Six steps to mapping your digital infrastructure

Almost every charity uses digital technology in one form or another, and every charity should have a digital strategy – or at the very least be in the process of designing one.

 

This strategy can help inform planned changes to the way the charity operates.

 

But for a digital strategy to be successfully formulated and implemented, it is first necessary to have a complete picture of the charity as it is in the present. That means understanding the current organisational structure, culture, and staff skill sets, as well as the digital technology that is currently being used in the charity.

 

When it comes to understanding what digital technology is being used, how it is being used, and what business processes are using it, the best way to build up a picture is by mapping your digital infrastructure to your business processes – an exercise which is known as business process mapping.

 

 

Step 1: Identify your business processes

A business process can be defined as a collection of linked tasks or activities which all work towards accomplishing one goal. For a charity, these typically fall into three types:

• Operational processes which work towards service delivery, fundraising and other core activities
• Management process which include governance, staff and volunteer oversight, and budgetary oversight
• Support processes such as accounting, human resources, training, and technical support.

Each of these business processes can usually be subdivided into more specific processes. For example, human resources may be subdivided into payroll, time, holiday and absence tracking, human resource management and recruitment, and so on.

 

 

Step 2: List the digital applications that support each process

At first glance this step is much more straightforward, because many processes have their own dedicated digital application. This may take the form of a CRM for fundraising, a spreadsheet or accounting package for financial management, and a website for marketing.

 

But it is important to remember that many processes use multiple applications. Marketing, for example, may use the charity’s CRM and marketing automation software as well as a website. Some applications, such as email may be used in almost all business processes.

 

It’s also important to include digital services (such as cloud-based applications) into the mapping.

For medium-sized and larger charities, the best way to compile a software inventory is to use a software asset management (SAM) tool such as ManageEngine AssetExplorer or Emco Network Software Scanner.

 

 

Step 3: Add supporting details

 

To formulate and execute a digital strategy effectively it’s important to know details about each of the supporting applications.

 

A good way to do this is to add information to your application list that might include the application’s age and version, any dependencies (for example, it requires Windows 8 or earlier to run properly, or it requires a particular version of a linked database), details of any support contracts, new features or functionality which are on the product’s roadmap, and any notes on how well the product suits the charity or any notable features which are missing or are unavailable in other products.