Salesforce takes Woden Valley RSL into the future

Challenge

• At Canberra’s Woden Valley RSL Sub-Branch, there was no system in place for managing information about its 500 members or the hundreds of pension and welfare cases it deals with each year
• With a 100 year legacy and being manned by retired volunteers between the ages of 65 and 85, computer literacy was virtually non-existent - information stored independently on pieces of paper, in people’s heads or on a single Excel spreadsheet
• Finding accurate information on the status of pension and welfare cases, volunteer hours and member details was an uphill battle; as a result the Board’s decisions were largely based on assumptions
• The inability to lodge accurate figures or comply with auditing processes prevented the RSL from approaching the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) and other sources for funding requests
• Knowing that DVA could request case status reports at any time, along with the requirement, by law, to record all activities in welfare, the RSL Sub-branch Executive realised that something had to be done – time for a system that would centralise membership information, record veteran interaction, enable the RSL Sub-branch to report to future funding sources and was simple enough for its volunteers to use
   

Solution

• Salesforce chosen over Microsoft Dynamics for its easy customisation and user-friendly interface
• Service Cloud: Woden Valley RSL received 10 donated licences from the Salesforce Foundation, which they can access from anywhere, including home
• Chatter: Volunteers enjoy the social aspect of Chatter - it has started to replace email due to its immediacy
• Using Salesforce Training Forums and free online tutorials, the RSL Sub-branch’s Welfare Coordinator built a customised solution with no IT support, deploying it to users in just two weeks
• System development is an estimated five times faster and half the cost as compared to on-premise systems

Results

• New system transforms how Woden Valley RSL manages and accesses information and ensures its ability to continue into the future – data centralisation lets staff easily identify those in need and create pension and welfare cases for them instantly. 
• Every case that comes in is allocated to a pension officer within two days, task tracking and workflow eliminating the former risk of cases being overlooked.
• Woden Valley RSL can now report to future funding sources thanks to intuitive reporting and dashboards  – the first application for a volunteer grant was made just three days following implementation.
• User-friendly interface means that volunteers with minimal computer literacy can get to grips with the system.
• No more assumptions – the Sub-branch Board now has a snapshot view of the entire organisation for making informed campaign and funding decisions.