Assemble launch delay

As you may know, the launch of our new volunteer management system (Assemble) is part of a wider data and IT project in the organisation, called Project Sage. The project team has been meeting regularly to assess whether all the key milestones are being met to enable the launch of the systems involved in the project.

At a meeting on 13 February, it was determined that not everything had fallen into place. So, we took the decision to delay the ‘go live’ date.

This isn’t a reflection on the readiness of the Assemble system but highlights just how complex large-scale data and IT projects are. While we’re moving in the right direction, some hurdles are taking longer to clear than anticipated.

What are we up to now?

The good news is that the delay to launch gives us more time to update volunteer information and group handbook content, ready to be accessed through Assemble’s ‘Document Hub’ when we retire the volunteer website. The extra time will also help to ensure that the processes we’ve designed are as smooth as possible.

What should volunteers do in the meantime?

Until all volunteers have access to the new systems and processes relevant for their roles, including Assemble, the volunteer website will be available with the latest news and information.

Unfortunately, we’ve also hit technical issues in developing a new process to give volunteers direct access to contact information for groups. For now, please continue to email the Volunteer Support Team at [email protected] to get access to this information. Thank you again for your patience whilst we resolve this.

We’ll provide further updates once we have more clarity on the timescale for system launch.