I'm an outdoor instructor, not an IT specialist.
May 31, 2013 7:09 AM Subscribe
I work for a small non-profit with high seasonal turnover often times our staff will work on compiling data, or communications projects. What solutions do businesses use to ensure that their data remains current, backed-up, and accessible? How do they use those services to keep data organized?
I work for a small non-profit with high seasonal turnover. In the past, we've experimented with using both DropBox and Sharepoint for our various needs. Those include: allowing all administrative staff access to relevant materials, allowing seasonal and residential staff to view forms, calendars, photos, and curriculum resources, and making sure that staff uploads and shares their files. This might be split into a back end/front end interface for ease of use and to keep some data private. Historical problems with any one solution have been: cost (very small to non-existent budget, though if one solution was especially dead-on we might be able to talk some money out of HQ), losing data with staff turnover, and making sure that any system stays implemented over the years.
My boss prefers the layout of SharePoint, but likes the automatic syncing and convenience of DropBox. DropBox seems like it might be unwieldy for new staff to look for files they’d need, such as new staff resources or forms. It'd be ideal to have have one service housing all our archival documents, photos, administrative spreadsheets and such, and staff resources, perhaps managed by different permissions for each. Two services would be acceptable, but the main issue is that, over time, password, usernames, or websites are lost because of staff turnover.
What is the best service (Dropbox, Sharepoint, something else) for keeping data accessible to personal and business and computers, as well as making it easy and convenient for documents to be imported. Perhaps going along with that, what is the best organizational system, keeping in mind that this is a non-profit with high seasonal turnover and that many good ideas fail because people who come up with them don’t stick around to make sure they are maintained.
It’d be great to be able to integrate this with a blog or webpage as well, allowing visitors to contribute photos or documents, since one of the neat things about our non-profit is our alumni network of staff and their photos, memories, etc.
Am I asking for too many things in one service? Are there any comprehensive guides to these questions on the internet, or low-cost services for non-profits to streamline data and archival materials? Thanks for all your help, I realize this is a beast of a question with many answers, but even a general "best practices for non-profit" answer would be super helpful and appreciated. Would something like WordPress be more ideal for the front-end side of sharing curriculum and general staff resources?
I work for a small non-profit with high seasonal turnover. In the past, we've experimented with using both DropBox and Sharepoint for our various needs. Those include: allowing all administrative staff access to relevant materials, allowing seasonal and residential staff to view forms, calendars, photos, and curriculum resources, and making sure that staff uploads and shares their files. This might be split into a back end/front end interface for ease of use and to keep some data private. Historical problems with any one solution have been: cost (very small to non-existent budget, though if one solution was especially dead-on we might be able to talk some money out of HQ), losing data with staff turnover, and making sure that any system stays implemented over the years.
My boss prefers the layout of SharePoint, but likes the automatic syncing and convenience of DropBox. DropBox seems like it might be unwieldy for new staff to look for files they’d need, such as new staff resources or forms. It'd be ideal to have have one service housing all our archival documents, photos, administrative spreadsheets and such, and staff resources, perhaps managed by different permissions for each. Two services would be acceptable, but the main issue is that, over time, password, usernames, or websites are lost because of staff turnover.
What is the best service (Dropbox, Sharepoint, something else) for keeping data accessible to personal and business and computers, as well as making it easy and convenient for documents to be imported. Perhaps going along with that, what is the best organizational system, keeping in mind that this is a non-profit with high seasonal turnover and that many good ideas fail because people who come up with them don’t stick around to make sure they are maintained.
It’d be great to be able to integrate this with a blog or webpage as well, allowing visitors to contribute photos or documents, since one of the neat things about our non-profit is our alumni network of staff and their photos, memories, etc.
Am I asking for too many things in one service? Are there any comprehensive guides to these questions on the internet, or low-cost services for non-profits to streamline data and archival materials? Thanks for all your help, I realize this is a beast of a question with many answers, but even a general "best practices for non-profit" answer would be super helpful and appreciated. Would something like WordPress be more ideal for the front-end side of sharing curriculum and general staff resources?
You might try looking at Box, which is Dropbox's business-focused competitor. I've talked with them a few times, and they'd probably be more than happy to answer your questions and do a remote demonstration for you. Box is set up to handle permissions and puts a lot of emphasis on their web interface.
I still need to do a trial for Box to see how I like it, so I'm not making any sort of recommendation for it. I just know a little about it. Figure out what questions you want to ask them ahead of time when they do their demonstration.
If you need flexible, granular permissions instead of top-down permissions, their competitor Egnyte (which I know nothing about) advertises that as one of their major strengths over Box.
posted by KinoAndHermes at 1:06 PM on May 31, 2013
I still need to do a trial for Box to see how I like it, so I'm not making any sort of recommendation for it. I just know a little about it. Figure out what questions you want to ask them ahead of time when they do their demonstration.
If you need flexible, granular permissions instead of top-down permissions, their competitor Egnyte (which I know nothing about) advertises that as one of their major strengths over Box.
posted by KinoAndHermes at 1:06 PM on May 31, 2013
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posted by Tomorrowful at 7:11 AM on May 31, 2013