WHiST

WHiST was established in 1986 by local women to address gaps in support and has since flourished into a holistic ‘wrap around’ service which women can dip in and out of to suit their changing needs and circumstances. Supporting over 250 different women per week, they help women to become more independent, empowered and confident about making decisions that affect their and their families health, wellbeing and progression.

WHiST were part of a project which received funding from the North East Social Tech Fund. They wanted to use the funding to redevelop their existing database, which was an old Microsoft Access database with an outdated interface, only accessible from within the office.

WHiST wanted to modernise their database and make it accessible from anywhere, so that their staff could access it from home and so that they could use it on tablets and mobile phones when they were out in the community.

We worked with them to identify the key features required for the database, with an emphasis on reporting and analysis. Once we had a clear idea of the requirements, we started the development of their new data management system.

The new system is a web application, which means that it can be accessed from anywhere, on any device. It is also fully responsive, meaning it works well on mobile and tablet devices.

One of the most useful features of the new system is the automated text messaging system, which automatically invites women to courses and events they are on the waiting list for, and processes their response using neural language processing (NLP) to determine whether or not they wish to attend.

The new system has a modern, intuitive interface and provides WHiST staff with a simple way to manage their data. It also provides a powerful reporting and analysis tool, which allows WHiST to create reports on their data instantly.

WHiST are now able to use their data to create reports for their funders and to both analyse and prove their impact. Preparing for the annual report previously took months of staff time, but it can now be done with the click of a button.