The SmartSimple Blog

SmartSimple is breaking ground as the only grants management system that facilitates a simple approach to the process of revising, updating and editing your forms and applications using a simple point and click configuration. There had to be a better way… In the past, making changes on application review questions or other forms took a lot of work, and often required a test to production (T2P) environment. Seeing this issue arise time and time again, SmartSimple’s Development Team decided to see what they could do to make the process smarter and simpler. The end result is a great new feature, offering a quick and easy way to add, edit and delete fields in your applications and forms whenever you need. We call it Versioning. How does Versioning work? Versioning begins with a simple series of steps to get you set up and ready to go: ·          Start by creating a baseline version of your application or form. The baseli...

March is gonna be a pretty busy month for everyone here at SmartSimple. Our team will be hitting the road, travelling across the United States to meet with industry professionals in corporate giving, grants management and other areas of philanthropy. These events are a fantastic opportunity for us to not only share what SmartSimple can do for various philanthropic communities, it also makes sure we stay on top of industry trends, ensuring our Grants Management System is keeping pace with the kinds of functions and features you need to manage your processes. Stop by our booth and say hello to our team at the following events: ACCP: The Conference: Reimagine Capacity, Defining the Possible – March 8-11, 2015 Join Director of Strategic Accounts, Todd Lapin, and Director, Client Care and Marketing, Eric Lauer at The Association of Corporate Contribution Professionals is having their annual conference at the Hilton Nashville Downtown in Nashville, Tennessee. The Conference...

On January 29 th and 30 th , the SmartSimple team made their way down to Orlando, Florida, to take part in the annual FPN Statewide Summit on Philanthropy Conference , held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. “It was great to be able to attend this conference for the third year in a row,” says Todd Lapin, Director of Strategic Accounts. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to meet new people and catch up with clients and friends I've known for years.” Todd Lapin greets visitors to the SmartSimple booth. Presented by Bank of America , the FPN Conference is an annual event aimed at bringing members of the Florida philanthropic community together to share new learnings, discuss issues, trends and ideas surrounding the health and vitality of “The Sunshine State.” Key experts and industry professionals shared their thoughts and best practices, including Aaron Dorfman of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy , William A. Schambra of the Hudson Institute's Bradley Cente...

SmartSimple is getting the year off to an exciting start with our first round of upgrade features. These latest enhancements will be accessible to our SaaS clients as of Friday, January 30, 2015. Arcadia Before Enhanced Arcadia Interface We’ve made several changes to the Arcadia interface this time around, streamlining your experience with SmartSimple. Full details will be covered during our upgrade webinar, on our Wiki and in our upgrade video. Arcadia After Enhanced Recurring Event Updates in the SmartSimple Calendar We’ve enhanced your SmartSimple calendar, offering more options for updating recurring events. Quickly and easily add a new attendee, change a meeting location or time, or update a dial-in number.  Adjustable Column Width Screen Adjustable List View Column Widths This enhancement enables users to go to any list view and adjust the width of any column. Enhanced Duplicate Check for Additional Fields We’ve enhanced the duplicate...

The SmartSimple Wiki is the place to go to learn how to work with SmartSimple. We post information on how to configure your system, training and upgrade videos, and other helpful stuff. We’ve had feedback from our clients saying that the Wiki is great if you’re a System Administrator, but for other users, such as Grants Administrators and Claims Managers, there was definitely some room for improvement. We’ve taken your comments to heart, and made some changes we hope will improve your experience. The first thing you’ll notice is we’ve updated the main page . Now it’s much more clear what each section contains and how to get to the information you need. One other thing you’ll notice is we’ve created a new category we simply call Why . The Why category is geared specifically to the user who is looking to understand not just what features are available, but why they’re important. Why category articles are short pieces explaining the significance of features li...

Now that everyone is back from holidays and getting into the swing of a shiny new year, the SmartSimple team wanted to give you a quick overview of some of our plans for 2015. First off, we’re putting a stronger focus on customer satisfaction.  By actively reaching out to our clients to gain insight, input and ideas, we will become more responsive to your needs, providing features, improvements and services to ensure you have the tools you need to streamline your processes. We’ll also be introducing some new products and an improved customer care package, so be sure to check our website , our blog and upcoming newsletters for updates and information. You’ll see us at a variety of upcoming conferences, giving us the chance so to spend more time meeting face-to-face with our clients and members of the communities we help serve. In 2015, look for us at the Florida Philanthropic Network (FPN) in Orlando, The Association of Corporate Contributions Professionals (ACCP...

Happy New Year! We hope your holiday season was enjoyable, and you’re ready to dive into 2015! We’ve been working on some exciting enhancements to our customer care process, and we’re pleased to announce some structural improvements, ensuring we’re offering the best possible service to you and your community. Effective January 1, 2015, the following changes have taken place at SmartSimple: Sarah Harris, Director of Client Support and Operations, is transitioning into a leadership position with our Support Team. She will be responsible for the day to day operations of the SmartSimple community through our Help Desk. You can contact Sarah at sharris@smartsimple.com or 416-591-1668 x105 with any questions or concerns. We’ve also introduced a new role, which will take our customer care experience to the next level. Eric Lauer is now our Director of Customer Experience, and his mandate is to ensure your overall satisfaction as a SmartSimple client. You can contact Eric at elauer@sm...