Information Builders Case Studies United Way Launches Global Performance Management System

Edit This Case Study Record

	United Way Launches Global Performance Management System Information Builders

United Way Launches Global Performance Management System

Information Builders

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Big Data Analytics Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
Applicable Functions	Business Operation
Use Cases	Real-Time Location System (RTLS)
Services	Data Science Services System Integration
Challenge	United Way, the world’s largest privately funded nonprofit organization, needed to help its worldwide network of 13,000 employees understand which partners have the best performance, which programs are the most successful. The organization was only able to view resulting data from their studies via tabular reports and high-level summaries. As more sophisticated analytics tools became available, United Way realized that the entire staff would be more likely to recognize patterns, dependencies, and anomalies in the data if it were presented visually through dashboards, maps, and charts. United Way carefully evaluated several market-leading analytics tools before purchasing the WebFOCUS platform from Information Builders. Read More
About Customer	United Way Worldwide is the world’s largest privately funded nonprofit organization. It conducts nearly a dozen worldwide studies to gauge performance and analyze outcomes in all aspects of its business, including fundraising activities, operating efficiency, and the effective utilization of human capital. The organization recently purchased WebFOCUS business intelligence (BI) and analytics software from Information Builders to support a diverse global staff with varying technical abilities. The steward of approximately $4.7 billion in annual contributions, United Way devotes a great deal of time and energy to tracking operational performance. The global human and social services organization carefully monitors all fundraising distribution activities, gathering insight to maximize the efforts of thousands of employees at 1,800 local United Way offices across the world, assisted by millions of volunteers. Read More
Solution	With WebFOCUS, United Way created a self-service analytics environment to visualize data collected during large research studies, enabling local United Ways to learn from their peers, share best practices, and discover opportunities to improve. United Way currently uses WebFOCUS to better track the effectiveness of its charitable activities through PerformanceLink, a self-service BI portal that empowers workers to manipulate performance data and build their own dashboards, reports, and scorecards. Employees and volunteers throughout the United Way ecosystem now access the portal to better understand the needs of the 61 million people United Way serves each year. The BI and analytics product United Way sought had to include built-in security to partition various data sets. It also had to be user-friendly enough to enable staff members to create customized scorecards. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Big Data Analytics

Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Use Cases

Real-Time Location System (RTLS)

Services

Data Science Services

System Integration

Challenge

United Way, the world’s largest privately funded nonprofit organization, needed to help its worldwide network of 13,000 employees understand which partners have the best performance, which programs are the most successful. The organization was only able to view resulting data from their studies via tabular reports and high-level summaries. As more sophisticated analytics tools became available, United Way realized that the entire staff would be more likely to recognize patterns, dependencies, and anomalies in the data if it were presented visually through dashboards, maps, and charts. United Way carefully evaluated several market-leading analytics tools before purchasing the WebFOCUS platform from Information Builders.

About Customer

United Way Worldwide is the world’s largest privately funded nonprofit organization. It conducts nearly a dozen worldwide studies to gauge performance and analyze outcomes in all aspects of its business, including fundraising activities, operating efficiency, and the effective utilization of human capital. The organization recently purchased WebFOCUS business intelligence (BI) and analytics software from Information Builders to support a diverse global staff with varying technical abilities. The steward of approximately $4.7 billion in annual contributions, United Way devotes a great deal of time and energy to tracking operational performance. The global human and social services organization carefully monitors all fundraising distribution activities, gathering insight to maximize the efforts of thousands of employees at 1,800 local United Way offices across the world, assisted by millions of volunteers.

Solution

With WebFOCUS, United Way created a self-service analytics environment to visualize data collected during large research studies, enabling local United Ways to learn from their peers, share best practices, and discover opportunities to improve. United Way currently uses WebFOCUS to better track the effectiveness of its charitable activities through PerformanceLink, a self-service BI portal that empowers workers to manipulate performance data and build their own dashboards, reports, and scorecards. Employees and volunteers throughout the United Way ecosystem now access the portal to better understand the needs of the 61 million people United Way serves each year. The BI and analytics product United Way sought had to include built-in security to partition various data sets. It also had to be user-friendly enough to enable staff members to create customized scorecards.

Impact #1	United Way better serves 61 million people each year with targeted, relevant services.
Impact #2	The organization has been successful in the distribution of tens of millions of dollars in aid following devastating hurricanes.
Impact #3	The portal makes the information easier to interpret, understand, and apply to the urgent needs of the communities United Way works with, all over the world.

Impact #1

United Way better serves 61 million people each year with targeted, relevant services.

Impact #2

The organization has been successful in the distribution of tens of millions of dollars in aid following devastating hurricanes.

Impact #3

The portal makes the information easier to interpret, understand, and apply to the urgent needs of the communities United Way works with, all over the world.

Benefit #1	Raised $54 million to provide critical support in the disastrous aftermath of hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria.

Benefit #1

Raised $54 million to provide critical support in the disastrous aftermath of hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria.

Download PDF Version

Overview

United Way Launches Global Performance Management System

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit