Are You an Accidental Quickbase Admin?

	App Inheritance Resources
	90-days to Admin Ownership
	Getting Control (Days 1-30)
	Getting Clear (Days 30-60)
	Getting Creative (Days 60-90)
	Staying On Top of Change (Days 90+)
	Inheriting Apps VS Inheriting Accounts

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Quickbase Resources

90-days to Admin Ownership

To help out new admins, our framework approaches this transition in three 30-day increments. Each increment has key questions you should be asking and exercises in our workbook

We highly recommend attending our On-Demand webinar and making use of the workbook linked above, but you can find a high-level outline of what we will cover below.

Getting Control (Day 1-30)

Whether you have inherited just a single app or an entire account, it is important to make sure you understand how your organization wants to use Quickbase. Then you can identify and document the priority apps your team is relying on.

Understand your organization

Start by touching base with your team to make sure you understand how your account and apps contribute to your success. This should include understanding:

What are your organization's goals for using Quickbase? What are your key metrics? What challenges are your org/team facing that need to be solved in the short-term? e.g. Is there a process that isn’t currently working? Do you need to finish an app on a specific timeline? Do you need to onboard new team members to your account?, etc. Are there any specific apps that aren’t working or any groups that have a problem with your current apps? What are the key processes your organization relies on that run in Quickbase?

Get to know your Quickbase account and priority apps

Now that you understand what is important for your organization and team,you can focus on getting to know:

Who else at your organization is using Quickbase? Do you have another account admin or app admin you can work with? Who are the teams and users accessing your apps? Your Quickbase Account Team Do you know your Quickbase account team? They can help you with any billing or account questions you might have. Your Quickbase Plan Do you know what plan you're on? Your plan will dictate what features you have access to. You can find your plan listed on your Account Summary page and learn more about our plans here. Which apps in your account are a priority for your attention? Use our App Prioritization worksheet with your team to identify your priority apps. When in doubt these might be the apps with a high number of users or that support an important workflow in your business.

Tip: As an account admin you can find information on your account team and plan in our Account Summary page.

You can also find out more about the features you have access to in each plan here. If you are an app admin you would want to connect with your organization's account admin to get help finding out this information.

Getting Clear (Day 30-60)

Now that you have gotten to know your account and have a better idea where you need to focus it is time to start digging deeper into the apps you identified as being a top priority and keep building your Quickbase skills.

For each of your priority apps you should use the Quickbase Application Analysis Worksheet in the workbook (or your preferred method of documentation) to make sure you know: What it was built to do originally What was added to it over time Who the key people to talk to about this app are What business process this app solves How the app is set up Does it makes use of any integrations Does it make use of automations (Pipelines or otherwise?) How are people actually using the app

Once you know more about your app you can start the process of mapping out its structure. You can identify the tables and fields you use to collect data and the relationships that connected them together. You can use a tool like LucidChart, Miro, or a Word doc to help you map out the structure of your app or even do it by hand.

You don't have to answer all these questions and map out your apps alone. You can gain valuable information from your app’s users. Use our App Inheritance workbook and webinar for advice on interviewing these users. Once you know your app better, we recommend reviewing the training available at Quickbase University for any topics you want to add to your own learning plan.

Getting Creative (Day 60-90)

Now that you have documented your most important apps and know how they are being used you can figure out your ideal state and what changes you need to make to get there.

Connect with your team on important questions like:

• What changes would delight your users?

• What can you automate to do away with manual work?

• What would help make their jobs easier?

Tip: You can find a feedback app in our Exchange to help you capture feedback on your apps. Many successful admins use a feedback app to manage suggestions and requests in their accounts, and it makes a great resource for staying aware of your user’s needs.

Compare your ideal state to your current state

Using our Application Changes Worksheet, or your own preferred method, you can now start to identify the changes that need to be made in each app to support your ideal state. This could be small changes that need to happen soon to fix a process or bigger changes you want to make to your app. This worksheet will help you identify the changes you need to make, who will be responsible for it, and the priority of this change.

This exercise will help you scope out the changes you want to make and how much time you need to devote to them. If you find yourself with too much on your plate, this is also a great way of identifying if you need more app or account admins to help support your plans. Once you have your plan you are ready to get your team to work. 

Staying On Top of Change
(Being an Admin After Day 90) 

At this stage you have completed your first 90 days as a new admin and have identified your companies' goals, found your most important apps, and created a plan for the work you need to do to support your team. The long-term path to success should include making sure you:

Keep up to date on product changes Stay up to date on our monthly release notes Join a webinar to help expand your skills  Join our Qrew discussions and discover a Qrew network to join Maintain your processes Determine a regular cadence to assess your apps Create an end user feedback loop Document what you’ve learned Continue building value  Keep optimizing your apps  Build new apps to support new teams or new workflows in your business  Train someone to help you build and maintain apps

Tip: We recommend every admin stays up to date on product changes in Quickbase including new features and encourage their team to give continuous feedback on how they can make their account and apps better. 

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Inheriting Applications VS Inheriting an Account

If you are taking over an account one of your best resources is going to be the app admins who manage the apps on your account. They will likely be a wealth of information on the apps they manage and what support they need to keep them running successfully. This is also a great time to identify any of your apps that don’t currently have an active admin. 

If you are taking over one or more apps as a new app admin instead you should also make sure you know the other app admins at your org as they might information and skills that will help you get up to speed. You should also make sure you know your organization’s account admin as they will know more about what plan you are on and features you have access to as a result, your account overall, and are a great resource when you need help.

Your organization’s goals for using Quickbase and any key metrics your leadership cares about to track success Challenges you face either in your organization or team that need to be addressed in the short term (e.g. Is there a process that isn’t currently working? Do you need to finish an app on a specific timeline? Do you need to onboard new team members to your account?, etc.) Are there any specific apps that aren’t working or any groups that have a problem with your current apps? What are the key processes your organization relies on that run in Quickbase?

This is to help you manage these new apps while transitioning your work, but if you find you can move ahead faster than that you do not have to wait that long. Each section will have advice for new account admins as well as those who are just taking over a new app and could use some help getting familiar with it.

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Now that you know what your team requires, you should take the documentation you’ve produced so far and identify what needs to change within Quickbase and start doing the work. This could include making sure you are familiar with recent features your account isn’t using and take training to gain the skills you need. Then you can use the Application Changes Worksheet from our workbook on your apps to help you document out what needs to change, who is responsible for it, and what the priority is of each change. Once you have a plan you and your team are ready to start making these changes and going beyond just getting to know your app and into truly taking ownership of them.