Overview

The principals of the consulting firm of Henderson, Hopper & Associates, LLC , have been working on information system software, “The Chameleon System”, for the past six years. Its development was the result of the frustration that some of our social service and educational agency clientele were experiencing in their attempts to meet the increasing demands for data to support program and grant evaluations, collect data for CQI (Continuous Quality Improvement), licensing, accreditation (e.g. Counsel On Accreditation [COA] ) accountability requirements and billing information for third party payers and HMO’s. Some had tried to use “off the shelf” relational data base programs and others, tragically, gave millions for custom software development to very reputable software firms and ended up with absolutely nothing that worked! It was clear to us that a major reason for such failures was linked to the fact that off the shelf and custom software firm’s products are oriented toward business and accounting practices—most had limited or no experience in developing software for child-serving non profit agencies. That, added to the fact that most of our clientele are from the non profit sector and could not afford the high costs associated with developing custom software in the conventional manner, led us to the realization that software applications designed by those involved in the child centered non-profit industry and designed specifically for this sector was desperately needed. We assembled a team of professionals with vast experience in the private non-profit sector and identified five critical characteristics that such software would require.

Its design had to start with the children’s/client's needs.
It had to be significantly less costly than other data systems.
It had to be “data driven”.
It had to be flexible.
It had to be “scaleable”.

Once this conceptual design was completed three programmers were brought onto the team and were challenged to write the code for a system designed specifically for the not for profit sector which would meet the characteristics we had identified as critical. While the initial design was targeted toward not for profit organizations, its flexibility makes it relevant and applicable for a broad range of uses in education, business, human services and other environments.