Challenge: Before Domo, data was difficult to collect and combine with other sources, leaving executives and case managers unsure if they were achieving their client outcome goals.

Solution: Utah Community Action uses Domo to collect, share, and visualize performance management and client outcome data across its six core programs.

Impact: Thanks to Domo, Utah Community Action can better track its impact while identifying new opportunities to help families. 

Utah Community Action uses data to help families prosper with Domo.

As one of the largest nonprofit organizations in the state, Utah Community Action empowers more than 50,000 people experiencing poverty each year, helping them get the support and education needed to become self-reliant. Their six core programs—Head Start, Adult Education, Housing & Case Management, Nutrition, HEAT Utility Assistance, and Home Weatherization—are critical in helping people identify support, overcome crisis, and achieve long-term stability.

Utah Community Action depends on Domo to track the efficacy of their programs, allowing them to focus limited resources where they can do the most good.

 

 

“Domo makes it possible for me to answer business questions, which is unique for an organization like ours,” said Andy Agardy, Data and Policy Manager at Utah Community Action.

Putting data to work.

Utah Community Action’s six programs all have distinctly different data sources, eligibility requirements, and KPIs. Funding comes from dozens of government and private sources, while each core program can have myriad services and one-time initiatives running at a time. The individuals and families they serve may participate in one or several programs.

Before Domo, this complexity made data difficult to collect, process, and combine with other sources, leaving executives in the dark as to whether or not a program was meeting its goals or was even in compliance with funding and legal requirements.

“Our main challenge was that we have a ton of data and need to be compliance-driven, but we work in an arena that is not really tech-focused,” Agardy said. “We have metrics on everything you can possibly imagine, but really had no way to aggregate data across all our different databases.”

Thanks to Domo, business users across Utah Community Action now have the data they need, when they need it.

“We used to have teachers running 14 reports to figure out where their points of compliance were. Now we have a Domo dashboard where they can see 14 gauges at once. This gives them a clear snapshot that allows them to be more efficient,” Agardy said. “In Head Start, a family advocate who oversees 60 different families can now see everything that is going on with these families in one place. Domo has really allowed us to improve our delivery.”

 

 

“At the executive level, we can now see key data points across every one of our six core programs, like a giant scoreboard where we can tap into what’s happening in real time. We use that when we talk with the board or with key stakeholders to answer their questions in the moment, instead of having to get back to them later with answers,” said Janell Cerva, Chief Impact and Strategy Officer at Utah Community Action.

Answering the right questions.

Every day, executives at Utah Community Action need to make difficult decisions about how to allocate their limited funding. These leaders rely on Domo to make data-driven decisions about which programs deliver the most value so they can maximize each dollar.

At the same time, they also use Domo to identify long-term trends. They can now make smarter decisions about everything from managing employee workloads, to increasing employee diversity to reflect the diversity of the families they serve.

“Our Chief Operating Officer over housing programs has really started to use data as a performance management tool,” Cerva said. “Previously, we didn’t really know how staff were doing, and staff didn’t know how they were doing. No one knew how many cases were being managed at any given moment, or what the outcomes were.”

“Domo allows him to look quite intensely at what is happening. If someone has a lower caseload, why is that? Are they just not doing anything, or do they have harder cases, or is it the location they serve, or is it because their families are so spread out? He can now use Domo in real time to find the right answer, so we hit the performance targets we want.”

Sharing and protecting data with Domo.

While each program has a unique focus, families often leverage multiple services across programs. By making all their data accessible and actionable in a single location, Utah Community Action is able to use Domo to connect its disparate programs together.

“For example, we may have a family advocate working with a family to get their child into preschool. During this conversation, they may discover a need to help the parent get adult education so they can get a new job, or see a need to apply for utility assistance to help save money. We want to stabilize the whole family, not just solve one specific problem,” Agardy said.

 

 

Domo makes it easier for case managers and executives to connect those dots to understand the overall impact the organization is having on individuals, for the community, and toward their mission.

“Our goal is to tie together all aspects of our programs, so that we can better track performance management and client outcomes,” Cerva said. “We want everyone to understand what is happening with their clients in terms of what types of outcomes they are achieving, while also ensuring our employees are reaching their full potential.”

At the same time, Utah Community Action has a responsibility to protect client information. Domo makes it simple to set data governance rules so that data can be leveraged properly across programs without exposing protected data or breaching compliance requirements.

 

“We utilize Domo to tailor information across the organization in terms of who has access and what they can see… It also helps everyone be more proficient in being able to speak to the data, both in terms of what it means and the process we used to collect it. We are far more data literate than we would be otherwise.” 

Janell Cerva | Chief Impact and Strategy Officer