SmartSimple Cloud

Avantages

I especially like the newly designed user interface upgraded in the past year. It's clean, simple, professional, more intuitive and aligns well with our website branding.

Inconvénients

As someone who moved into a system administrator role with no previous experience in a cloud-based system, it took awhile to learn system configurations. GMS360 is a very robust system with a lot of features. If you're not tech savvy, the learning curve can be steep and challenging.

Avantages

Web based, can be used from any computer, from home or the office!

Inconvénients

If the web is having issues, can cause a lag, but in the many years I've used, the pros definitely outweighed the cons!

Avantages

Very little - it did work but dealing with the admin on this product is not worth the hassle.

Inconvénients

It was expensive for what it did. The support dept I spoke to were useless and at times bent the truth.

Avantages

The continual ability to update and configure our system is extremely useful. Our system is up and running for a number of years and working as required. However, it is very useful to update certain sections when we have a need to do so or choose implement a new feature without compromising our functionality. It allows us to update aspects when we have the time to do so without impacting our users and keeps the system fresh. We can choose what features we wish to implement and work to our own timelines. We can edit the system for specific user roles while keeping the system the same for other user roles.
Particular favourite features include versioning and emulate session. Versioning allows us to quickly update our application templates inline with revised organisational terminology and reporting requirements without the need to over-write older fields.
The emulate options allows us to assist our users in real-time without having to re-create their issues or logging them out of their system. We can access their system while they are on a call to us and talk them through their queries while viewing exactly what they are viewing.

Inconvénients

It can be difficult to keep up with all the new features and at times difficult to decide if a new feature is worth implementing. However, attending various events which include presentations from other clients and the ability to speak to other clients using specific features helps us to make a more informed decision whether to invest the time in implementing these features.

Avantages

The biggest appeal for GMS360 when we signed on was that it offered so much potential for the development of an excellent multi-faceted system to serve our foundation's overall needs moving forward.

I was also taken by the ethical and moral values of the founders to fulfill their goals in providing high quality, cutting edge technology solutions to help their client's achieve their purpose and goals. This relationship trust was major in our decision on choosing a company we knew we would have a longtime relationship with.

Inconvénients

I did not like how much the system had to evolve over the last 3 years in order to provide the functionalities that we needed.

I still think better solutions are needed to create end user reports for presentation.

The vast improvements in the past year in design, navigation, and configuration tools have made me feel better about all this!

Avantages

The ability for a non-IT user to make configuration changes. There is always a good transition when there are new upgrades and I have yet to have an issue when the system is upgraded. I like the simplicity of the portals and the user interface.

Inconvénients

Not having a back button/previous page button within the system, which can sometimes extend the time it takes to make configuration changes. Not having the option to apply changes in the backup system to production while in backup.

Avantages

SmartSimple can be configured in so many different ways to manage any process. I like that we can use the same platform to manage our grants and contracts. The workflows are a great feature for moving items through our process. Once you are comfortable configuring in SmartSimple it is easy to adapt forms to many uses. The SmartSimple team is great to work with and they really care about their clients.

Inconvénients

Creating workflows is complex. They are such a powerful tool but it is challenging to build them without support. Since the platform is so configurable there are often many solutions to a problem and depending on who you are working with you may get a different solution which may not be the most efficient approach. Configuration can be intimidating since there are so many features available. It is important to have a system administrator who is comfortable with basic coding.

Avantages

The application can be customized to any business process where you would like to track an entity. This flexibility to seamlessly customize the application without depending on the vendor is a big win for non-profit companies.

Inconvénients

There is really nothing I can say as a drawback of this application as they continuously are evolving with technology.

Avantages

Great for business process management, data collection and retrieval, report generation, configuration options, security controls, and ongoing platform improvements. I appreciate that a non-programmer business analyst can configure and adapt the system to meet most all internal business process models and needs.

Inconvénients

Would like to see additional features to support forms import capabilities and standard excel like budget management capabilities.

Avantages

Very configurable to meet our ever growing, dynamic environment that calls for quick, responsive solutioning.

Inconvénients

Challenges with the software are found with determine the nuances to utilize all functionality of the system. SmartSimple has so many areas of opportunity, but the creation of fundamental understanding takes time.

