New CRM / Website costs and timelines

Here's a huge and nebulous question to through out there:

I am beginning to begin to plan the planning for the entire database and website overhaul, completely redesigning the site and incorporating CRM into our office work flow, etc. and am trying to figure out ballpark numbers for cost and time of the entire process.  Since there are going to be consultants, developers and perhaps even designers involved in this, when asked by development how long and how much the whole process will cost, I won't have any specific numbers until well into the RFP phase.

It looks like most of our software will be "free" (ignoring total costs) for both the site and CRM, but there will be a good deal of developer and consultant costs, and I am trying to figure out at least what to expect with that.

Also, we are giving ourselves 18 months to 2 years to really do the whole thing in general.  However, I am hoping to get general info regarding how long I can actually expect this to take.

I am well aware that this is a huge question which is totally reliant on specific specs, but I have no idea where to place cost and time brackets: $20,000 over 6 months or $200,000 over 3 years, no idea what to expect (although I have an idea about what we can afford haha)

Any help or input would be appreciated.

Hi thegene,

thegene:

Here's a huge and nebulous question to through out there:

YUP your right..ha ha

Like you said without any specifics an estimated timeline and estimated costs are almost impossible to determine.

If you are looking at an extreamly large project, i highly suggest you hire a Professional Consultant/Project Manager (perhaps that is what you do, not sure?) to ensure your project stays on track and within budget.

Not sure as to what you mean by your site and CRM software will be free, are you planning on outsoursing the project and then using your software to use/maintain the final product or are you palnning on obtaining software from TechSoup and develop the CRM/Website in-house.

Just ensure you PLAN PLAN PLAN, and PLAN some more, this will give you the best overall results on your project.

If you would like to discuss a little in further detail, let me know I would be glad to help and offer my unbiased experience and knowledge.

Good Luck.

You might find this Idealware article helpful:
www.idealware.org/blog/2008/10/how-much-does-nonprofit-website-cost.html

Sorry for just replying to your post, but I am new to Tech Soup. I would love to know more about this project. I too am working on a CRM project for our non-profit. We are in the RFP and product analysis phase of the project. It sounds like the scope of your database and CRM 'over-haul' is much broader than our integration of a new CRM to our current database, however- I would love to know who you have are looking at or have chosen as your CRM software provider.

Wow, I had completely forgot about this post.  It was so long ago and the scope of the overhaul has itself been overhauled :D. We realised we needed a product more specific to our needs, rather than trying to force a square peg into a round hole by customizing a standing application.

To come to this conclusion, however, we did a lot of research.  A really good place to get started is nten, these two in particular were a great starting point:

• Consumer's Guide to Low Cost Donor Management Systems
• 2008 Donor Management Software Satisfaction Survey

There's also a lot of good stuff here on techsoup, you just need to root around to find it.

Some experts suggest the cost of technology projects are 10% for software and 90% for implementation and business process transformation (planning, refining / creating processes, implementation, training, etc).  I've been involved with a few different technology companies and find the ratio to be closer to 1:3 to 1:5.  Of course, if your software is free ($0) this isn't much help.

I suggest thoroughly documenting your needs and taking them to a CRM consultant for a quote.  Someone who has gone through the process before can more accurately judge how much time and money it will take.

Hi, You would like to look around for CRM softwares that are available. We are currently offering Free Edition easy-to-use web-based CRM. It does not have time limit. Please have a look at http://www.borneosoft.com. Regards, Luke