Zoho Creator custom app enables CVHR to easily manage tons of data.

Before we go into the problem that CVHR faced, we need to know how they obtain and record their data. 

It all starts when a client approaches them to register a case. First, they collect their client's information, then the specifics regarding the case, and in the later stages, the courtroom proceedings and any external processes are logged. Each interaction must be recorded and this amounts to a huge amount of data per case.

CVHR needed a solution that would help them manage both their internal and client-facing processes, including finance, HR, and document tracking. 

Eventually, the spreadsheet system they developed had to be abandoned because of issues with consistency, volume, and information sharing.

Data consistency was a major concern for CVHR. Each person involved in the process has to input details at every stage of the case. Because there were no guidelines on how to fill in the spreadsheets, the data was not arranged in any particular way. Defining a set of formatting standards for their spreadsheets was a huge pain point. 

The volume of data input for each case made their spreadsheet entry a highly time-consuming and error-prone method. A case can go on for months or years, and the longer it takes to resolve, the larger the record becomes. The manual input method  was too tedious to be reliable.

Data sharing is possible on spreadsheets, but sharing specific information isn't easy by any means. CVHR wanted to share parts of their case data with different individuals at different stages of a given case. When  multiple attorneys are involved with a case at different points, the same case file has to be shared with them, but only the details that are relevant to the part of the case they are involved with. With the spreadsheet system, they had to make a new sheet with specific details every time, for every attorney. 

The Zoho Creator apps that they developed tackled their problems, and even headed off some others they didn't know they had.

Data consistency was maintained using a combination of dynamic dropdown menus and Deluge scripting to develop a system that makes data entry easy. In their process, each person is asked a few questions, and the rest of the record is framed according to their inputs.

The problem of inputting huge amounts of data was also covered by the Creator application they built, thanks to the auto-populate feature. All anyone has to do is type in a few words, select from a few options in the dropdown menus, and the rest of the details just fill in automatically. Voila! the record is saved, quickly and accurately. 

Zoho Creator's role-based permission enabled them to share data in bits and pieces from a record on the basis of role, relevance and case.

• Case intake tracker
• Finance Tracker
• Grant tracker
• Legal issues tracker

Case intake tracker is the repository of every case that is registered and handled by the organization. Customer information and case details are entered using a set of dropdown menus with auto-populated fields, speeding up data entry times significantly.

Finance tracker manages the internal finances of CVHR, from daily expenses to monthly budgets, all the way up to annual revenue. 

Grant tracker tracks federal and state grants. It calculates all of the received, utilized, and required funds for the entire organization.

Legal issues tracker keeps a tab on the legal details of a case. A single case may fall into many different areas of the legal system, so they need to be handled by more than one attorney. This system enables CVHR to keep the minute details of a case in one place throughout the organization. Zoho Creator's custom actions and calendar reports were used to design this app.

What's more, CVHR is able to access all these apps on mobile devices without having to do any additional coding or deployment.