Audience: All Volunteers, Headquarters Staff & Contractors
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of the SCORE Engage Product FAQ is to provide information regarding the most frequently asked questions about Engage and its features.
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In this article:
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GENERAL QUESTIONS
Q. What is SCORE Engage?
SCORE Engage is our brand-new customer relationship management (CRM) system based on Salesforce that will be fully implemented by the end of 2021 in all SCORE chapters. SCORE Engage will support chapters in managing all relationships and interactions with clients and volunteers. It replaces the legacy, custom-built system called CORE.
Q. What is CORE?
CORE is the old client management system that is being replaced by SCORE Engage.
Q. What made SCORE decide on Salesforce? What other solutions did you look at?
Salesforce has many features and functions out of the box that meets SCORE's needs without too much customization. Based on the requirements we had, we looked at several different solutions. The only system that met all our needs was Salesforce.
CORE is a custom-built system based on outdated technology and is no longer a sustainable option for SCORE. Moving to Salesforce places SCORE back within the technology mainstream—and represents a stronger and significantly less risky option for an organization like SCORE.
Q. What about the last time Salesforce was implemented then immediately rolled back (2011)?
Salesforce was never the problem. We made errors in execution and in rushing its implementation. We've learned from our mistakes in the past and have a great team in place for this project—and we will not rush timelines in ways that jeopardize the viability of SCORE Engage.
Q. What does “MVP1” stand for?
In the context of building SCORE Engage, “MVP” stands for “minimum viable product”— a product with just enough features to satisfy early customers and to provide feedback for future product development. The initial build of SCORE Engage is referred to as “MVP1.”
Q. What areas of the business process are supported by SCORE Engage, and what are these “journeys” I hear about Engage supporting?
SCORE Engage is designed to support three constituent journeys: the volunteer journey, client mentoring journey, and event journey.
Q. To what extent has Engage been tested in real chapters?
By the time broad roll-out to the field begins in May 2020, we will have thoroughly tested all functionality: internally at SCORE HQ, with Early Adopter leaders (representing 10 chapters from various regions and of various sizes), and with all chapter members from Early Adopter chapters.
Q. What are the Early Adopters (EAs) and how were they selected?
The Early Adopters are a group of 10 chapters that have helped refine requirements for SCORE Engage and reviewed/tested the system functionality as it was being designed and developed. These chapters will also be the first to receive SCORE Engage and will provide critical feedback to inform the Engage product and the roll-out process.
The EA group was created in this fashion: The Vice President of Field Operations reached out to Regional Vice Presidents (RVPs) and District Directors (DDs) asking if they had anyone in their respective chapters that they thought might be interested in participating. From this list, the Change Management Task Force (CMTF) created an EA group representing all regions, all chapter sizes, and a variety of different roles/positions within the chapters—to ensure a comprehensive view of all different users and experiences within the system. This group also represents varying levels of experience with technology (they are not all “super users”.)
Q. Why are SCORE’s business processes changing?
There are many reasons for the changes. These include standardization, Small Business Administration (SBA) requirements, and improved efficiency. Ultimately, we want SCORE Engage to help you help clients and volunteers. We have involved the Early Adopter group to make sure the decisions make sense for the good of the organization and making sure SCORE can serve the needs of our clients in the future.
You can view this webinar highlighting the highest impact business and policy changes coming with Engage.
Q. Can the business processes be altered after SCORE Engage launches, in order to imitate our Chapter’s processes?
SCORE Engage is a vital part of our One SCORE strategic initiative, which seeks to standardize field operation processes according to SBA requirements, best practices from across the industry, and best practices employed by SCORE’s most successful chapters. Therefore, while Engage provides some flexibility for chapters to operate according to their own preferences, the system will not be adjusted to meet individual chapter needs.
However, we strongly encourage you to submit feature requests using the support request form at help.score.org. Where broad consensus emerges around a particular need, new features may be developed for future versions of Engage.
Q. Once our chapter rolls on to SCORE Engage, do we lose access to CORE entirely?
Yes. All members of your chapter will lose the ability to log into CORE. You will retain access to BIRT reports and to historic client data via SCORE Engage. One week prior to your chapter’s roll-on date, we will conduct a Chapter Data Migration & Configuration session to explain this transition.
