StepUp Durham

StepUp Durham is a nonprofit organization that supports job seekers in economically and socially vulnerable situations, with services such as employment training, personalized job coaching, and employer referrals. It’s located in Durham, North Carolina.

Non-profit

The Challenge.

Prior to working with Tero by Nearsure, the nonprofit StepUp Durham utilized Salesforce extended with NPSP (NonProfit Success Pack), a solution that adapts Salesforce's data architecture to the needs of nonprofits. To learn more about NPSP and Salesforce options for nonprofits, you can read our article. With this setup, StepUp Durham registered job-seeking candidates comprehensively, collecting information about their social, educational, and legal history, while also maintaining a separate database for volunteers and donor management.

When StepUp Durham reached out to Tero by Nearsure, they had plans to migrate and centralize all their data stored in their existing Salesforce org into a new one with a refined data architecture. This would enable the implementation of new workflows, such as:

  • Calculating contact employability based on personality traits
  • Sending an email to contacts who unenroll from a program
  • Notifying staff of upcoming interviews

Before starting, the Tero by Nearsure team needed to fix an issue with data cleansing and deduplication. Due to a workflow misconfiguration, some Accounts and Contacts records were being duplicated. This needed to be addressed before the migration to ensure proper connections between records, and improve overall data quality.

The Solution.

Starting with an unrefined database presented quite the challenge for the Tero by Nearsure team. To address the workflow misconfiguration, the team set out to create a new data model, identify duplicates, and merge all the information into a single record. Both the Accounts and Contacts objects had duplicates, making it difficult to determine which cases were repeated. To solve this problem, the team utilized a third-party app from AppExchange, which traces potential duplicates by analyzing common traits such as matching Name, Address, Email, Mobile Phone, etc.

After receiving the third-party app results, the team verified the data and addressed cases that had been duplicated numerous times. Throughout this phase, the team worked closely with the client to develop advanced record classifications. This collaborative approach facilitated an organic workflow and ensured thorough data analysis.

It is famously challenging to migrate historical records from an old Salesforce org to a new one, especially when it involves changing record types. In this specific scenario, the Tero by Nearsure team did exactly that with the custom Program Enrollment object, which is commonly used to track people's work. Furthermore, the client was planning to have more record types in the new org than in the old one, so the team created new page layouts and modified existing ones to accommodate the changes.

When migrating historical records, it's important to have the right tools to get the job done. In StepUp Durham's migration, the Tero by Nearsure team used a combination of tools, including:

  • Data loader: used for extracting CSV files and bulk data migration.
  • Spreadsheets program: used for editing CSV files and VLOOKUP formulas.
  • Visual Studio Code: used for deploying metadata changes such as record types, layouts, and other customizations.

This combination of tools allowed the team to move their data efficiently and accurately, with minimal manual intervention. However, it's important to note that while tools can streamline the process, a successful migration still requires thorough planning, testing, and quality assurance to verify that all data is accurately transferred to the new system.

Ultimately, Tero by Nearsure's work for StepUp Durham solved a significant issue by centralizing and restructuring their CRM data architecture. By identifying and eliminating duplicate records, Tero by Nearsure improved their data quality. The migration to a new org with refined data architecture led the way to the implementation of new and optimized workflows. Tero by Nearsure's solution provided StepUp Durham with an updated data management system, streamlining their operations by reducing the frustrations of repeat and inconsistent records, and improving their ability to collaborate.

Highlights.

Data Migration

Data cleansing

Org Setup

SOLUTIONS

Technologies used

Salesforce
Salesforce
Sales Cloud
Sales Cloud
Nonprofit Success Pack
Nonprofit Success Pack

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