Success and reflections of software platform for New Zealand charity

Camp Quality is a charity that runs camps for children living with cancer around Aotearoa. Springtimesoft Consulting has recently built a software platform to facilitate key service delivery processes.

After the recent launch of the platform Perrin was asked some questions about the project by Camp Quality.

What have been the major challenges?

Eliciting organisational requirements. A project of this nature reaches into many aspects of an organisation’s policies and procedures. In order to make decisions or implement things quickly you often rely on these being known, in place or having been thought about prior. In this project, that wasn’t always the case. We’ve had to be willing to roll up our sleeves and provide consulting and discovery on aspects which aren’t necessarily directly related to the project but are dependencies of it.

Stakeholder and change management. This challenge is really centred around digital maturity within the organisation and how technology is used to deliver on mission, vision and strategy. Having a high representation of volunteers also means that the perception and understanding of technology amongst individuals can vary greatly. It’s brilliant to see the organisation and its people seeing the opportunities technology can bring and the recent project delivery is proof of this growing awareness and the effort being put into digital transformation.

From a technical perspective the nature of the project meant that component parts had to be built sequentially. In the end we had considerable time pressure to deliver this project for Summer Camp 2025 registrations opening. This technical delivery constraint proved to be a limitation in terms of the velocity we could achieve. In the end, we met the time frames although addressing feedback will be key to long term success.

Balancing being aspirational vs pragmatic. It’s easy to get off track or get carried away with the frilly bits. We’ve tried to keep things as simplistic as possible while also considering the future feasibility of roadmapped improvements. We’re really keen to keep working to prioritise feedback and make sure the system stays relevant to its users.

What have you enjoyed about this project, or the CQ community?

He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata he tangata he tangata! What is the most important thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is people!

It’s a joy working with great people doing this sort of mahi. This includes the Camp Quality National Office, Board and the regional volunteers.

Knowing that the system will support Camp Quality providing safe and fun filled camps for companions, tamariki/rangatahi who attend along with their whānau means a lot to us. I have lost close friends and family members to cancer, including my sister. Many of us have had our own difficult experiences with loved ones and/or personally and for this reason there is real purpose and meaning in this work.

We’ve really enjoyed the opportunity and time that has been afforded to us in exploring the deeper why behind the processes and requirements. Coming from a place where there was an existing system, it can be tempting to rebuild things based on how they always were. There is more work to be done on this but I think we’ve asked the right questions and made good decisions. The outcome is a solid system that can grow with the organisation.

And, how does building a database like this for a Nonprofit compare to commercial projects?

At Springtimesoft we’re interested in and experienced with social and environmental impact projects. For this reason we already work with many nonprofit organisations. For context, work of this nature has been a focus for us and now represents over 80% of our total business.

Regions are run by dedicated volunteers who have jobs and/or busy lives outside of their Camp Quality mahi. This means they’re not necessarily available 9 - 5 Monday- Friday. In a commercial environment we’d mostly be working with full time employees so there are obvious differences in how we’d engage. This is quite unique to Camp Quality and how we work together. We’ve had to adjust our engagement methodology and accommodate ‘after hours’ user interviews, meetings and training sessions.

Funding can be tough in the nonprofit space and this can put financial pressures onto projects. While budgets might be smaller we take that as a positive challenge and opportunity to focus on what’s important. So while there might be bigger budgets and profits to pursue in the commercial sector there aren’t always the social and environmental outcomes that we’re interested in.