The Success Storey

Introduction: Eclecia began its survey and deep analysis of the Church management. We interacted with many Dioceses who had attempted with software development and implementation but did not yield the desired results. This was a learning curve for us. We learned a lot, we analyzed it and ensured, the mistakes are not repeated with Eclecia

Reasons for failed attempts: The key reason for the failure was, none of the attempts had a foundation to integrate the complex data processing and at the development stage, these were not factored. As a result, when more complex requirements came in the middle of implementation, the developers realized the very architecture of the software was simply not able to handle it. The option before them was to scrap and rebuild it again. That involved a lot of additional cost which the Dioceses were not willing to invest.

Detailed System Study: Eclecia team spent 3 years of its initial development period exclusively for Church system study, analysis in detail. We involved over 100 Presbytors, laity, Religious, Curia administrators and Bishops to understand the complex structure of Church administration

Project Cost: From the very beginning we knew this would be a big budget application and also no single Diocese would be able to invest so much money. Therefore, we designed the system in such a way that any Diocese can customize and implement it as their own software

Offline V/s Online At the beginning there was resistance to online systems and most Dioceses preferred offline systems. Being experts in IT, the team had forecast the end of off-line system and the only way forward is cloud computing. The team proved it today!

Why past software attempts did not take off as expected? Eclecia has several advantages and takes care of the many problems faced by offline software. Following are excerpts from a study on why off-line software did not take off and how Eclecia is designed to overcome those shortcomings:-

1. Offline software Implementation, installation, maintenance, support, updates and upgrades were to be provided at each location making it expensive and unviable in the long run. [Eclecia is cloud based and centrally implemented, installed, supported, maintained and controlled from a single location at the Diocese]

2. Offline software was installed on local PC. In many instances, lack of timely support and absence of quality system maintenance crashed PCs along with the software and data. [Eclecia is system independent. It is accessible from anywhere on any internet connected system or mobile with a username and password]

3. In most cases, Offline software vendors got their money in the first year itself. This left them disinterested to upgrade the programme to future requirements. [Eclecia does not charge upfront fees. It is based on a monthly subscription. Subscription based software ensure timely maintenance and support]

4. Security patches and updates could not be carried out regularly as it was difficult to reach all Churches; leaving Offline software redundant and defunct. [Eclecia is managed centrally, upgrades and patches are required to be done only one a single system making it quick and uniform for everyone]

5. Offline software had single user format where Church priest was the only user and in many cases the software discontinued due to inadequate operational knowledge of the incoming priest. [Eclecia is built on multi user format. Every functionary and member has a login. This ensures continuity and ease of management]

6. Diocese had no operational control over the Offline software and it became difficult to push through implementation and ensure continuity. [Eclecia is centrally installed, controlled and managed by Diocese]

7. Offline software did not offer direct benefits to everyone. The system mostly meant to compile parishioners’ data without benefits to everyone in the diocese. [Eclecia is centrally installed, controlled and managed by Diocese]

8. Offline software used manual data processing. Updating member records periodically became extremely difficult. [Eclecia offers a login for everyone so that they can update their information online without the intervention of Church or diocese]