Bonterra Apricot vs. ThinkLP

Our team has a lot of different steps to take in regard to their jobs. Apricot is very helpful in breaking everything down into separate folders that makes everyone's job more organized and flowing. Everything has a specific place, which also makes it easy to recognize if someone on the team is doing their job well or if someone needs additional training. The biggest flaw in Apricot is the Connect system, as I stated in a previous question. A big perk to Apricot in the beginning was being able to send out resources directly to a large group. However, not every resource is applicable for all families. We manage a large population of families, so it's very hard to organize it manually. There needs to be a way to filer out who we want to send things to right through the system instead of having to do it 1 by 1

Incentivized

• Allows us to set notification reminders when residents of our program advance through out program
• Allows us to create reports tailored to the information that we need
• Allows us to update information efficiently and in real time so that everyone on the team can be on the same page.

Incentivized

• There are several things in the "suggestion" area that have been there for a while. For instance, to be able to see the client's age instead of just the birthdate. Many people want this, but I don't understand why it can't be done for us.
• Luckily, whenever an issue arises, it's not there for long, as you have a fairly quick turnaround for resolving them.
• Being able to view notes and other information sources with just a drop-down, instead of opening the entire note, would be preferred.
• There are times when the system is just slow or doesn't work at all and it takes a little extra time for it to be resolved. This causes some stress.

Incentivized

I went to the Summit a few weeks ago to learn about the future expansion and vision of Social Solutions. I already been with Apricot for 5 years and researched other products I still come back to Apricot and where it can grow with us.

Incentivized

Without any formal IT education, I was able to utilize their articles and videos to teach myself how to configure and customize the software to our organization (although I do recommend their Apricot Admin training to polish your skills). The majority of users are able to adapt immediately with minimal training.Staff that have challenges with technology in general do adapt to using the system once you can create buy in and engagement (although it does take time and training)

Incentivized

It is usually available when I need to use it

Incentivized

The system does tend to run slowly when pulling more complex reports

Incentivized

This is a difficult question to answer because when I hear the word "support" I think of this in multiple levels. The customer service on the front end, with my account manager is pretty good. There was a time for about a year and a half where I didn't even want to get to know this persons name because they wouldn't be there there long enough for me to get to know them. For the past 8-9 months we've had the same account manager, and this is helpful as a way to grow our trust in Apricot social solutions as well as the account manager understanding the needs of our organization. The technical support is also fine. The issues we most have problems with is how the technical support is calculated and the lack of roll-over of technical support time. If our account has 1 hour of technical support per month, but we don't need any technical support for 4 months, it would be great to have the ability to use those 4 hours (as time allows per the IT calendar) when we need them, even if it falls within one month. We've also had instances of working with IT persons who didn't seem to care at all about our issues, and seemed eager to put our call behind them and get onto the next without much thought as to why we were calling them in the first place. We've also had instances where the IT person didn't seem to really be listening to what it is we needed, and was heck bent on what they THOUGHT we needed rather than listening to what we actually did need. While we also have had experiences of working with IT persons who were absolutely great at working through issues. They were patient and understanding and would explain why a solution (c)would or (c)would not work. We even worked through those options in real time if they were unsure whether a data solution would work or not. That was great because we felt heard.

Incentivized

Online training only

Incentivized

There are good training guides.

Incentivized

There need to be specialists who know how to best work with an organization developing a new program, not just transferring existing forms to a digital format.

Incentivized

We also use a state database called ETO that tracks case notes for our families, but doesn't give us the ability to analyze things like gross annual income growth for our families during their time in the program, # of housing applications completed, etc. It is solely used to track case notes regarding case management meeting content. Apricot allows us to generate statistics we can use to source funding and prove our efficiency as an organization as we continue to market our coaching model. ETO does not have this benefit.

Incentivized

I have never had a problem with the system

Incentivized

• Consistent, accurate financial records of program spending are to be provided to Grant Funders.
• One-stop shop for all program records, including past, current, and waitlisted clients.
• Continued partnership with Grant Funders due to the ease on both sides with the Bonterra Apricot Software.

Incentivized