Q. Can we gain access to the sandbox early?
The sandbox will only be available in 6 weeks prior to your roll-on date in order for the Engage team to manage capacity and efficiently assist with questions. Too many users in the sandbox at once will lead to an overflow of test data that could disrupt the environment and negatively impact the user experience. The Help Desk is still in the process of being trained and staffed for launch. Also within the month before you roll-on, live journey orientation demos from within Engage will be presented. Anyone from your chapter can attend these and ask questions live. The dates for these have not yet been set.
Until then, please familiarize yourself with the roll-out orientation materials and knowledgebase articles available on the Support Center right now. There are some screenshots of Engage within last year’s NLC presentations as well as this general Introduction to SCORE Engage presentation.
Q. Will there be a quick-link to the Engage login page?
All users will receive an email to their @scorevolunteer.org address with the login link on the day their chapter goes live. The email will also include a reminder that the user must be logged into their SVO account for the link to work.
CORE logins will be deactivated the night before to ensure that our developers have time to complete one more data sync from CORE to Engage.
Q. What about _______ (insert FAQ/complaint about CORE)?
Everything that was identified as a bug or serious process problem within CORE has been fixed within SCORE Engage. For example, SCORE Engage is designed so that duplicate mentor requests will be flagged and reconciled in the system as one mentoring request. (Instead of chapters having to manage two or more system-generated duplicates, as happens in CORE.)
Q. Will SCORE Engage be mobile-friendly (tablets, smartphones, etc.)?
Yes, the system is designed to be fully responsive for modern mobile devices (may not work well with very outdated mobile browsers).
FEATURES
Volunteer Journey
Q. Is the Volunteer Center changing with Engage?
Yes, prior to the launch we are migrating all content from the old version of the Volunteer Center to the Support Center at help.score.org. This will create a single collection of all SCORE operational and training material, that may be easily browsed and searched.
Q. How does SCORE Engage improve process automation for volunteers?
SCORE Engage is designed based on best practices and what successful chapters are doing. Improved features across all process areas will help standardize and streamline operations.
One area of improvement is notifications: some notifications that volunteers previously had to send manually will now be automated—for example, confirmation event emails to a workshop attendee, or a reminder to yourself to reach out to provisional volunteer you're coaching.
Q. How will volunteers’ skills be tracked in Engage?
The areas of expertise and industry experience fields will still exist, and additionally, the volunteer can list their subject matter expertise in an open-text field which will be searchable in Engage by other volunteers.
Q. Will there be a way to put a provisional volunteer on hold for a period of time?
Yes, the Volunteer Intake Coordinator or Coach assigned to that provisional volunteer can delay marking items that have to be manually updated as complete extend the 90-day provisional period an additional 60 or 90 days.
Q. My chapter has additional requirements for onboarding a provisional volunteer. How will that be tracked within Engage?
The Coach will have to track those additional requirements outside of the Engage system.
Q. Will provisional volunteers be able to see session notes or the coach’s notes?
They can see the Coach’s notes and they can see session notes for cases where they have been added as a team member/co-mentor.
Q. Will SCORE Engage offer chapters and volunteers an improved ability to see the impact of their efforts?
For MVP1, SCORE Engage will provide chapters better ability to follow engagement during the volunteer onboarding process. Volunteers will better be able to see how clients are engaging with SCORE through mentoring sessions and event participation.
All performance data will still be reported through BIRT, which will merge data from both CORE and SCORE Engage (including NPS data). Future iterations of SCORE Engage (beyond MVP1) will include enhanced dashboards and reporting that will either supplement or replace the BIRT reports and may include client engagement survey information.
Q. Do chapter administrators have a different login under Engage?
No, the chapter admin will not have any specific login credentials like what exists in CORE. In Engage, we have broken up the chapter admin role into a few different positions such as Volunteer Intake Coordinator, Client Intake Coordinator, and Chapter Manager. Multiple people can hold the same position.
Event Journey
Q. What information is captured on the event registration form?
Required fields are: First and Last Name, Email, Zip code, and Phone number. Additional fields are ‘How did you hear about SCORE’, Would you like to sign up for newsletters, Did you start a business, If yes to that, then additional fields appear asking the industry and name of their business.
Q. What happens when events are co-sponsored with another organization, like a Chamber of Commerce, and our partner does not want to share their attendee list?
