The success story of Netrise as narrated by Gabric and expressed by Ms. Parisa Ahmadzadeh; Deputy of Public Participation and Supportive Services at Gabric

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Where is Gabric?

Gabric started its activities in 2006 (1385 in the Iranian calendar) as a non-governmental organization with the goal of education and awareness regarding diabetes. The organization's effort is to correct society’s perception of diabetes and to move away from viewing it solely as a threat and source of concern, so that greater understanding can contribute to human health and growth. This non-governmental organization has five missions, which are as follows:

• Educating the general public to prevent diabetes
• Educating diabetics to prevent complications of diabetes
• Training medical and paramedical communities to provide better services
• Supportive services for diabetics in underserved areas
• Defending the rights of those with diabetes

The beginning of Gabric’s collaboration with Netrise

To implement the various aspects of these missions, Gabric needed an integrated, systematic, and precise system. For years, it maintained its information both on paper and in heavy Excel files, which was risky, time-consuming, and produced unreliable outputs. In 2014 (1393 in the Iranian calendar), collaboration between this organization and Netrise took place, resulting in the development of the MIS system for this NGO. The following will highlight some of the contributions of this system in better fulfilling the organization’s missions.

Organizing Information

One of Gabric’s main activities is providing free education to its three target groups: (individuals with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, along with pregnant women with diabetes). Each group receives tailored training, and even within the type 1 group, children are separated from adults, with parents also receiving separate training. This is because understanding the topic, appropriate behavior towards diabetic children, proper diet management, blood sugar testing, insulin injections, and other related topics all require training. Gabric has been active in this area from the very beginning. An updated list of individuals and the hours each has received training, along with the ability to review the impact of this training on their progress—based on medication amounts, dosages, or recorded blood glucose test results—is one of the outcomes of using the Netrise’s MIS system. This system essentially organizes data and enables easy search and analysis.

Dynamics of the MIS System

Another advantage of the MIS for Gabric is its scalability. As organizational needs evolve, the system provides a suitable platform to meet new requirements. A good example is counseling services, which became necessary after training sessions. Currently, the system organizes data such as the number of counseling hours, main discussion topics during counseling sessions, and more. Additionally, it allows searches for items like the number of counseling sessions within a specific period, from which Excel exports can also be generated. This significantly helps Gabric in preparing annual reports.

Using MIS in Professional External Communications

Gabric refers to its financial supporters as "helpers." Based on criteria such as the support amount, frequency, and recency, Gabric categorizes its contributors into seven groups, each with a specific engagement method. The MIS has helped Gabric identify individuals based on these criteria quickly and categorize them efficiently, which is crucial for NGOs as this functions as their vital lifeline.

Furthermore, by setting up automated SMS notifications in the MIS, many of the organization’s interactions with its audience are handled via this method—from sending membership codes and registration dates for training courses to recording payments made by helpers. This automation has freed the organization from creating WhatsApp groups, sending high-risk broadcast messages, and similar tasks.

Statistical Data and Output Reports

Another benefit of the MIS for Gabric is its statistical data and reports, which the organization frequently uses for presentations. The report generator feature allows generating various metrics from the data by applying different parameters, easing the burden of data organization, interpretation, and visualization. For example, in providing statistical information related to helpers, the first payment of each individual is recorded, and a form is generated. From that point on, the individual’s transactions are stored, enabling the organization to view the total support provided over a year and, if support continues, to monitor support year by year.

 

Everyday Supportive and Responsive

Gabric’s communication with Netrise has been through tickets, which are usually responded to in the shortest possible time. However, in many cases where the topic required further analysis or explanation, a phone discussion was possible, and most often, the outcome was documented as a ticket to record the process. Perhaps it can be said that Netrise’s responsiveness is the best aspect of this collaboration experience, which always provides us with peace of mind and confidence.