The SmartSimple Blog

For this month's upgrade, we focused on making the system configuration more efficient and simplified. We also provided functionality to enable you to become more GDPR-compliant. Below is a summary of these exciting updates. For a full list of our upgrades, visit our Wiki . MAY 2018 UPGRADE HIGHLIGHTS _________________________________________________ Policies, Regulations, and Privacy Personal Data Fields Permissioned users can now identify custom fields as personal data fields. That means, as end users enter their data into your system, a message will be displayed informing them why specific information is being collected, Users will also be able to access a summary of this information, providing complete transparency. Privacy Policies and Agreements on Sign-up Pages Another feature to enhance transparency is the added ability to view your privacy policies and agreements directly on your sign-up pages. Registrants can now consent to your terms of

SmartSimple Product Business Analyst, Sharon Courtney guest writes about the intersection of technology meeting empathy and how support plays a critical role. Where do technology and empathy meet? How do you build a culture of trust using software solutions with your clients? We’ll be discussing how we use this question as a driving and guiding force in how we approach our support services. At our core,  SmartSimple  is a software company that creates technological solutions for human connection. An innate part of our DNA is to build relationships with the clients we collaborate with — to bridge technology in a dynamic, empathetic world. To understand this, we first have to examine what both technology and empathy mean to us. Empathy can take two forms: cognitive and effective. Cognitive empathy, also known as perspective taking, can include the ability to sense the emotions of others, imagine what they may be thinking or feeling. From a support perspective, affectiv

Are your website forms GDPR-compliant? Make sure your data collection processes are ready for the upcoming EU legislation with this checklist. The  General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)  is fast-approaching on May 25, 2018, and it’s imperative to make sure all of your services and processes are compliant. If you haven’t heard about the GDPR yet,  get acquainted here  and see if and how you are affected by the new legislation. Your web page forms are usually the first point of contact and the place where most personal data is collected. Therefore, it’s vital that web page forms are GDPR-compliant every step of the of the way from collection to reporting. We’ve created a checklist of best practices to help you make your website forms GDPR-compliant. 1. Data Start by specifying what kind of data you want, why you want it, and how it’s presented when you collect it. Define what data you will be collecting List out all of the questions you’re going to ask in your we

The research you fund is only as good as the outcomes it generates. Funders have to make the process of reporting easy for researchers so they can give you the metrics you need while not sacrificing their important research time. Tracking and measuring the impact of funding can leave researchers and funders alike misaligned and out of sync, which in turn, leaves everyone isolated and in the dark. Even when there are outcomes to be tracked, gathering the data and efficiently reporting it is a different story. Based on a global  2016 survey , 36% of researchers felt they would benefit from improved systems for tracking impact. Quality data reporting, in turn, dramatically influences the confidence of their funders, i.e., you. Here are three ways you can simplify your impact reporting process Separate your key metrics into easy to access activity categories When reporting metrics and outcomes, there’s a delicate balance between what the researcher has to do and what the

The SickKids Foundation’s National Grants Team had big organizational challenges in their grants management system. Their small number of dedicated program staff were inundated with a burdensome, outdated grant application process, and the data they pulled from templates yielded incomplete data that limited impact reporting. SmartSimple assisted them in updating their entire application process in one centralized location. Their new grants management system enabled them to work more efficiently and provided them with in-depth and powerful tracking and reporting capabilities that gave more insight into their grant researcher work and community impact. About the SickKids Foundation As a leader in the not-for-profit sector, SickKids Foundation raises funds on behalf of The Hospital for Sick Children - one of the world’s foremost paediatric health-care institutions. SickKids Foundation is the largest charitable funder of child health research, learning and care in Canada. Establ

Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence are rapidly enhancing how we work, but what does this mean for the granting world? Below are 3 different examples of how it applies. Machine Learning might sound like a concept you'd read in a sci-fi novel taking place in the distant future, but it's something very present in our daily lives. And you've definitely interacted with some form of it, probably even today. From your Recommended movie section on Netflix, to self-driving cars, Machine Learning is quickly becoming a tool that enables projects and businesses make more effective and impactful decisions in their processes and strategies in effort to connect with their audiences in the most appropriate way. When it comes to the granting world, Machine Learning can create a major shift in the landscape as we know it. Machine Learning can enable any grants foundation to look at their past giving to assist in achieving better giving outcomes in the future. Learn about