610.856.0011
Client: Camphill Association of North America
Camphill Association of North America is a partnership of communities across the United States and Canada, which relies on volunteers from around the world to live with and provide meaningful living environments for people with disabilities. To assist in meeting its growing need for volunteers, Camphill Association needed a system to manage the posting of opportunities online, manage inquiries and responses, accept and process applications, perform exit interviews as well as generate quarterly reports on its recruitment activities. One main challenge of the project was that Camphill communities in America, in keeping with their institutional principles of simple living in harmony with nature, had for long shied away from the use of computers or other advanced technology. This meant that the user interface needed to be very simple and intuitive so that it could be used by people with minimal to no computer experience.
Since the communities were spread across North America and prospective volunteers were found around the world, a web based solution was a natural fit. As a non-profit organization, keeping the costs down was an important concern. Since at Amskape open source software software solutions are a key strength, we were able to deliver a robust application at a reasonable cost. Amskape in close partnership with Camphill defined the project as a whole. We then divided up the application into discrete modules that could be made ready to use as soon as they were complete. This allowed the end users to test each module and provide feedback before the project as a whole was completed. The user interface was designed as simple and uncluttered as possible. Crystal reports was used to deliver the quarterly reports complete with colorful visuals. The easy to use interface along with the illustrated documentation that we delivered met the clients requirements. Amskape was subsequently commissioned to expand the application further.