Transitioning from a legacy system to Slate provides an opportunity to reconsider the full stack of business processes within the modern advancement office. Slate is process built—allowing individual schools to customize every step of their operations. Approaching an implementation with a creative and open mind will allow previously built processes to move beyond limitations of previous technology tools—resulting in increased efficiencies.
Consider the following guiding principles when starting with Slate. We encourage revisiting these principles annually as a reminder and a grounding as to how to leverage Slate's technology to solve what is ultimately a non-technical process.
1. Start simple and build over time.
In the first year of implementation, focus on building and understanding the architecture of Slate, taking advantage of the many delivered tools. Don’t get bogged down with special edge cases. Design for the 99%, and the rest falls into place.
2. Use all available resources.
Slate provides documentation, webinars, and integrated help resources to accompany every tool within Slate. Make a concerted effort to understand functionality and the underlying logic. Reach out and ask questions of the community, Slate's subject matter experts, and yourself.
3. Commit to creating a sustainable process.
Slate’s out-of-the-box functionality immediately offers new and improved ways of doing business. Building processes using best practices will make future updates much easier, with minimal time investment.
4. Be creative.
Instead of simply recreating an old system within Slate, think carefully about how to structure current processes in an ideal world. Slate can support and foster many different, efficient business processes, so be creative – the possibilities are endless!