Social organisations appear when the society has certain needs that are not being satisfied by the marketplace or by public institutions. For example, despite of having a school system, some children do not learn how to read and write; despite of the fact that a the congress may have approved of a law, there are no effective mechanisms to control it being respected by the media; despite there being a democracy, the needs of certain social classes may not be prioritized by the public agenda, because the various classes have unequal competence in representating their necessities. NGOs aim to reverse parts of this disequilibrium and potential social injustices. Through their direction, organisations learn to follow a generic process of planning, execution and evaluation of their initiatives:

1. Analysis of society needs
2. Planning a project
3. Fundraising
4. Recruitment or mobilisation of a team to realize the project
5. Training of the team
6. Publication of the project and public enrollment
7. Execution of the project
8. Evaluation of the project
9. Publication of the results and initiation of a new cycle

The information which flows during this process needs to be managed with efficiency. To avoid redundant data and duplication of information, an integrated system that supports the entire process of managing an organisation is needed.

Some structural factors and unique aspects of a civil society complicate the efficient information flow. For instance:

• Lack of IT infrastructure;

• Frequent changes in management teams;

• Absence of permanent locations;

• Many volunteers with few hours of weekly involvement;

• High fluctuation in available volunteers.

These aspects distinct to NGOs, create a great demand for collaborative systems of project and knowledge management. Web applications are, therefore, necessary for a good cooperation between NGOs and their diverse stakeholders.

Networking with other organisations or institutions in the public sector is common for NGOs. There are various motivations for networking:

1. Lack of competition between social organisations Private enterprises are looking for competitive advantages and are not interested in sharing their informations about stretegies and internal working processes. The closer the various companies’ strategies are, the smaller the profit margin becomes. NGOs have distinct characteristics. They are aiming to satisfy a public need, therefore, it is beneficial to share the knowledge about their working methods with other organisations. This exchange of experiences enables the identification of best practices and continuous progress.

2. Complexity of social transformation The situations social organisationas are aiming to reverse are very complex. A single linear explanation of why many students quit school or why AIDS is spreading out in some African countries does not exist. To achieve significant changes, the organisations have to collaborate with others in order to develop complementary actions.

3. Impact on the public agenda Many organisations begin to work in limited areas, for example, a low income community, a native reservation or a single district. Over time, they manage to perfectionate their working method and achieve good results in their locations. To accomplish replication of these methods of social transformation, many organisations aim to impact the public agenda. To increase their influence on governamental institutions, NGOs usually co-operate with other organisations with similar goals in other reagions of the country.

To positively utilize these non-profit sector characteristics, it necessitated creating a Web application system which supports networking. Such a system is needed to enable social organisations to identify best practices, as well as promote social technologies.To be able to compare their activities, it is necessary for organisations to standardize their project planning and accountability. The system should organize the definition process for these standards.

For some years, the need for enhancing professionalism in the non-profit sector to increase its impact has been discussed. Various specialized courses for managers of social organisations were created. These courses have focused on knowledge about fundraising, strategic planning and administration of volunteers. But, NGOs continue with little knowledge about information and communication technology. Few organisations have employees with formation in IT. Therefore, the organisations have difficulties to install new software applications. Their competences in choosing, installing and customizing software often is unsatisfactory.

To promote an effective use of information and communication technologies in social organisations, IT systems of high usability are necessary. Furthermore, support in customization is needed.

Non-profit organisations generally have difficulties in financing the creation of information and communications applications. To realize their projects, organisations often seek grants given by governments or foundations. These grants mainly finance campaigns directly concentrating on society; for example educational projects for children from low-income families, vocational training for adolescents or income generation campaigns for native communities. Sometimes grants permit financing a simple Web site for publicity, but not the development of more complex tools like a project manager or a system which facilitates a census.

This difficulty with funds for IT in NGOs necessitated the creation of a particular institute - IT3S - to develop technologies for the non-profit sector. Since NGOs collaborate with more than they compete with each other, it seems possible to create one single information and communication system which would satisfiy the needs of a variety of organisations and that would be available at low cost or for free.

The non-profit sector has not yet standardized processes for project planning and accounting which are valid for certain countries or segments of actuation. Standards are important for a productive discussion between NGOs about their internal processes as well as about benchmarking. Another difficulty is the missing standard in contests promoting grants, published by the government or foundations. So far, when organisations seek a grant to finance one of their projects, they always have to addapt their strategic planning to the conditions of the contest. The accounting process shows the same difficulty. Management accounting systems used by the NGOs differ from monitoring mechanisms the government or institutes employ. As a result, missing standards generate a great deal of inefficiency and extra work.

Therefore, the system developped by IT3S should promote the construction of standards for strategic planning and accounting in the non-profit sector. And, in the interim before a standard has been established, the IT3S system should support various project planning models and facilitate the translation between them. However, to increase the value of this system and allow for standards to be set, the participation of governamental institutions and foundations in the requirement analysis process is indispensible.

Social organisations are confronted by an increasing demand to involve their stakeholders and present their activities transparently. These stakeholders are diverse, including sponsors, donors, beneficiaries and volunteers. Hence it is of importance that each user receives the information relevant to his interest.

The system IT3S is developing sustains the integration between social organisations and their diverse stakeholders. It allows for each user group to easily follow the information which is of interest to this group. It should also aim to facilitate the process of information supply, making use of information and news already existent on the system.

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