I was cleaning up my internet favorites the other day. One of the folders I have within my favorites is one called “Client databases,” which, oddly enough, are bookmarks to some of my clients’ online databases. Included in that folder are clients from as many as four years ago.

Just for fun, I checked to see if I could still log in to any of the databases, and lo and behold, I was able to get into some of them. Which leads me to ask: If my login is four years old and still works, how many other “old” logins are still active in their databases?

This is a concern for two reasons:

1. Security. Are you aware of who still has access to your data? My clients have nothing to fear from allowing me access to their databases. But what about former employees? Are their logins still working?
2. Potential costs. Most off-the-shelf databases charge per named user (or some variation of that). If you’re carrying several logins that are no longer in use, you may be paying unnecessary additional fees.

When was the last time you audited your user logins for your system? Maybe now would be a good time to check.

I’ve been working with a client recently on consolidating all of their data into a single data management system. They have an association management system that is robust enough to manage just about every data set they have, but they haven’t centralized all of the data yet.

As a first step in the process, we’ve worked with staff to identify all of the different data sets (staff calls them “lists”) that staff is managing. Along with identifying the lists, we’ve also identified who is managing the list, and what the criteria is for getting on the list.

This organization has approximately 50 staff. We’ve identified over 100 distinct lists that are actively managed in six different data management systems. The amazing part is that the vast majority of this data overlaps (e.g., same people, same contact information on multiple lists), which means that staff is doing redundant data management.

My experience is that this is not an uncommon occurrence. Almost every organization I work with, regardless of how sophisticated their data management system, is managing data outside of the central system. This includes things such as Outlook global distribution lists, listserver lists, committee lists, and more. And in most cases, redundant data entry is required. And we all know redundant data entry decreases efficiencies and increases the opportunity for error.

So do you know how many different data sources are being managed within your organization? Look around, you might be surprised by what you find.

One of my (many) soapboxes is tryi to get people to back up their data and make sure it's backed up. I've written about it here and here.

So I was pleased to see Newsweek magazine writing about it recently here. But what was shocking was what the author wrote:

"I've been a tech writer at NEWSWEEK for 12 years, during which time I've had two hard-drive failures on my personal laptops. I still don't back up my data."

They say there are those who back up and those who will. But apparently there is some small minority of the population who simply refuse to back up their data, no matter how easy it is or how damaging data loss can be. I suppose if it's your own data, then that's your loss. But if you're responsible for someone else's data, not backing up is simply malpractice.

So I'll ask again: Are you backing up your data? And are you sure it's actually backed up?

All of my clients know that I'm a huge proponent of users groups. I like 'em so much, I actually co-founded one in the past, and I frequently encourage my clients to do the same with their association management system vendors.

So I was very encouraged to learn about the SharePoint Users Group (www.thesug.org), a new users group for, oddly enough, SharePoint users.

SharePoint is rapidly becoming the tool of choice for many associations. It can be used as a content management system as well as a community/collaboration tool. I use it as part of my volunteer work with ASAE, and I think it holds tremendous promise. Several of my clients are also considering or have already adopted it.

What I like about the SUG is that in very short order they've set up a site (driven by SharePoint, natch) that allows users to sign up (for free) and instantly join the conversation. There are blogs, guides, and even an area with programming code.

There is tremendous value in users groups. If your organization uses SharePoint, the SUG might be something to investigate.

Full disclosure: EDM is an independent third-party consulting firm. This means we have no financial relationship with any of the vendors mentioned in this blog. We provide unbiased opinions on what we see. 

I've written about training in the past (see here). I was also recently quoted on monster.com about how to get the most out of software training. You can read that here.

James Michael-Hill, Web/Database Manager for the Utilities Telecom Council, posted a note to the Avectra Users Group, explaining how he has built a utility for allowing Avectra's netForum to communicate with Drupal, an open source content management system.

This is very cool for a couple of reasons:

1. Because James is part of the Avectra users group, he let the group know he had built these tools.
2. Because Drupal is an open source CMS, he posted the tools to the Drupal website so that users can download the code that he wrote.

Kudos to James for sharing this. It's what makes Users Group and open source software so powerful.

Full disclosure: EDM is an independent third-party consulting firm. This means we have no financial relationship with any of the vendors mentioned in this blog. We provide unbiased opinions on what we see.