Systems Transforming

In November 2019, we identified that the Cultch was due for a migration to either Microsoft Office or Google Workspace. After some deliberation, we chose Google Workspace for the organization.  I, along with four other coworkers, formed the "Systems Transforming Team"  – a play on the Cultch's Transform Festival, which had several name iterations before its final launch ;)  
Systems Transforming would not only lead the project of migrating the organization to GSuite but also introduce new tools (such as Asana) and procedures that will help everyone in the organization work more seamlessly together.

The Cultch, like many other non-profits, was operating with an ad-hoc system, created over the years, to meet the needs of the organization as they came up – the admin office was using a mix of:

  • Dropbox file storage
  • Private gmail accounts
  • H:Drive
  • Desktop file storage
  • Booking software
  • A private server for email

The end goal in moving to Google Workspace for non-profits is to amalgamate all files and calendars under one roof.

Because of the nature of the season shows, we set a long project length with a launch for August 2020 – this would enable us to get through the Spring 2020 season and launch in between seasons. COVID-19 certainly changed a lot of the organization's plans, but the migration stuck! After a few hiccoughs, we launched the migration this weekend!

I'm excited to see how moving to the suite will enable us to work more cohesively and efficiently as a team.