The solution

Northern Village undertook a thorough review of the existing management system for the Free to Grow program. This included:

  • Review the current Free to Play Application in detail
  • Analyze the current data structure to ensure all information will be included in the new application, and ensure it can be ported over when the new application is done.
  • Develop priority of components for application creation.
  • Ensure that clients are able to access the system and upload documents using cell phonse.
  • Track the amounts for each child separately, keeping track of the money that can be accessed.
  • Manage the approval process, including handling clients who change their mind.
  • Coordinate bulk payments to service providers.
  • Report on clients of various status within the system, and download reports via CSV.
  • Manage end of year rollover, including resetting funding fields.
  • Test after each component is complete.
  • Update as required.
  • Train staff on how to use of the software and how to train clients to use the software.
  • Start testing while running the new system in parallel.

Northern Village programmed the software in Ruby on Rails, ensuring that all aspects are available through a web browser, and it works of all screens and accessiblity devices.