giving back to the community but certainly I get a lot out of it. I think most people who volunteer it's a mutually beneficial situation. I volunteer at the aquarium every other weekend. Primarily we do an interactive show with the visitors to the aquarium. My other responsibilities include cleaning the tank and feeding the fish.
4npo: That's very interesting Steve. Thanks for doing the interview.
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