Avantages

Ease of use and user friendly. Other than some access issues (primarily because of firewalls and security at outside institutions trying to apply) my users have been overwhelmingly positive about the ease of use of the platform. It has also been very helpful and efficient for internal use and saved us considerable time in the office.

Inconvénients

My concerns deal more with the initial construction of the system and the fact that we are a thin organization with few staff - thus we don't have the insights into the workings of the system that a larger firm might have with multiple users working with it from multiple different vantage points. Initially, we struggled to learn it all and all of the various uses of the system.

Avantages

SmartSimple is fully customizable and scalable to our grantmaking needs. As an organization that processes almost 2,000 grants a year, we needed a robust grants management system. So far, we are very pleased.

Inconvénients

There were some challenges with the inital porting of our legacy grants prior to launch (information not being captured) but now that my organization is fully dedicated to SmartSimple, our data is secure.

Avantages

I like the ease of use and the ability to colour code for client status and the ability to save notes and reports in draft.

Inconvénients

Lack of ability to expand to mobile options to be used with LHIN APO and APR software.

Avantages

Its flexibility and its complexity which means it can accommodate most of our workflow needs and querying needs

Inconvénients

Its slow response time and the shear number of clicks needed to accomplish simple system tasks; the "behind the scenes" functionalities for building the workflows, the screens, the reports - in short the setup portion of the software is complex and difficult to learn

Avantages

We particularly like the various user portal options, configurable options for every single application and object, and the premium support option as well as easy ongoing improvements.

Inconvénients

We dislike the workload that testing causes for our staff, but we understand that this is necessary with all software because a positive user experience is very important to us.

Avantages

The flexibility it allows us to make customizations on the fly. This software allows us to grow at a pace that works for our company. We always have easy access to support and especially now that support has extended hours this has proven even easier!

Inconvénients

I honestly can't think of any to mention. We always have support which very important to us. Even if there has been an enhancement request that hasn't been possible, we are most often given alternative suggestions or work arounds for what we were trying to do.

Avantages

The ability to configure most or all of the features with very minimal code knowledge.

The ability to deployment changes under tight timelines due to the ease of the configuration option is great.

Inconvénients

There is really nothing that we like with this product. The user experience has been one of our focus and glad to see that the SmartSimple developers are now addressing it.

Avantages

Upgrading existing features on the system and introducing new ones through the regular upgrades.
The system is flexible in term of the configuration. Most of the time there is more than one way to configure something on the system.

Inconvénients

Sometimes, some enhancements take a lot of time which might not be convenient in some cases.
Also, transitioning to new features for an old system might be a bit challenging, maybe if Smartsimple could come up with a way to help its clients to make that transition a lot easier and smother, that would be very helpful.

Avantages

Its configurable and no customizations are necessary. There are lots of choices and the customer support is the best in the business.

Inconvénients

Its totally configurable - a pro and a con - so you need to know what you want. But, SmartSimple is very supportive.

Avantages

Highly configurable web based software with good integration options. It really helps our organisation track grants and report on them for key stakeholders.

Inconvénients

Our system was configured some time ago so certain parts need to be reconfigured to be more standard.

Avantages

Ease of use, colour options for organizing information, saving documentation in drafts, linking pay to completion of entering visits.

Inconvénients

The speed of going from screen to screen is the largest downfall

Avantages

The ability to customize and shape to our needs is great. Flexibility of its use. It has definitely helped streamline processes that would slow our operations greatly in the past

Inconvénients

Due to its flexibility it can create lag based on the extreme customization done. Having most of my experience in classic mode, it appeared not as intuitive as expected. Reporting tools could be improved.

Avantages

I love the flexibility and expansion capabilities of the software. Love all the workflows and automation to help reduce manual work.

Inconvénients

If there was an update to make pulling variables into templates , workflows, etc. instead of writing a syntax. I can never find the right syntax.

Avantages

It was user friendly. Very easy to navigate

Inconvénients

There was nothing that I didn't like about the program

Avantages

The flexibility of the system and the simple user-interface. Another pro would be that it's highly configurable for our clients to meet their needs.

Inconvénients

It could be a little "prettier". The organization of the settings could be a little more manageable.