I have said it before, check out how many staff members in your church are really using your church management system. The more people who use it, the more up-to-date and relevant the information is and will be. I am amazed at the lack of ownership of the data that some churches have concerning the information in their church management system. If the data is inaccurate, the information that comes out cannot be trusted and the reports become suspect.
The following is a very typical case study that we see repeats itself quite often. During the sales process, a prospect will be adamant about the high number of staff members who use their current church management system, usually one of the market leaders that is of the traditional client-server nature. However, during the discovery phase of the implementation process it becomes apparent that although nearly all of the staff have log-ins, most of them actually do not use the centralized system. Instead, other small databases or spreadsheets are created and are used to manage vital church information. The problem is that these ancillary systems contain the most relevant and current information about the congregants and is not shared by the entire staff.
Now I believe that the systems themselves are rarely to blame. Many times it is the lack of processes or the lack of discipline around the processes that are. However, if the entire church staff depends on the central database and not their spreadsheets for the information they need then the added ownership will rally everyone around improving the data quality. This is why easy access from anywhere and everywhere is so important -- in other words, a whole new way of seeing information!
Grace to you,
jhook