Salesforce Donor 360: Streamlining twenty year-Old Systems for Lifesaving Efficiency

NMDP | BE THE MATCH

The National Marrow Donor Program, formerly known as Be the Match, is the leading marrow registry in the U.S., focused on connecting blood cancer patients with life-saving donors. Through the Salesforce Donor 360 initiative, I was brought on as a Salesforce UX Design consultant to spearhead a digital transformation effort to replace the outdated Starlink web system—a 20-year-old platform used by Donor Experience Specialists. These specialists are crucial for reaching out to potential donors that might save lives.

Since previous consultancy efforts fell short, my role extended beyond designing user interfaces; I also took on the task of educating staff on building effective, user-focused technology solutions from the ground up, enhancing their ability to connect patients with donors efficiently.

ROLE

Salesforce UX Consultant

RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategy

Project Management

Research

Design and Prototyping

Context

The Salesforce Donor 360 initiative sought to consolidate NMDP's diverse systems into a single Salesforce platform, enhancing efficiency and simplifying workflows for Experience Specialists. Upon my arrival, the challenge was evident: data was fragmented across multiple platforms including Outlook, Oracle, WebEx, Word, Excel, and others, leading to confusion and inefficiency as specialists juggled information for numerous donors daily. Additionally, the lack of standardized processes hindered both efficiency and collaboration among team members. My role was to identify these friction points and implement solutions to streamline operations, ultimately speeding up the vital process of matching donors with patients in need.

CHALLENGEs

This initiative marked NMDP's first major effort to modernize the long-standing Starlink Web platform, creating significant learning opportunities for the team. Together, we embraced this challenge, emphasizing strong team dynamics and active involvement in the design process to ensure the right stakeholders' voice was heard. Many team members had ideas for years but lacked a clear path to understanding where to start. Faced with an ambitious agenda and additional projects from leadership, we strategically prioritized our tasks, ensuring an effective approach to achieve our goals: listening to each other, testing ideas and prioritizing, together. 

concept development

Through many discussions with experts at the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), I gained a deep understanding of their systems and processes, including the requests sent from transplant centers, to blood donation centers and the process of contacting potential donors. I learned how these systems interact, pinpointed friction points, and identified potential improvements by consolidating them within Salesforce.

Using this knowledge, I storyboarded these processes to clearly illustrate the complexities and problem areas for our internal teams. These insights revealed how discrepancies in data and initial processes could significantly impact the outcomes of matching donors with patients battling blood cell cancers.

key insights

A significant issue was that kits were often sent to incorrect addresses due to outdated information on potential donors. Additionally, Experience Specialists frequently placed orders for kits after hours on Fridays, causing delays. These delays could lead to potential donors being removed from the registry if they failed to confirm verbally within the 10-day deadline.

RESEARCH AND exploration

After numerous discussions, I developed prototypes and conducted user testing sessions with internal employees to refine our approach. This collaborative process increased confidence in our approach and helped us clearly prioritize short-term versus long-term objectives, while ensuring that we delivered impactful solutions.

OUTCOME

Within just four months, we launched a successful MVP for the Donor 360 project, earning high praise from the users set to operate it daily. My role extended beyond design; I empowered the team to deliver meaningful technology and devised a strategic plan for the year ahead. More than creating screen designs, I helped transform a long-held vision into reality, demonstrating how design facilitates team collaboration and alignment.