Adhering to its mission of supporting people who are disabled and disadvantaged, Goodwill Industries is one of the world’s largest and most successful providers of employment and training services for people with barriers to employment. Revenues from donated goods sold in Goodwill retail stores, funds from industrial and contract services performed by Goodwill workers, and proceeds from other public and private sources combine to fuel a business that, for nearly 100 years, has been bringing people into the mainstream of society. The organization provides a range of vocational training and employment support programs, including competitive manufacturing services for hire, that increase participants’ self-reliance while using employment to decrease dependence on private and public support systems.
In southern Arizona, Goodwill is in the vanguard of charitable organizations in its commitment to using advanced computer solutions not only to support its administrative operations in five separate locations but also to provide its clients with advanced computer skill training. In making the transition from typing and filing paper-based reports and documents to using computerized inventory, telemarketing, and accounting, Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona sought a thin-client server solution.
Presenting problem In 1995, Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona was very much behind the technology curve. Only a few staff members had computers. Managers wrote case notes by hand that were retyped and filed by administrators. Even though its five southern Arizona offices were within one square mile, the physical separation was a barrier to communication. Collaboration with other Goodwill agencies around the country was limited to occasional phone calls. Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona was determined to adopt computers throughout its organization so that it could work more efficiently despite its well-founded concerns about costs, upgrades, and flexibility.
The challenge: Bring a nonprofit organization up to current technology standards.
The landscape for nonprofit organizations is remarkably different now than it was even a decade ago. The same trends affecting other businesses are influencing Goodwill. The days of charities that rolled along without technology plans, options, and alternatives are gone. It is becoming necessary for nonprofit organizations to operate as businesses—that is, paying attention to the bottom line—in order to provide enhanced services. The more efficient they are, the better they are at saving the community money. And efficiencies determine more than the quality and quantity of services—they determine whether the services can be offered at all. Because of its mission to support its clients, Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona didn’t just need to keep pace with for-profit competitors—it wanted to surpass them in efficiency in order to have more money to spend on its services.
Currently, Goodwill staffers in different offices can collaborate by connecting to WinFrame servers over ordinary telephone lines to remotely access Windows-based applications. WinFrame’s thin-client/server approach to enterprise computing enables Goodwill to operate much more efficiently and cost-effectively. As a result, the organization can reinvest the savings into its human services programs.
Hardware and software The thin-client/server networking environment at Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona includes:
Goodwill deploys contract proposal tracking, accounting, telemarketing, and personnel management software.
Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona uses WinFrame to deploy BidRight contract proposal tracking, MIP accounting, and Telemagic telemarketing applications as well as ADP personnel management software.
Solution and results The thin-client/server solution has allowed Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona to maximize its investments in lower-end PCs. The organization has been able to use WinFrame not only with its Pentium PCs but also with its 386s, 486s, and Wyse Winterm Windows terminals. In addition, the single-point management of the thin-client/server solution has saved a considerable amount of money in IS resources while pro-viding consistent control over the technical environment.
Today, Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona supports 30 concurrent users who connect to four separate WinFrame servers via Ethernet connections. Managers can remotely access ADP personnel management and MIP accounting programs. The Industrial Services division uses a sophisticated inventory management package to keep its operations streamlined and efficient. In addition, the organization uses the BidRight application to track contract proposals for its industrial customers, and Telemagic, a telemarketing program, to solicit donations of cash and goods.
Making computers and WinFrame-enabled applications available to clients for training is as important to Goodwill as all of its management capabilities. People who have disabilities or who are disadvantaged need computer access. The thin-client/server solution has allowed Goodwill to offer rehabilitation and training programs that provide computer training to people with disabilities, helping them to obtain jobs that are a cut above minimum wage. For example, Goodwill received an Arizona State grant to train clients on the Telemagic application. The organization was able to use 10 inexpensive Winterm Windows terminals connected to WinFrame, which enabled them to train more people at less cost.
Goodwill’s solution also delivers computing power to people in need.
Moving forward, Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona plans to add retail point-of-sale terminals in each of its four stores in the Tucson area. Plans are also in place to provide laptop computers to caseworkers, which will help Goodwill to extend its mission to outlying communities.
Suzanne Lawder, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona, said, “WinFrame has made a difference. We’ve become more efficient, which will be critical in moving forward. Plus, we’re helping more people get better jobs, and that makes all the difference in their expectations for the future. Our bottom line is this: WinFrame is good for our company, our community, our employees, and the clients we serve. We have to be good stewards of our community’s resources, and WinFrame is key to helping us do that.”