Dec 15, 2009
Today, Information Technology Group honored three of our long-term staff by hosting a luncheon with Campus Crusade for Christ’s President, Steve Douglass, and his wife, Judy.
Cindy Wallace, Shawn Hudgins, and Mike were the honorees.
Jul 23, 2009
While we were at our National Staff Conference, Mike joined hundreds of others at a evening reception for people who have been on staff for more than twenty years.
Mike joined the Computer department of Campus Crusade for Christ thirty years ago. He enjoyed chatting with friends he has known over the years and celebrating with them at this important milestone of their lives.
Congratulations to Mike!
Jul 11, 2008
For the last nine months, Mike assisted in identifying and selecting the software to be used for Campus Crusade’s new Connect and Care system. Working with a team, he helped, as a business analyst, to research sixteen software options. To better understand the options and our ministry needs, the team visited some of our key Campus Crusade ministries, other major Christian ministries, and several software vendors. (Yes, it was a lot of traveling!)
After all this thorough research, our leadership recently determined that Oracle’s Siebel CRM product would provide the foundational piece for our new Connect and Care initiative.
Often, as Mike worked on this detailed investigation, he reflected on Esther and how God placed her in a unique role, using her background, skills, and position to rescue the Jewish people (see Esther, Chapter 4).
In the same way, God has used Mike’s twenty-nine years of experience to help Campus Crusade with this enormous computer project. After years of working with our donor systems—and with the people who interact with those systems—Mike can provide valuable input for the development of the new Connect and Care System. This system will significantly help Campus Crusade carry out its mission for many years to come.
For the next 18 to 24 months, Mike will help:
• Identify the key tasks that the software will support and how these functions will change with the new systems.
• Define the 1,000+ requirements that will guide the programmers who will fit the software to serve our many ministries, staff, and ministry constituents.
• Test the software and communicate needed changes back to the programmers.
• Train CCC staff how to use the new system to best accomplish their ministry functions.
P.S. What is CRM?
In the business community, CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management; at Campus Crusade, we refer to CRM as “Constituent Relationship Management”. The term “constituent” refers to anyone who is involved with Campus Crusade for Christ in any way—including our staff, students, donors, or anyone else involved in a ministry activity. With our new software, we will be able to better serve our constituents by tracking important information about the experiences and interests of our staff and ministry friends.
Jan 23, 2008
For more than two years, Sus has been writing about sharing her faith on her blog, The Sower. Last year alone, she had more than 3,000 “hits” on her website!
Recently, Sus was asked if a writer from Campus Crusade’s award-winning magazine, Worldwide Challenge, could share a story from Sus’s The Sower blog (A blog is an online journal). The reporter was writing an article encouraging readers to share their faith with people they encounter every day. The article, “Gospel on the Go,” is in the January / February 2008 issue on page 39, or you can follow this link. (Click here for the original post.) Please pray for Sus to be faithful in witnessing and to follow God’s guidance about what to publish in her weekly blog.
With a circulation of almost 90,000, WWC magazine challenges Campus Crusade’s friends and donors to partner with Crusade staff in reaching people for Christ. Click here if you want to enjoy some of the photography from our gifted photographers.
Incidentally, Mike has assisted the subscription department for Worldwide Challenge for several years by helping provide software for tracking addresses, gift subscriptions, and other important information. He is currently on a team that is making some critical recommendations in February for Campus Crusade, which will replace the donations system and impact the subscriptions system. Please pray for wisdom as they choose between several options.
Related Post:
Sep 19, 2007
Recently the “Schmitt’s Family News” (SFN) caught up with a very busy Mike to find out about an important computer project he has been working on for a number of months.
SFN: Your project involves a special web site, the Giving site, which thousands of donors use to donate to Campus Crusade for Christ’s staff and ministries.
Mike: That’s right! When we began this project, the Giving site (give.ccci.org) allowed our donors to give a one-time or monthly gift using a credit card.
Our project expanded the capabilities of give.ccci.org and was a significant revision. We added the ability for our donors to initiate a direct electronic transfer from their checking or savings account. This will help save our ministry thousands of dollars in credit card fees. We also added the ability for donors to update their address and phone information.
SFN: What other new functions did your team add to the site?
Mike: This new version allows our donors to make changes to recurring gifts already set up. Previously, donors that already had a monthly credit card or bank transfer gift had to notify our Donation Services department of any changes they wanted made to their giving (You can still phone in changes at 1-888-CRUSADE). As automatic transfers are becoming a more popular way of giving, the Giving site will reduce our costs by allowing donors to make these changes themselves.
SFN: What are some of the special features the site provides?
Mike: After a Campus Crusade donor logs into the site, they will see a page, with the name and address information we have for them. They will also see their giving history, their recurring gifts, and the credit card and bank accounts that they have used in giving.
SFN: As a Business Analyst, what did you contribute to this project?
Mike: I worked with the design team to enhance the web site. First, we gathered information about what our typical donor wants to do on the site. We then designed the processes to make the different steps flow as simply and smoothly as possible.
After the design was settled, the software engineers (programmers) worked on building the software. Once it was working correctly, I coordinated a series of quality assurance tests with a group of non-technical “testers” to make sure the web site met all our requirements and would work well for our donors. We are very pleased that we were able to assist our donors and Campus Crusade through this enhanced site.
An Important Ministry Tool:
Since the Giving site went active almost 2 1/2 years ago, over 45,000 different donors have given 113,518 gifts totaling $25.5 million!
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