Rape Crisis Network Ireland

Striving for social, political and cultural change since 1985, Rape Crisis Network Ireland (RCNI) is a specialist information and resource centre committed to the eradication of rape and all forms of sexual violence. The organisation provides essential services, such as legal support to survivors and building expertise to respond to sexual violence, while collecting information about survivor experiences that is then channelled into powerful data used to inform policy makers and drive social change.  

With 16 rape crisis centres across Ireland, RCNI struggled to get an accurate representation of service consumption trends and patterns of sexual abuse across Ireland due to fragmented systems. Not only is such information essential for funding applications and service planning, but it plays a key role in lobbying for social change. 

As an organisation with survivor and service usage data at the core of operations, RCNI needed to unite information systems among its member rape crisis centres. RCNI reached out to Microsoft Business Technology Consultancy, Storm Technology, embarking on what would become a long-term collaborative project. One that would see the development of a centralised database for consolidating data across the network of rape crisis centres. 

The project began with the development of the .NET database. However, the database was more recently migrated to a cloud-based system, Microsoft Dynamics 365, to deliver the scalability needed to meet the growing demand for RCNI services and leverage new technology and security advancements. Centralising survivor data has transformed reporting on service usage and patterns of abuse, while automated workflows have helped improve communications management, reducing pressure on RCNI staff. This new system is fully customised to match the capabilities of the legacy solution while providing the flexibility to meet both new and future functionality requirements.