Frequently Asked Questions


Below is a list of questions we frequently hear from agencies considering iCarol. Feel free to contact us for any other inquiries you may have.


Last updated March 2008

What is included in the free trial and ongoing subscriptions?

Alot. We've devoted a full page to describe this (please click here).

Do you comply with European and United Kingdom Data Protection requirements?

Yes. Our servers are in Canada, which has been designated as one of several countries with adequate legal safeguards so that EU and UK personal information can reside here. Click here to learn more.


How long have you been in existence? 

We began building iCarol in 2003, and it first launched in 2004. Here's a bit more of our background.

How many agencies now use the program?

Although we don't share exact figures publicly, we can say there are thousands of people using iCarol, with 1 or 2 new agencies signing up every week.

What technology do you use? Do you use SQL Server?

We run on Microsoft's most advanced and powerful set of platforms, including the .Net Framework 3.5, Windows Server 2003, and SQL Server 2005. These are the same components used by many large and trusted corporations and websites, like the NASDAQ stock exchange, Dell Computers, British Telecom, and thousands more.

Could we have references from existing clients?

Definitely. In addition to a sampling of agencies listed on the Clients page, we can furnish several references upon request. Our subscribing agencies are very enthusiastic advocates of ours, and happy to speak or email with people considering iCarol.

What additional costs, beyond the stated charges, could there be for set-up?  For on-going support/maintenance?

Your one-time setup fee covers everything we need to get you started, and your monthly subscription includes all support, maintenance, security, data storage, backups and updates. (Rates are shown here.)

Monthly subscription includes “designated amount of call reports”—does this mean a set amount of reports only?

Yes, it gives you the capacity to do the number of call reports corresponding to your subscription level. There are no other limits to how many other things (volunteers, referral agencies, news items, etc) you can enter.

What happens if we place a system issue call at 9 PM Saturday night? 

Our support package includes less than 1 calendar day response on any issue affecting system downtime, and 1 business day response on any other issue submitted by phone or email. We monitor the system very closely and usually know before anyone else if there is a system downtime issue. Our response time has been so good in this area that our uptime since we started using a third party to monitor it (in April 2005) is 99.942%, which is considered better than world class.

What should an agency know about setting up and using iCarol?

In the first few weeks of your trial, we work very closely with you to configure and modify iCarol so it closely represents the way your agency worked before using iCarol. We are very accessible to answer your questions and take feature requests throughout your trial and subscription.

What sort of time commitment is there from agency staff to facilitate the transfer/start-up?

It does vary based on the size and complexity of the agency, as well as the degree to which you have you existing information in a spreadsheet format that’s easy for us to import.

At one end of the spectrum, with information well organized in spreadsheets, the ‘Setup’ stage is done in less than a week.

At the other end of the spectrum (usually with larger agencies), this stage is about one man-week of actual work time that people seem to spread over 4-6 weeks to accommodate their other responsibilities.

The training stage is about another month, although this is basically a blend of learning the system and actually using it for your work responsibilities.

What expectations should we have for training staff?  Do you provide a suggested manual, or prepared material?

We have a standard PowerPoint presentation with an overview and a number of explanatory screen shots that is very useful for training your staff and volunteers. We also have a User’s Manual and online training videos inside of iCarol that anyone can access at any time.

And we offer to do a training session to your staff and volunteers over the phone and web. Although we’ve offered this for every agency who has joined, no one has yet taken us up on this. Once they start using the system they see that most people will pick it up themselves, and the few that don’t will learn from these tools and from the enthusiastic advocates in your agency.

What about computer novices, and people who say they'll never use a computer?

iCarol is as easy to use as email. Even computer novices quickly learn how to use it. Of course in every agency you can expect some people to resist using any computer system. In such cases, a little time spent showing them how easy it is to use often gets them comfortable with iCarol. Still, some may just never use any software - and iCarol has special roles and methods that let other staff and volunteers enter information on their behalf.