START
GUESSI N G
STOP
PUT TING YOUR DATA TO WORK
IT’S NOT WHAT YOU KNOW, IT’S HOW YOU USE WHAT YOU KNOW.
Communicating your findings throughout your organization is important. It is simple to export reports from CampMinder into spreadsheets for further analysis and review with staff, outside vendors or partners. With your metrics in place, you can tell which strategies are working and which aren’t. If you make a change, you use these metrics to tell you whether the change improved things or not. In many cases, the findings in your reports will add confirmation to what you already know. That’s a good thing. In the instance that a report challenges popular belief, have comfort in knowing that you can now make an educated decision.
47%
M
WHAT TO MEASURE
MANAGING
30%
easure activities or results that are important to successfully achieve your organization’s goals. Do you have Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)? If not, ask yourself what they should be. KPIs help an organization define and measure progress toward its goals, and each camp might have slightly different ones. Below is a list of my favorite reports to run in CampMinder, which align with our KPIs at Camp Manitou … • Camper and staff return rates
21%
• Seasonal enrollment comparisons • Years of attendance for campers, staff, and alumni • Lead and sibling conversion rates • Lead source for marketing and budgeting • Geographic location for targeted outreach • Billing preferences to see payment trends • Notes reports for operational insights • Activity preferences for resource allocation • Detailed seasonal staff and camper information reports • Allergy lists and reports on medical conditions • Health Center management reports
I O U
2%
IF YOU DON’T MEASURE IT, YOU CAN’T MANAGE IT.
This classic management adage continues to hold true across decades and industries. In any organization, it is difficult to manage for improvement if you don’t measure to see what is getting better and what is not. Within camp management, many decisions can be strategized by reviewing data on key factors. For users of computerbased camp management systems, much of this information is recorded and stored. The trick, however, is knowing what to access, being able to easily access it, and understanding how to use what you access. As Owner and Director of Camp Manitou in Maine, I began using CampMinder in 2002. Of all the time – and money – saving features in CampMinder, however, the most powerful component for me as a camp director has always boiled down to the Reporting System. CampMinder’s reporting systems give me access to all of my data: financial, medical, scheduling, transportation, and so on. Further, I can organize specific pieces of data in simple ways to best help my camp. The combinations of data and reports I can create are nearly unlimited!
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.
Making strategic decisions based on actual data is an important action for success. We all have “hunches,” but during the extremely busy days and nights as a camp director, it is essential (and realistic) to have an accurate pulse on everything at camp. Use reporting tools to turn data points into valuable information so you can spend your time managing – not guessing – as important decisions come up. An intuitive, robust reporting system can ensure your entire organization focuses its time, money and efforts on tasks that propel your camp forward and contribute to its success. Letting this data sit, inaccessible, is a precious waste of valuable information. Jon Deren www.campmanitou.com
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CAMP MANITOU
director of Camp Manitou in Maine. Jon has been at Manitou since he was 10 years old; as a camper, a counselor, and now a director.
JON DEREN is co-owner and
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