One of the first commissions for Morse Analytics was with a small organisation running children’s after-school and holiday sports clubs. At the time, the admin staff were struggling with work overload, as they were attempting to manage lists of children, schools, clubs and coaches on multiple separate spreadsheets. They needed a simple data management system, holding data in a single location, that was easy and efficient for staff to access and manage the information.
My approach
The initial solution was straightforward - a Microsoft Access database to hold the data, then a series of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to enable the staff to access and edit the data. As the organisation grew and its data management needs became more complex, I migrated the data to a dedicated MySQL server database, but kept the data management facilities within Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.
Once the core system was established, we then explored additional opportunities online. I developed a web-based application for coaches to manage their clubs remotely, enabling them to record children’s attendance. This was then connected to the coach payment system, and attendance data was used to produce leaderboards of top-performing children on the organisation’s website. Finally, in collaboration with the organisation’s web developer, we set up a club online booking system for parents that made the booking process significantly more efficient.
Practical application
The system is a good example of applying appropriate technologies, and, after ten years of the organisation’s growth, it remains fit for purpose. Although modern web development tools have been applied to create the online components, the core system management technology still comprises a database and a set of spreadsheets. Whilst there is a strong temptation to suggest that the core system should be upgraded to use the latest web technologies, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” certainly applies in this case.
The admin staff are now very familiar with the system, however I continue to have regular discussions about what they need from it. I have taken an incremental approach by adding only the features that the organisation needs at that time. Although it could be suggested that this could lead to inefficiencies, instead the result is an evolving system that exactly reflects the practices of the admin staff. New features can be implemented, learnt easily by staff, and tested quickly, meaning it operates very efficiently.
Reflections
The collaborative approach I took in discussions with admin staff meant that while the operations and capability of the organization has grown significantly, administrative costs could be kept low. Administrative efficiency is crucial to success in this industry, and this project proves that a large team of developers is not necessarily required to create a sizeable and complex management system, as long as that system evolves in line with the needs of the organization.