Customer story · Lehigh University
Immediate access to current advancement data with Argos
Lehigh University’s Advancement Office moved from SQL, Access, and Oracle Reports to Argos, and now runs a one-stop package of reports, dashboards, and scheduled emails that covers 90% of its officers’ daily needs.
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Private university
Argos
- 80% of the day backScheduled reports gave staff back 80% of their day.
- Data staff trustEnforced business rules keep data accurate and build confidence in it.
- 90% of daily needs, coveredOne package of reports covers 90% of Advancement Officers’ daily needs.
Lehigh University at a glance
1865
Founded
7,000+
Students
650+
Faculty and staff
90
Undergraduate programs
40
Graduate programs
01
The challenge
Good data, too late to matter
Quick and consistent access to data is key to the success of Lehigh University’s Advancement Office. But with multiple applications in use, including pure SQL, Access, and Oracle Reports, getting information quickly was difficult.
Too many tools
Pure SQL, Access, and Oracle Reports, each its own route to the data.
IT-only reporting
Creating reports required a technical skillset, limiting the task to IT.
Outdated on arrival
The time-consuming process often left reports out of date, and so unnecessary.
The Advancement Office staff wanted a user-friendly reporting solution that gave real-time access to data. The search began for one product that would meet all of their needs at a cost-effective price.
02
The solution
A 360-degree view of every constituent
Lehigh chose Argos, the Enterprise Reporting Solution from Evisions, to improve both access to Advancement data and the quality of that data. Argos is now used in many more ways than Lehigh originally anticipated.
Argos provides a customer relationship management system (CRM) with tactical and detailed reports and a 360-degree view of the constituent base. It includes a prospect finder, the ability to enter call reports, online and pre-formatted donor profile reports, and dashboards customized to each Advancement Officer.
Dashboards give immediate, at-a-glance views with drill-down into progress toward donation goals, the pipeline, and more. The data is detailed down to food allergies, t-shirt sizes, and children’s names, allowing personalized interactions with prospective givers and alumni. Officers can also track giving history, activity history, how first contact was made, and next required steps.
“Argos helps me keep the pulse of my many volunteer groups. It provides me a user-friendly interface, that allows me to search on just about any question I have as I deal with over 1,000 volunteers.”
Jessi Schimmel · Associate Director, Alumni Association
Accurate data, enforced at entry
Argos also enforces Lehigh’s business rules by ensuring accurate data entry, which eliminates the cumbersome task of reviewing each newly entered field. The safeguard keeps data clear and accurate, saving time and giving staff confidence in the information they’re using.
| Before | With Argos |
|---|---|
| Call reports researched manually, one at a time | Information available with the simple click of a button |
| Data requests filled by IT staff | Advancement Officers access any information right when it is needed |
| Reports extracted, formatted, and emailed by hand | 40 tailored reports scheduled and emailed campus wide every week |
| Each newly entered field reviewed by hand | Business rules enforced at data entry |
“
The Argos platform has allowed us to pull, synthesize and analyze data in ways only dreamed of in previous years. Our successful achievement of yearly stretch goals and our strategies for increased participation are directly related to our use of Argos.
Bob Wolfenden · AVP for Alumni Relations and Annual Giving, Lehigh University
03
The results
More strategic, more proactive, 80% of the day back
Lehigh’s approach in Advancement is more strategic and proactive now than ever before. In just two years with Argos, Lehigh has accomplished more toward its goals than with its prior reporting software.
Daily staff time savings of 80% have come from the Scheduling and Delivery feature. Lehigh automatically emails tailored reports, such as gifts entered each day, personalized reminders, call reminders, and prospect lists, with no more manual extracting, formatting, and emailing.
With Argos, Lehigh makes data-driven decisions with precise analysis of donation trends, key initiatives toward goals, proper donor identification, and charitable commitment funnels. The quality of donor information has been greatly improved, and officers now know who the ideal donors are to contact.
80% of the day back
Scheduling and Delivery saves staff 80% of their daily time.
90% of daily needs
One package of reports is a one-stop shop for officers.
40 reports, every week
Scheduled reports go out campus wide by email weekly.
Confidence in the data
Enforced business rules keep entries clear and accurate.
The right donors
Officers now know who the ideal donors are to contact.
Data-driven decisions
Precise analysis of donation trends and commitment funnels.
“
Argos assists me in monitoring staff performance and gift processing entry. We have been able to reduce the amount of paper previously used by our department now that Argos reports are emailed to our respective areas. And we are able to proactively enhance our matching gift program by using Argos to report on various employment and giving parameters.
Karen A. Sims
Director of Information Processing
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