Barnardos Australia had a problem: their technology stack was bloated and inefficient.

The charity relied on nine systems to manage casework and risks, track financials, and communicate with staff and families.

“A lack of consistency was our biggest issue. Our systems didn’t align nor have the capacity to capture all the information we needed in one spot,” says Matt Hooey, Head of Practice and Impact.

The number of systems in place kept the team from unlocking their full efficiency. For instance, caseworkers had to enter case notes in one system, find important personal data in another, and manage incident reports in yet another platform.

Reporting was even more difficult. Barnardos Australia must record and report every family and child’s details to governing bodies to secure funding. Reporting was slow and error-prone because data about thousands of people was spread across platforms.

“We needed one system, a flexible CRM, to replace the nine existing platforms and simplify workflows,” says Matt. And so, the charity embarked on what Matt boldly calls, “the most significant transformation since Barnardos arrived in Australia from the UK in 1921.”

Transforming processes with Sugar and Liferay

Barnardos Australia carefully evaluated fifteen different options before choosing Sugar. “We chose Sugar because it was flexible, we saw that we could set it up to suit different workflows across the organisation,” says Matt. “We also felt Sugar shared our commitment to making a difference in the lives of children.”

Part of Sugar’s flexibility was its ability to integrate with Liferay, a digital experience platform. The charity plans to use Sugar’s integration with Liferay to create custom portals for children and their families. Through a Liferay-powered portal, foster parents can instantly access important information from Sugar, such as Medicare details, emergency contacts, and activity schedules.

Plus, children themselves will be able to access and control their data. “We wanted to find a way to give children easier access to their own information, it’s their life story, and they deserve access to their data,” says Matt.

Launching Sugar and Liferay involved migrating thousands of case histories onto a single platform and training over 450 employees. It was a huge undertaking for Barnardos Australia, and the results have been equally significant.

Bringing nine systems together into one platform

With Sugar and Liferay, work at Barnardos Australia is completely transformed. Now, staff across the organisation rely on just one platform, not nine, to find and manage information.

Caseworkers save hours per day by using a single dashboard, instead of multiple systems, to write case notes, track incidents, and log invoices. “Sugar reduces duplicate work and streamlines processes so our teams have more time to work directly with children and their families,” explains Matt.

For carers, real-time information from Sugar ensures their Liferay-powered portals are always up to date. Carers can also submit incident reports via the portals, which automatically update in Sugar, resulting in faster communication and safer practices.

Meanwhile, government reporting teams no longer waste time searching for data, enabling them to generate reports in minutes. These faster, more accurate reports make it easier to secure funding, a significant improvement for the charity.

Improved reporting also enables more strategic planning. “It’s now much easier to track and measure outcomes across the 180 programs we run,” says Matt. “We can generate reports on specific program outcomes, assess them, and identify community trends in real-time.”

In short, Sugar and Liferay have redefined Barnardos Australia’s operational infrastructure. “What Sugar and Liferay are helping us do is support vulnerable children in recovering and thriving, so they can reach their brightest future. That’s our ultimate goal,” says Matt.