Computerizing your Animal Shelter

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Computerizing yourAnimal Shelter

• David R. Flagler

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Computers

• Computers make our lives easier and they offer
  us a whole new dimension of frustration too.
• David Flagler (10/9/03)

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Introduction

• The purpose of this presentation is to assist
  animal welfare organizations in the process of
  introducing computers to electronically track
  animals through their shelter.
• You will learn the steps necessary to select the
  right hardware and software for your shelter.
• You will learn steps to avoid disastrous data
  loss.

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Agenda

• Determine where you are in the software selection
  process.
• Choosing Animal Shelter Software.
• How to avoid data loss.
• Questions.

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Overview

• Computers are becoming an important element in
  our profession for tracking animals.
• The software you select will help you bring
  better service to your community.

Owners
Field Services
Dogs
Cats
Adoptions
Shelter
Lost Pets
Licensing
Reports
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Vocabulary

• During this presentation, I will attempt to
  define words that are not commonly used in our
  profession.
• In the event that I fail at defining a word,
  please raise your hand or give me a quizzical
  look.

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Where are you in the computerization process?

• Do you have a computer?
• What are you using it for?
• Are you currently looking for software?
• How is your search going?
• Are you currently using animal shelter management
  software?
• How is your software working for you?

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Choosing Animal Shelter Software

• Decide what you need
• Test various software products
• Check your vendors technical support

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You might be in one of these groups

• Not computerized but want to be.
• Computerized but you are not happy with your
  current software.
• Happily computerized but you want to expand the
  functionality of your software.

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Shopping for Animal Shelter Software

• Have you thought about your organizations needs?
• Do you know how to evaluate software?
• Do you know what to look for in a software
  vendor?
• Have you considered building your own software?

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Business Assessment Figuring out your
organizations needs

• Who are your stakeholders?
• One who has a share or an interest.
• What are your software requirements?
• Made in accordance with particular instructions
  or requirements custom-made.
• What are your constraints?
• That which restricts, limits, or
• regulates.

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Who are your stakeholders?

• Citizens
• Overseers
• Laws
• Board of Directors
• Other Jurisdictions
• Staff
• Animals
• Animal Welfare Community

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Discovering your requirements current and future

• What services do you provide to your
  stakeholders?
• What are your business processes?
• Hold Collaboration Meetings
• Review policies procedures
• Observe daily operations
• Develop User Scenarios
• Other Considerations
• New building
• Current software isnt working for you.

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What are your constraints?

• Budget
• How much do you have to spend?
• What will you spend it on?
• Time
• How much time to you have for startup?
• Staff
• How many staff members will be using the
  software?
• What will your staff need to use the software
  effectively?

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What do I do with the results?

• When you mix your stakeholders needs,
  requirements, and constraints you will begin
  developing a shopping list of features that you
  want.

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A Plan for Shopping

• Who should evaluate?
• Representative stakeholders
• IT Resource(s)
• How do you find the software vendors?
• Internet
• HSUS Publications
• Other shelters

• What should you get from them and how?
• Tools Marketing Info, Referrals, Documentation,
  Software, Other?
• How Self vs. RFP

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Evaluating software How do you do it?

• What should you consider as you evaluate the
  tools you have?
• Marketing Info
• Referrals
• Documentation
• Software

• How should you document what you find?
• ?

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Evaluating Marketing Info

• Examples
• Sales Presentations
• Literature
• Features / Functionality List

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Evaluating what others say

• Real-world feedback about software.

• Evaluation Tips
• Keep perspective
• Verify feedback
• Quantify feedback
• Go gardening!

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Evaluating Software Documentation

• Questions to answer during evaluation
• Did you need documentation to run the demo?
• Can you review it before purchasing?
• How in-depth is the it?
• How easy is it to understand?
• Are there typos or inconsistencies?
• What format is the documentation in?
• Can you customize the it?
• Is there help in the software? How easy is it to
  use? How detailed is it?

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Evaluating Demo Software

• Test driving the software
• Observation
• Interaction
• Unstructured
• Structured
• Documenting your trip
• Scenario results

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Evaluating software Self vs. Request for
Proposal (RFP)

• An invitation for providers of a product or
  service to bid on the right to supply that
  product or service to the individual or entity
  that issued the RFP. - Investorwords.com
• Another way to gather information
• Vendor does the leg work of answering the
  questions you pose.
• You still have work to do!

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Evaluating your requirements Discovering as
you go

• As you evaluate each software package, you may
  find
• Requirements you havent considered.
• Requirements that arent necessary.
• Requirements imposed by the software.
• Requirements you may need to revisit / rework.

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Evaluating your requirements Refining as you
go

• Discover!
• Categorize your needs wants.
• Quantify non-measurable items.
• Clarify vagueness.
• Prioritize
• Must Have
• Good to have
• Bell Whistle
• Dont need

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Evaluation Process Recap

• Who will evaluate?
• Who are the vendors?
• What will you evaluate?
• How will you evaluate?

