Our Mission

We in Boston University Development & Alumni Relations (DAR) harness the power of philanthropy to make an excellent education accessible and welcoming to all, and to advance BU’s global leadership in research, scholarship, artistic creation, and professional practice.  To support our work, we have built—and are continuing to build—an outstanding team of dynamic, mission-driven advancement professionals who constantly strive to create an environment where everyone belongs.  Where it’s not just about a job, but a career and a community.

Now, our Business Intelligence team is looking for a Salesforce Dashboard Author who will transform complex data into meaningful visualizations and reports that effectively communicate insights and trends to Boston University’s Development & Alumni Relations (DAR) leadership and its stakeholders.

Business Intelligence & Prospect Strategies at Boston University

The mission of Business Intelligence & Prospect Strategies is to uncover and provide data, information, knowledge, insight, and wisdom that will maximize impact for stakeholders and decision-makers within DAR, within Boston University, and beyond.

As such, Business Intelligence & Prospect Strategies is comprised of three teams: Business Intelligence, which optimizes the impact of data quantitatively and/or visually to achieve DAR business objectives, Research, which provides key wealth-, relationship-, and inclination-related details on individual constituents, and Prospect Management (PM), which oversees prospect-, portfolio-, and pathway-related processes, leading to developing strategies for its clients within DAR.

Leveraging industry best practices in computational philanthropy and prospect development, Business Intelligence & Prospect Strategies aims to support the engagement and fundraising efforts of DAR to not only meet but exceed its engagement and philanthropic goals.

Salesforce Dashboard Author

Reporting to the Senior Associate Director, Business Intelligence, the Salesforce Dashboard Author is responsible for leveraging data to drive strategic decision-making to maximize the impact of philanthropic efforts at Boston University with key tenets of this role being visualization, presentation, and consultation. This position also requires a deep understanding of data analysis and visualization techniques. As such, the Salesforce Dashboard Author will maintain advanced proficiency in cutting-edge analytical tools for computational philanthropy to fulfill this requirement.

Responsibilities involve the transformation of complex data into meaningful visualizations and reports that effectively communicate insights and trends to leadership and other stakeholders. The Salesforce Dashboard Author also provides comprehensive support for data analytics, synthesizing data from various sources to provide valuable insights and highlight opportunity to the unit. Finally, the Salesforce Dashboard Author will help develop a suite of new products, reports, and tools to support the daily operations of clients within Boston University’s Development & Alumni Relations (DAR).

Responsibilities:

Data Gathering & Transformation

·         Develop a firm understanding of where certain types of data are stored and how they can be accessed

·         Maintain a network of gate keepers/data owners/data professionals who can help troubleshoot issues or grant access

·         Extract, transform, and load (ETL) data for ingestion

·         Gather data from outside the unit via methods including data mining, benchmarking, etc. where applicable

·         Use scripting, programming languages, or analytical languages (such as DAX, R, Python) to make ETL fast, intelligible, and replicable

 

Analysis, Reporting, & Visualization

·         Evaluate performance, identify trends, and highlight opportunities within specific constituencies, segments, projects, and programs

·         Surface anomalies to the client and to leadership

·         Design coherent reporting vehicles, applications, and data visualizations

·         Provide the client with actionable insights, focusing on key takeaways while making granular data, methodologies, nuances, etc. available in appendices/footnotes

·         Use Salesforce data visualization tools such as Tableau CRM (Einstein Analytics), Lighting Experience dashboard, or Salesforce Classic dashboard to generate in-app visuals that are both insightful and dynamic

·         Use third-party data visualization tools such as Power BI, Tableau, or integrated development environments (IDEs) to generate reports that are both insightful and dynamic

 

Scoping & Consultation

·         Uncover the analytical or reporting needs of the client

·         Work with the client to determine the scope of work, confirming data requirements, deliverables, and timeline

·         Communicate with the client and leadership to set expectations, understanding the business rules and requirements involved

·         Anticipate asks that are seasonal or cyclical

·         Provide analytical consultation and training to a variety of end users, technical staff, and DAR colleagues

 

Presentation, Deliverables, and Project Handoff

·         Make actionable, evidence-based recommendations to the Senior Leadership Team, unit heads, and project stakeholders, being prepared to deliver concise insights in-person, virtually, or asynchronously , whether it be on a call or in PowerPoint, as well as being prepared to pivot if the medium of delivery changes

·         Make deliverables accessible to the client while maintaining appropriate levels of data security and/or anonymity via a least-privilege (POLP) approach to access

·         Automate tasks and processes when: (1) handoffs are impossible, (2) the team inherits a routine report or reporting duties, or (3) the client is not capable of maintaining the project/reproducing the results themselves

·         Close out and hand off completed projects to the client after the criteria of the project scope have been met

 

Communication

·         Develop a strong business communication skillset, employing the philosophies of answer-first communication and the Pyramid Principle

·         Be directive when suggesting a path forward, either in the context of delivering takeaways from a project or moving past obstacles

·         Develop and adhere to standard service-levels for response times and updates to build trust with clients

 

Process Improvement & Documentation

·         Build and maintain a comprehensive glossary of fundraising metrics, their data sources, and how to calculate them

·         Improve dashboard performance and organize curations in a logical, efficient sequence

·         Engage analysts and data professionals within BU and at peer universities for benchmarking analytical best practices

·         Monitor and share industry best practices and trends related to comprehensive campaigns, development, and alumni relations