You can still promote your event on the SCORE.org website, but in order to receive credit for the event, attendee information must be entered. For each unique event participant, you must collect their first name, last name, email address, phone number, and zip code. This is an SBA requirement.
Q. Will we be able to upload file lists of event registrations?
The first version of Engage does not have a mass upload feature, however, this is on our list of enhancements for future versions.
Q. How are walk-ins, who did not register, going to be handled during event processes?
There will be a form within SCORE Engage to register walk-ins at the event—and the system will note that the person as a walk-in.
Q. Is it possible to check-in clients manually against the event registration list and then update the information later in Engage?
Yes, any clients that do not check themselves in (via the QR code on their registration confirmation) are able to be updated manually by the Event Manager from ‘registered’ to ‘attended’ or marked as a ‘no-show’. This process can be done individually or in bulk.
Q. Can we offer early bird discount codes for events?
For MVP1 (the first version of SCORE Engage), a maximum of 3 unique discount codes can be applied to each event. These discount codes can be set to expire on a certain date.
Q. Can chapters collect cash payments for events?
No, chapters cannot accept cash as it is a violation of our internal control policy. If cash is offered for payment at an event, it should be declined. If cash is the event participant’s only means of payment, the chapter has the discretion to allow the participant to attend the event for free but inform them that for future events we will only accept credit cards and checks.
Q. Will the system provide a mobile-friendly (smartphones, tablets) interface for registering and checking in event attendees?
Yes, there are interfaces for these functions within SCORE Engage, and yes, they are mobile-friendly.
Q. Will we need multiple devices (laptops, smartphones, or tablets) to check people in at workshops?
You can use a single device or multiple devices, depending on your needs.
Q. How do we enter guest speakers and presenters in Engage?
The Event Manager will be able to add the non-SCORE presenter to the event record in SCORE Engage, and the information will be displayed on the event page on the website.
Q. Will we be using Eventbrite to create events and manage registration?
No, Engage will be the comprehensive one-stop-shop for creating, managing, and completing your events.
Q. Is Constant Contact going to be eliminated and replaced with Engage?
No, you will still use Constant Contact for email marketing.
Q. How can we add our attendee list to Constant Contact?
There is a simple pre-checked box in the event record that automatically enables all event registrants to be added to a contact list in Constant Contact. A Constant Contact contact list will be created in the chapter’s account for each event that is published in Engage and has the Constant Contact sync box checked. When someone registers for the event, they will be automatically added as a contact on that list. The information passed are the following: the registrant's name, email, and zip code.
Q. Why do we have to collect the emails of workshop attendees?
It is a requirement of the SBA to obtain the client’s individual information in order to receive credit and calculate unique totals.
Q. How will events be linked to the website?
There is a simple checkbox on the event record in Engage that is automatically checked so that the event shows on the chapter and national website. You can uncheck this box if you wish for the event to remain private or invitation only.
Q. How will event surveys be captured and collected in Engage?
Surveys will be automatically sent to all event attendees after the event. The evaluations will be collected in Engage and housed on the event record. You will be able to drill down into individual responses. The customization of event surveys is not included in the first version of Engage.
Q. Is there any way to make the email surveys an option for those chapters who prefer to collect feedback in real-time at the event?
SCORE HQ considered when designing and developing the new system that emailing post-event surveys would likely result in a significantly lower response rate and are prepared to see this reflected in future data.
Q. Can the Workshop Presenter give the audience a URL and ask them to complete the feedback form in real-time at the end of the workshop?
We are not able to provide a generic link for the Event Survey that can be shared with all registrants. The URL for the Event Survey is unique for each registrant, so we know who the person completing the survey is.
Q. Are we required to email the workshop survey?
Yes, the survey must be sent from Engage either 1 hour, 24 hours or 48 hours after the event has taken place. This is done automatically. This field is required, and the survey timing cannot be customized for MVP 1.
Q. What is the process for integrating the Constant Contact registration data into ENGAGE?
Chapters should continue to use Constant Contact until they are live in SCORE Engage. The HQ Engage team will work with you as that date approaches to gather the names and dates of events occurring near, on, and up to 3 months after the transition date. We will put them into Engage for you so that you can easily begin managing events from inside of Engage on day one. This includes any registrants that may already be attached to those events.
