 Introduction to the Irving Park Community Food Pantry  Introducing team members: › Software Program Manager › Fundraising Manager › Director of Operations › IT Consultant  IT System Requirements, Proposal, Implementation Plan, and Evaluation Plan.

 Serving the Chicagoland area since last 40 years  Offers monthly pantry services  Offers assistance to on-site SNAP application  Runs on donations, volunteers, and grants

 Jim; the Senior P rogram M anager at TechWorld  Masters D egree holder i n Information S ystems  The contact person between TechWorld and Irving Park Food Pantry  Responsible for scheduling, developing program, and budgeting

 Lenny - Fundraising Manager  Bachelors in Marketing  Works in close coordination with the director  Responsible for maintaining donor relationships and searching for new fundraising activities

 Ally; - Director of Operations  Masters degree in Business Administration  Manages budget, fundraising activities and grant proposals  Develops client eligibility guidelines  Assesses inventory and distribution  Helps hunger awareness in the community

 Kathy - on-site IT Consultant  Bachelors Degree in Computer Science  Provides IT support and advises the director  Recommends and manages overall IT systems  Critical and tactful in decision making

 Jim: The food pantry’s existing system is a lengthy process. The new system is far better offering enhancement in services offered, safeguards store’s important information along with serving clients with improved services. Clients received the pre-determined amount of selected food without giving chance to choose what they want to have.  Ally: I totally agree that our existing process is a little bit out of date. What is the new system you are proposing?  Lenny: A new system is interesting but it needs to be reasonable in price as we don’t have large funds for it.

 Jim: The new system will require a full system-upgrade, training programs to staff and volunteers, and on-site support and maintenance from Kathy. The cost is competitive and support from the entire staff is necessary to make the process run smoothly.  Jim: The new system requires full upgrade in the existing system, training programs for all employees and volunteers, and on-site technical support and maintenance through Kathy. The cost is reasonable but the support from all the staffs required for smooth running of the process.  Kathy: I am on the team for working out the new system and would like to provide the necessary assistance with the system while gaining opportunity to work with the team.  Lenny: We are planning to add another fundraiser for raising the funds next year if required. It just requires some time for preparation.  Ally: Ok, since we all seemed to be interested, what are things we would like to be considered in a new system?

 Jim: The concept behind the new system is that it’ll considerably simply the registration of the food pantry not only making the process easier for the staff but for the clients as well. The new system works based on photo id tracking system which eliminates unnecessary paperwork keeping all the information of the clients electronically. This information helps for quick retrieving information such as household income, the number of dependents, and the dates that services were received at the scan of the card. This system would also be helpful in tracking how many times the client received services. With the new system the clients has ability to “shop” the items and “check out” with the help of their photo-id card and would eventually be a much easier process in the center. This system also have additional feature of scanning the id cards off-site for delivering orders. Do you have any questions?

 Lenny: Yeah, Jim, this really seems a great system theoretically; however, we need to consider the overall cost for implementing such a system. What would be the estimated cost for this system upgrade?  Jim: After doing some initial cost estimations given the current staff and customer size, it would be approximately $5000. One of the beneficial aspect of the system upgrade is that there is considerable time saving of staff which could be utilized in some productive work in other areas. It also reduces the time spent on each client which would allow more clients to be served.  Lenny: This does seem reasonable. We do have enough money for it and it’s not so expensive. I still not feel so comfortable in investing so much in just one system yet. I feel if we could wait for a couple of months so I could consider having another fundraising event specifically for the new IT system.

 Ally: I second Lenny. Though the new system seems ideal for the organization, we are not comfortable at the moment in spending the extra fund. It would be better to wait for some time. How long would the training process be, Jim?  Jim: The system has a step-wise instructional tutorials which is another beneficial aspect of the new system. The staffs can attend a few full days’ training for learning the system basics and they should be ready to go and check out with help sections for any assistance. If there any additional problems, they can consult Kathy for solving their issues.  Kathy: It seems reasonable. Are there any other technical aspects that I should to know about the new system?  Jim: The system would be something like that simple warehouse store uses for maintaining records of their customers, simple and easy set up, easy tracking and easy maintenance.

 Ally: Well, this system does seem meet our needs. I believe it would be the best way to provide the quality service to our clients. I definitely want to make sure that I understand every requirement before we dive into it. We are planning to install a new system that tracks the client information, integrates service data and specific requirements. The implementation process is yet to be determined and we are all agreeing in need of this system to be in place.  Lenny: Yes, I’m.  Kathy: Me too.  Ally: Okay. Let’s talk a timeline for it then.

 Lenny: Well, as stated before, it’d take a couple of months for arranging a fundraising event for this system. It might take around 6 months for everything to be set up.  Ally: It seems reasonable. Jim, what can we do at the moment in preparation for the new system?  Jim: Kathy would do initial reviewing of the system to get familiarized. It help to get us going till the fund flows in.  Ally: Everything seem fine to me. I assume that we will do some trial testing with a small size of clients, right?  Jim: Yes, a trial testing will be done. I recommend taking at least 20 families with varying number of dependents and from different social aspects. This would present a better understanding of what benefits could be drawn by different clients.

 Ally: Ok, Kathy you can get started on reviewing the program right away. Lenny, start planning the fundraiser and let me know what you come up with. We will plan to meet back here with Jim in 7 months after we have the funds to continue. We will then train the staff and volunteers. In about 8 months we will contact the families to do a trial run and then make any necessary adjustments. I think it’s safe to say that in about 9 months we can have the system implemented and up and running. Any questions?  Kathy: I understand the process and don’t have any questions at this time.  Lenny: I am in full agreement with the schedule and will start planning the fundraiser as soon as possible.  Jim: I do not mind coming back for a refresher meeting in a few months when you are ready to take the next step.

 Ally: Once the program is implemented, it’s necessary to develop tools more evaluating the outcomes both form client’s perspective and the staff’s perspective. Does anybody have suggestions regarding it?  Jim: Since we’ll be waiting for a couple of months, we can develop a survey to assess the new system. Clients can be completed through the internet, or touchtone phones, and provide feedback on the system process, the service deliver as well as how they feel about storing their information electronically. Even employees and volunteers can provide feedback through an internet link. How about this one?  Ally: It sounds awesome. If the new system works out well, I would invite directors of other food pantry to have a look at the system changes we have made and see if we can consider linking the systems together. I think we’ve covered everything. I thank all of you for participating in the meeting.

 Introduction to the Irving Park Food Pantry  Introduction of group members  The group discussed on the important aspects of new IT system designing and implementation.  A new IT system concept was developed and also proposed along with setting up of the implementation plan and development of evaluation tool.