Cincinnati Works automated Salesforce data management to focus on delivering their mission
Cincinnati Works is a nonprofit organization with a mission to eliminate poverty in the Cincinnati area. It offers a series of programs designed to help people move out of poverty through employment. 鈥淐incinnati Works is there for our members for their entire journey, whether it takes 5 years, 10 years, or a lifetime,鈥� says Salesforce Manager Heath Parks, who spoke with us about the steps he鈥檚 taken to safeguard the organization鈥檚 data.
Heath joined Cincinnati Works in 2014, as a solo admin. The organization had been using Salesforce since 2009, and needed someone to juggle the responsibilities of being an admin, developer and architect all in one role.
Protecting mission-critical data
Cincinnati Works relies on Salesforce to track program outcomes and make data-driven decisions for the future. 鈥淪alesforce is our primary source of record鈥�, explains Heath. The platform holds a wide variety of data sets, including on coaching, soft skills training, sites, teaching partnerships, a social enterprise, donations, volunteers and more.
Coming from a finance background, Heath understood the importance of security and risk management. He quickly identified that backups for Salesforce were needed to protect the valuable data Cincinnati Works held on the platform.
鈥淟osing access to our Salesforce data would be devastating. It’s our single source of truth. Forget the time and effort of restoring 鈥� which is extraordinary. I also think we miss the human aspect of data 鈥� these records tell people’s story. If we lose that data, we lose their trust.鈥�
Initially, Heath set up Salesforce鈥檚 native backup solution, Data Export, but found it could be unreliable: 鈥淪ometimes Data Export worked, sometimes it didn鈥檛, and sometimes I didn鈥檛 know why it wasn鈥檛 working鈥�. Buying a backup solution was initially seen as a luxury 鈥� a common challenge for nonprofits struggling to justify spending on infrastructure.
But that all changed after a near miss.
One day Heath and his colleagues couldn鈥檛 see their data via a third-party application. Heath describes 鈥渢hree minutes of abject fear鈥� until they confirmed that the data had thankfully not been lost. But this was the wakeup call. 鈥淔ortunately the data wasn鈥檛 deleted, but it awakened the fear: What if it had been? It鈥檚 improbable that Salesforce will disappear tomorrow, but it鈥檚 not impossible.鈥� A backup solution was needed.
Heath knew of 91导航 as a DevOps solution, but wasn鈥檛 aware it offered backup as a standalone product. While researching backup solutions, he saw 91导航 recommended on a Reddit thread and was struck by a commenter鈥檚 observation that backing up is just half the challenge 鈥� you have to know how you鈥檒l restore.
鈥淎 lot of tools can back up your data, but what鈥檚 it going to look like when you restore it? That was when the lightbulb went on.鈥�
Heath did an ROI analysis on the time he spent on data management versus the investment in 91导航, and discovered that the time savings alone would save the organization $2k worth of his time each year. For example, Heath reverted a colleague鈥檚 inadvertent data error in just 2 hours, where previously it would have taken a full day to resolve. So Cincinnati Works implemented 91导航 to secure their Salesforce data and help Heath reclaim some of his time.
Avoiding Salesforce鈥檚 storage limits
91导航鈥檚 backup dashboard shows how data is changing day to day, mainly to alert users of any significant data loss. But looking at his backup job, Heath noticed something else about Cincinnati Works鈥� Salesforce org: the data was growing much more quickly than expected.
Heath was able to work out that a third-party app was generating a lot of records in Salesforce. Within a few years, Cincinnati Works would run out of storage in Salesforce. 91导航 had just launched its archiving solution, and so Heath worked with 91导航鈥檚 product team, giving feedback on the new archiving product. He was struck by the way everyone listened carefully in order to build a product that truly met the needs of customers.
Focusing on the mission
Automating and accelerating data management practices has freed up Heath鈥檚 time, so he can focus more attention on architecting Cincinnati Works鈥� Salesforce org. His advice for others is to consider 鈥渨here you want your people to be spending their time and effort.鈥�
鈥淚f you look at data backup and archiving as a cost item rather than a value-add, you鈥檙e looking at it incorrectly. These are value-adds that will enhance your org, give you peace of mind and enable you to focus on delivering the mission without getting bogged down by operational concerns.鈥�
