Overcoming 20 Years of Tech Frustration: How Mental Health Association of Oklahoma Unlocked Data to Stave Off Financial Crisis
MHAOK IT Director JP Taylor (Middle) with Provisio CEO Travis Bloomfield & Consultant Evan Bloomfield
“To be quite honest with you, I'm not sure why Provisio is not the only vendor on the planet for anything Salesforce related, because Provisio runs circles around people. I can tell you that from my own experience."
— JP Taylor, Director of IT, Mental Health Association of Oklahoma
The Backstory: $615k Wasted on Failed Solutions
For nearly 20 years, the Mental Health Association of Oklahoma struggled to capture client data in Salesforce, and it caused funders to begin to lose trust in them. They couldn’t prove client outcomes or verify how grant money was being used, and funders began pulling the plug on critical programs. Because MHAOK does not bill Medicaid and relies 100% on grants and foundations, this was an existential financial crisis.
To address this, MHAOK moved to adopt Salesforce to enhance data tracking and reporting. However, two implementation partners it worked with failed to deliver results, and the organization ended up wasting roughly about $615,000 on those projects. Staff then reverted back to tracking complex clinical, outreach, and housing services across hundreds of manual spreadsheets. MHAOK needed urgent help to make this technology work or funding was going to dry up.
"If we would have known Provisio was this good, this efficient, and able to manage these projects so quickly and way under budget, we could have saved half a million dollars and brought our programs online so much quicker to help people on the streets."
— JP Taylor, Director of IT, Mental Health Association of Oklahoma
The Provisio Turning Point: Replacing Complexity with Immediate Usability
MHAOK’s Street Outreach Team in Tulsa and Rapid Response Team in Oklahoma City meet people experiencing homelessness wherever they are to provide wraparound services.
Recommended directly by MHAOK’s Salesforce account executive, Provisio stepped in with a different approach. While previous vendors had over-engineered the system with complex solutions that didn't match how staff actually worked, Provisio standardized MHAOK’s architecture on Salesforce's native Nonprofit Cloud Case Management (NCCM) and Program Management Module (PMM). Because the system was tailored for the staff’s real, everyday workflows, it simplified the entire process. And along the way, Provisio provided weekly progress reporting that immediately restored executive and board confidence.
Provisio streamlined operations across 16 programs through these customized Salesforce workflows:
Mobile Medical Unit (Oklahoma City & Tulsa): Serves 3,800 individuals annually in partnership with the University of Oklahoma, saving $1.2M in county ER visits. Provisio replaced pen-and-paper site assessments and after-hours spreadsheet entry with live in-field digital intake.
Embark (OKC) vs. Better Way (Tulsa): MHAOK needed to track city-donated bus pass allocations for OKC’s Embark program separately from Tulsa’s Better Way program. Provisio deployed the inventory separation logic within a single day.
Denver House Drop-In Center (Tulsa): A high-volume day center providing food, shelter, and medical triage. Intake staff previously generated 4 to 5 paper spreadsheets per employee per day, creating massive reporting backlogs. Provisio built a unified check-in flow that shortened client lines and automated monthly reporting.
MHAOK reduces ER visits & public dollars via mobile medical care
“That's how good Provisio is. It's unbelievable. I am not impressed by anything, and Provisio impressed me out of the gate. I mean, I'm trying to find things to nitpick at with Provisio. I can't find a thing. Nothing. They're just unbelievable. They care. They listen. And every single thing that they hear from our program leaders, they capture all that data and put it into that program."
— JP Taylor, Director of IT, Mental Health Association of Oklahoma
Proving Their Impact: Restoring Board Trust and Funder Support
In approximately one year, Provisio accomplished what previous vendors failed to deliver in nine years—all under budget. By modernizing two decades of legacy Salesforce setup, Provisio empowered MHAOK with a system that better serves unhoused and vulnerable Oklahomans across Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Also, MHAOK leadership now holds powerful demographic and programmatic dashboards across both major metropolitan hubs, renewing confidence with their funders and their board. Funding now flows without hesitation to their programs.
“Nobody could help us. Guess what? Provisio came in, saved the day. I was so elated. I just couldn't believe it. I was like, 'Man, these guys know what they're doing.'”
— JP Taylor, Director of IT, Mental Health Association of Oklahoma
On their official Salesforce survey, MHAOK awarded Provisio perfect 5s across the board, writing:
"Provisio is the most efficient team of Salesforce developers we have ever worked with... After 20 years of having Salesforce in our environment, we are finally able to capture data for the clients we support... It's the best bang for our buck that we have ever experienced... Life savers and rockstars!"
A Stable, Scalable Technology Foundation for Future Innovation
With clean data now and the right systems now in place, MHAOK is now able to plan for future automation as well. The stable foundation now positions the organization to integrate third-party digital forms and prepare their data architecture for future Salesforce AI capabilities.
"The train keeps moving because they understand the nonprofit world. They understand how critical this stuff is to get this stuff online quickly. Get it done as efficiently and quickly as possible and under budget as possible. And I will say Provisio has always worked with us from a financial perspective to help us get through these things … They have worked with us tremendously to help bring these programs online in an efficient manner under budget. And our board could not be happier."
— JP Taylor, Director of IT, Mental Health Association of Oklahoma
Inspired by MHAOK’s story? Let’s talk about how Provisio can help your organization too!