Client Mentoring Journey
Q. Will clients that have not had any activity in longer than 1 year be migrated to the new system?
When a client is added in Engage that already exists in CORE but does not have sessions after October 1, 2019, a historical ID will be added so we are able to link the two systems. All historical information will still be accessible through reports even if it was not migrated into Engage. This includes a client activity report with all historical sessions for a client.
Q. Will there be a way to flag clients that repeatedly are session no-shows or same-day cancellations?
Yes, you can mark this in Engage and there will be reports that you can run to view this information.
Q. How will the Client Intake Coordinator be able to monitor: Clients Not Yet Contacted and Clients not yet Counseled?
There is a list view that has mentoring assigned and not yet counseled. There will also be a report available that shows this same information. For not yet contacted – contact attempts will be able to be recorded. You will also have access to the same not yet counseled report that you currently have in core.
Q. Has the mentor session data recording process changed?
In general, the process has not changed—you will still answer the same questions as required by the SBA. However, you will now be able to add co-mentors from outside your chapter so that they can receive credit for their contribution. The layout of the session entry form has also been updated to guide you through the steps to create the session rather than displaying all of the fields at once.
Q. Will non-session notes and close-out notes go away with Engage?
Yes, non-session notes and close-out sessions will go away in Engage. Sessions will only be created to record mentoring with a client. Notes can be added to all types of records in Engage, including clients, mentoring requests, and volunteer profiles. Mentoring requests are closed out by changing the status of the request (i.e. unable to contact, withdrawn, no-show, etc.).
Q. How will the enhanced mentor-match process work?
In SCORE Engage, clients will be able to search for mentors by keywords or search the nearest SCORE chapter. Improved data for industries and experience will help make sure a client is directed to the right mentor on the first try.
Q. Will there be a quantitative way to track where clients are in their business?
SCORE Engage allows tracking when a client’s business started, and if the client closed one business and started another one. In MVP1, you will not be able to tag a business by the business stage they are in, but this is something we have added to the list of possible future enhancements.
Q. How will a mentor be able to contact another mentor for their subject matter expertise?
You are able to search by keyword for mentors and subject matter experts (SME) across the country. There will be a link on the volunteer’s profile that allows you to email them directly.
Q. Can a client be referred to another mentor?
SCORE Engage allows a mentor to refer a client they are working with to another mentor that may be better able to assist that client with a specific question. The referral can be to any SCORE mentor. The mentor receiving the referral can accept or decline the client referral.
Q. How do mentors manage their availability to receive mentoring request assignments?
Individual mentors can mark themselves as unavailable from accepting direct client requests. If they are not able or willing to mentor clients, volunteers should not have a Mentor as their classification. Or they could ask that their status be updated to Inactive for a short period of time by the Chapter Manager.
Q. Will Engage send automated email notifications to clients, such as the session notes?
When you enter your session notes in Engage, there is a checkbox that will allow you to send your notes to the client as an email. Additionally, you can attach documents to the client record containing your notes. There will be automatic email and text notifications related to mentoring appointments and event registration.
Q. What will be the unique identifier for clients?
We are using a combination of first name, last name, and email address to determine if a client is already in the system or not. Clients may still have multiple email addresses, but we are able to merge them and their related records together.
Q. Will I be able to merge client mentoring requests together?
Records can be merged in Engage; this must be performed at the Headquarters level. All merge requests should be sent to the Help Desk (help@score.org).
Q. Will clients be able to select a mentor outside of their zip code?
Not for face to face mentoring, but yes for other types of mentoring (email, video, etc.) where the mentor has made their profile visible and has elected to accept direct requests from clients.
Q. Can Client Intake Coordinators be branch-specific?
Client Intake Coordinators will receive notifications for all chapter mentoring requests, not just those specific to their branch. They should view their chapter’s client intake queue in Engage and take ownership of the ones that fall within their branch. Then, they can assign those mentoring requests to the appropriate mentors. We may be able to add sorting by branch locations as an option in the future.
Q. Is email mentoring going away with SCORE Engage?
In its current format, yes, email mentoring is going away. In SCORE Engage, clients can still request to be mentored via email and mentors can still enter in emails sent to clients to be counted as sessions. There will still be escalations if a request is not accepted or declined within certain time parameters or if there is no contact with the client once accepted. However, unlike CORE, an unresponsive mentor is not put on vacation mode and the client is not automatically reassigned after 48 hours.
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