What is a System Administrator? Best Practices for extendedreach Software

Using a company-wide software system can be a heavy lift for any organization.  Staying updated on new releases and trainings can be complicated when there isn't a single person in charge of managing the software for an organization.  That's why extendedReach recommends that each company has a System Administrator for extendedReach's foster care software.

What is a system administrator?

A System Administrator, or SA for short, is an extendedReach user at an agency who has full permissions to administrative tools in the system (i.e. Settings, Preferences, etc.). An SA is primarily responsible for maintaining their agency’s extendedReach system after implementation, which may include the following:

• Conduct ongoing training of staff in the event of new hires or new functionality

• Attend extendedReach trainings; virtual and national user conferences

• Stay abreast of changes to system functionality as communicated in Release Notes

• Add/Update activities/reports and build custom forms

• Add/Remove users from the system

How else can a System Administrator Help?

Additionally, an SA also acts as the liaison between extendedReach and their agency, which may include the following:

• Copied on all agency support requests

• Internal "Go-To" person for system needs at their agency

• Receives key communication from the extendedReach team via email

How many system administrators should my agency have?

extendedReach recommends that every agency have at least two (2) System Administrators, in case of a vacation, sick day, or in the lucky event of someone winning the lottery. We also recommend you limit the number of SAs at one agency to 5-7 or less, depending on the size of your agency. We often see that agencies with too many SAs become less effective at maintaining their system.

If your agency has a need for multiple SAs, we recommend a divide and conquer approach - have each SA “own” a different part of system maintenance to ensure there is a clear process for your agency staff and to reduce the likelihood of anything falling through the cracks. Some examples of how you might divide up SA duties: Custom Form Building & Maintenance; User Management; Zoho Reporting; etc.

Best Practices for ExtendedReach's Foster Care Software

Pro Tip: Use the Comments Tab in Organization Settings>Organization Preferences, Program Settings>Program, or System Settings>System Configuration to track important dates of system changes, or notes to communicate processes.

We love it when agencies keep us up to date on who their agency’s System Administrators are! Have you had a recent change in your agency’s SAs? Email success@extendedreach.com to let us know.