System Eases Matching of Mentors with Kids Tonya Layman April 15, 2005

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta Inc. is in the business of providing and supporting meaningful one-to-one friendships with children and volunteers through 10 metro counties.

It turned to technology to make matches that best serve the children of Atlanta. Because of its success, the agency is a finalist for the Technology Innovation Award given by Accenture Ltd. through TechBridge.

When BBBS started developing the program about six years ago, it had no idea the software would change the way other Big Brothers Big Sisters organizations nationwide would make their matches.

The agency implemented the Match Management System, a software application that is an integrated, paperless system for accepting applications from volunteers and matching them with children. It also serves as an operational database to measure the outcomes of relationships.

The system has allowed BBBS to increase the number of children served without increasing personnel costs, use program data to improve organizational decision-making, track outcome measures and expand its ability to communicate with all constituencies.

Now agencies around the country will be able to get the same results.

"Our national organization adopted MMS as a model for the nationwide system for use by all 450 BBBS agencies," said Arthur Vaughn, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta vice president of finance and administration.

The national system, called Agency Information Management System, is being rolled out to BBBS agencies around the country this year.

"This MMS technology addresses a need shared by all social service organizations -- the need to serve more people without additional cost," said Stephen J. Woods, executive director of Project Open Hand/Atlanta, the winner of last year's TechBridge award and a current judge. "The fact that it is a model that can be shared with all 450 chapters makes it even more impressive."

The Atlanta chapter paid $120,000 to develop the software, not including the man-hours of the in-house design team. Big Brothers Big Sisters of America gave them $60,000 to take it national.

"Some BBBS agencies, both small and large, are still not automated at all," Vaughn said. "They are using paper files to do everything."

Before MMS, the Atlanta agency also relied solely on paper files. Now, online volunteer applications are uploaded directly into the MMS relational database. Simultaneously, the Web-based application automatically generates an e-mail to each of the potential mentor's references. The automated process allows the staff to focus on matching the more than 600 children on the waiting list.

"The system reduces the time between the inquiry of a volunteer and the time that we can match them," Vaughn said. "It also lets the Match Support staff understand the relationship and reduces the risk of a match not working."

The system even matches personality traits between the volunteers and children, Vaughn said, such as an interest in sports.

"MMS provides the capability to quantify our success with children," Vaughn added. The numbers speak for themselves. In 2003, the agency served 2,300 children. In 2004, that number jumped to 2,700. The system even has safety measures in place.

"Information from MMS allows us to compare volunteer information to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's sexual offender database," Vaughn said, adding they complete this process twice a year in addition to the regular background check done on every volunteer.