THE CHALLENGE
The survey platform that West Virginia Prevention Solutions had been using for many years was inadequate—it had limited capabilities, and the organization was interested in exploring more reporting and analytics options. In addition, the organization was relying on numerous Excel spreadsheets and Word documents to compile and generate monthly reports and had no reliable way to collect feedback and valuable data about program effectiveness within the communities it served.
“Our reporting was very elementary,” says Emily L. Costlow, coalition-curriculum coordinator. “The counties’ coalition leaders didn’t want to complete our reporting because it was so tedious and took so much time out of their busy schedules.
We essentially needed a one-stop shop for our county coordinators to use to provide their monthly activity data to us without being too confused or overwhelmed.”
The organization was also seeking a way to collect feedback from the community directly—and analyze the information in order to make program adjustments. “We had no solid way to create and present surveys, polls, and other communication avenues with those individuals and communities we wanted to reach,” says Costlow.
THE SOLUTION
After comparing a wide range of survey platforms, West Virginia Prevention Solutions requested a demo from Sogo, and quickly determined that it would meet their needs—and then some. “We were impressed with the ease of use, variety of functions, and multiple possible uses for the platform,” says Costlow.
THE RESULT
Long gone are the multiple Excel spreadsheets and Word documents. West Virginia Prevention Solutions can now collect, analyze, and report semi-annual survey data, as well as gather and present regional data each month. “We are able to ‘drill down’ into the data to find what we need for that month and make sure our funders are clear about what we have accomplished in our region,” says Costlow. “The reporting tools even gives individual counties access to pull their own information.”
With Sogo, the organization has been able to reach more members of the community through a variety of distribution methods.“We put together a substance use survey for our communities, and we were able to use the QR code feature and track it successfully in all 13 counties,” says Costlow. “For us, that was a really big step forward.”
In addition, the organization has been able to become more flexible and responsive in response to the COVID-19 crisis. “The pandemic has shifted how we communicate with our stakeholders and communities,” says Costlow. “We were able to reach out to the parents and ask if their students were still receiving substance use education, and that gave us a really good idea on how to improve the delivery of those services, and we would not have been able to do that before.”
Costlow credits Sogo with helping her organization to not only glean more valuable data, but also to streamline operations and eliminate cumbersome processes.“We have learned so much about what we need and how to accomplish our data collection by using Sogo,” she says. “What was once a daunting task is now quite literally a point-and-click. Our reporting has become simpler, our data collection each month has become less stressful, and the tech support from the Sogo team has been wonderful.”
“What was once a daunting task is now quite literally a point-and-click. Our reporting has become simpler, our data collection each month has become less stressful, and the tech support from the Sogo team has been wonderful.”