Introduction to This Page

Age : 20 Joined : 15 Mar 2008 Posts : 842

This page is here to assist the decision makers at an organization with the sometimes difficult task of deciding on a database to implement. There are many factors that influence the database organizations eventually adopt and implement. The following articles address these factors with a familiar and easy-to-understand tone. Most were written by experienced professionals in the nonprofit sector or by those who have worked with nonprofits.

There are stages in the database decision cycle that apply to any database, not just Metrix. The stages are:

Readiness Assessment stage - In this initial stage an organization needs to assess its resources (personnel, equipment, budget, etc.) to see if it can support making the transition from an old database to a new database, a paper-based system to a database, etc.
Requirements Gathering stage - In this stage an organization has to identify everything it will need from the database; reports, queries, standardized forms, record imports, its workflow incorporated into the interface, etc.
Evaluation stage - In this stage an organization identifies the databases from a list of candidates that best meet its needs.
Decision stage - In this stage an organization makes its final decision.
Some of the articles are listed in a specific stage but don't focus entirely on that topic. They touch upon other stages as well. For example, one may be listed in the Requirements Gathering stage but may review some content from the readiness Assessment Stage or list some material from the Evaluation Stage, etc.

Below you will find a preliminary list of links to relevant documents, mostly from TechSoup's knowledge base.

We also offer a Metrix product demonstration, which provides a demo of Metrix and addresses issues that arise when implementing a new database: readiness, costs, services, support, training, etc.