• Evaluate Document
• Discover Refine Requirements

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Homestretch what else should you consider?

• Implementation What does it take to get the
  software installed and up and running at your
  shelter?
• Technical support Where will your staff turn to
  for help if something is not working?
• Training How will your staff learn to use the
  software?
• Vendor stability What should you know about the
  vendor behind the software?
• Research Development What does the future
  hold for the software?

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What will it take to implement the software at
your shelter?

• Does it take a rocket scientist to install and
  configure the software?
• Are you considering customizing the software to
  fit your requirements?
• Do you need a data conversion?
• Will the vendor work with you, or a third party,
  to achieve these?

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How would you rate the technical support?

• What are the qualifications of the technical
  support staff?
• When are they available? Days? Hours?
• Can you reach them by phone? Email? Instant
  messenger? Internet? Fax?
• Do they offer a toll-free number?
• Can they work remotely on your machines?
• Will they travel to your shelter if needed?

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How does your staff get trained?

• What is your training plan?
• Formal curriculum from a vendor?
• A shelter staff member assigned to provide it?
• Sink or swim read the manuals.
• If a vendor provides the training
• Is the curriculum comprehensive?
• Does the curriculum keep pace with software
  upgrades?
• Who are the trainers?
• How is the training delivered?

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What is included in the price?

• Software
• Implementation
• Technical Support
• Training
• Pricing strategies
• Flat fee
• User licenses
• Module based
• Duration based (lifetime vs. annual maintenance)

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What should you know about the software vendor?

• The company behind the software becomes a
  long-term partner to help you move forward in the
  next 5-10 years in implementing, using, and
  maintaining your animal shelter management
  system. Youre married to them for better or
  worse, so take the time to research them for the
  better.
• How long has the company been in existence?
• How long has the company produced the software?
• How many clients have installed their software?
• How many staff members do they have?
• How is their financial situation?
• Have they been able to deliver the product and
  upgrades on time with few problems?
• Have there been litigations involving the
  software product?
• What is their experience in animal sheltering and
  welfare?

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Lastly, does the software have a future?

• How does the vendor assure that software upgrades
  and enhancements keep pace with sheltering
  industry trends?
• What is their vision and strategic direction for
  the future?
• Do they have a RD budget?

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Build vs. Buy

• Why consider it?
• You think that it will exactly meet your needs
• You dont want to be at the whim of software
  vendor delivery dates or upgrade squeezes
• You believe that you can get it cheaper because
  you have a volunteer to do it
• Why avoid it?
• Software development projects often fail
• Engineering profession
• Extended requirements
• Extended testing
• Same vendor evaluation

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Proceed to Check-Out

• Its a lot of work, like everything else that you
  do, but if in the long run it helps your
  organization do the work that it does better,
  remember who benefits.

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Preventing data loss

• From corruption
• From loss of power
• From hardware failure

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Corrupt Data

• Viruses
• Anti-Virus Software
• Keep virus definitions up to date
• Run virus scan on a regular basis
• Power spikes
• Surge Protectors
• Uninterrupted Power Supplies (UPS)
• Provides adequate time to safely shut down your
  computer

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Power Loss

• Nothing is more worthless than a computer without
  power.
• Backup Systems
• Paper
• UPS
• Laptop Computer
• Dont put all of your faith into your computer!

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Hardware Failure

• Your hard drive crashed, now what?
• If you backed your data, you wouldnt be faced
  with years of lost data.
• BACKUP. BACKUP.BACKUP
• Backup your data files daily
• Backup your program files weekly
• Make sure your backups are working
• Periodically restore your backup files to insure
  that your backup system is working.

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Avoiding Hardware Crashes

• Mirrored Hard Drive
• Two or more hard drives copying the same data
• Consider putting these hard drive on separate
  controller cards
• Replicating Data
• Using an external hard drive to replicate data
  written to a specific computer folder.

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Backup Media

• Another Hard Drive
• Backup data to another computer on your network
• Floppy Disk
• Limited to 1.44 megabytes of data
• Easy to transport
• Cost 0.35
• Zip Disk
• 100, 250 750 megabyte size
• Cost 10

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Backup Media

• Jaz Disk
• 1 to 2 gigabytes
• About 100 per disk
• CD ROM
• 700 megabytes
• Cost about 0.65
• DVD
• 4.7 gigabytes
• Cost 1.35

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Backup Media

• Tape
• Up to 220 gigabytes (maybe more)
• Cost up to 100
• USB / Firewire External Hard Drive
• Up to 120 gigabytes
• Portable
• Flash Cards
• 16 megabytes to 2 gigabytes
• VERY portable

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Summary

• Select your software carefully
• BE PREPARED for data loss
• BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP

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Where to Get More Information

• Subscribe to the NACA News and watch for future
  articles on computers
• Take computer classes
• Make friends with a computer geek

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Questions?