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Hey Zapier Community!

I work for a nonprofit organization that oversees an overnight shelter program for 3 and a half months where we host up to 14 guests per location (7 total locations; 4 male and 3 female locations). I will try my best to detail the daily process step-by-step to get your ideas on how to best automate as much as possible. 

  • During the day individuals call or text a cellphone line (iPhone) or our call center (RingCentral landline) to place a reservation for their desired shelter.
    • If there is space at that location and that individual is not banned, we reserve their spot. 
    • There is a Microsoft Form they have to fill out before their first overnight stay at one of our facilities. 
  • Early afternoon I compile the list for each location (last year I used to take screenshots from our database and save each as a jpeg).
  • We create a group text for each location with the volunteers for that day (different volunteers for each day) to send out the lists. (I would prefer a distribution method where I don’t have to create a group text for each location daily as it takes up a lot of time and attention to detail). 
  • In the evening volunteers fill out their blank sheet of intake for the night
    • Upon arrival guests are marked as present (and if they’re returning the next day) or absent.
    • Once the cutoff time arrives shelters can accept walk-ins if they have enough space if not all spots were filled or there were no shows.
  • Later at night each overnight volunteer sends a picture of the final guest list for our organization’s data entry of who was helped. 
    • This list provides the starting point for that location’s list for the next day. Those present physically get automatically added to the list for the next day unless they call and cancel over the phone or via text. 
  • Each day’s data has to be entered and this closes the loop for the prior day. 

For additional context, our client management software does not integrate with our organization’s Microsoft Suite but has all of their history and is where we have to enter data daily. 

Finally on a more personal note, I lost a lot of time with my family last year due to it being my first season on the job and I would love to be more present with them this upcoming holiday season while still fulfilling my responsibilities. 

I really appreciate any help with this process in advance!

Hi @Giodude918,

 

Welcome to the community. To streamline your operations with Zapier, you can automate various tasks: connect RingCentral or iPhone messages to Google Sheets or Airtable for automatic logging, use Zaps to create database entries from Microsoft Form submissions, and integrate Twilio for automated texts/emails. Zapier email Parser can also update your database from pictures on your guest list, and Google Forms can capture walk-in details. While manual setup is needed, this automation can significantly reduce repetitive tasks, giving you more time for other activities.

It sounds like an interesting and worthwhile cause. A few questions and thoughts on it all:

  • Would it be possible to have the guests register on a web site, rather than by text or phone?
  • How do you check if there’s available space at a location?
  • How do you check if an individual is banned from a location? Does being banned from one location result in being banned from all locations?
  • Do the volunteers at each location have access to a computer or smartphone? Perhaps they can pull their own list of names each day, and then do the data entry directly from each location.
  • How is the data used? Do you later run reports against it or anything?

This post has been edited by a moderator to remove personal information. Please remember that this is a public forum and to remove any sensitive information prior to posting.

Hey @dan-the-dare!

Thank you so much for taking the time to offer some thoughtful feedback!

Below are my responses to your questions:

  • Guests register on a website (Signup.com) which is where I get their contact information to send out for the day. The text option is to distribute the list to the volunteers for the day without having to bother everyone that has signed up for the whole season.
  • We have a call center and a database (CoolFocus by WayCool which is proprietary software) that keeps track of how much many people have placed a reservation at any given location. Once a location is full, all volunteers are notified so we stop taking reservations for the booked location.
  • We keep track of banned individuals through the before-mentioned software. Banned individuals are redirected to other resources. If they are banned from one location, typically they will be banned from all of them.
  • Not currently unless they bring their own. I have considered purchasing iPads for each location which might be a barrier for implementation. I would love to implement something that is smartphone friendly. The data entry from each location is unlikely as not all volunteers have access to the database where it needs to be entered into due to the sensitive information and history. If each location could do its own data entry that would be fantastic! Data entry is one of the biggest pain points currently. 
  • The data is used to run reports such as: unique individuals served, total overnight stays provided for the season (and per location), and other reports. The initial intake is currently a Microsoft form that allows me to gather additional insights.

Thank you again for taking the time! Here is the link to our website if you’re interested in learning more!

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