User Guide¶

This guide walks you through using Stackmap to map your organisation's technology architecture.

1. Getting Started¶

What you need¶

A modern web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge)
About 30-60 minutes, depending on the size of your organisation
Knowledge of what software your organisation uses and how systems connect

Stackmap runs entirely in your browser. Your data is stored in your browser's local storage and never leaves your device.

Creating your organisation profile¶

When you first open Stackmap, you will be asked to set up your organisation:

Name — Your organisation's name
Type — Charity, social enterprise, council, cooperative, private business, or other
Size — Micro (1-5 staff), small (6-25), medium (26-100), or large (100+)
Staff count (optional) — Your full-time equivalent headcount, used for more accurate cost estimates
Annual turnover (optional) — In GBP

Your organisation type and size affect which system suggestions you see later in the wizard.

2. Choosing Your Path¶

Stackmap offers two ways to map your architecture. Both paths lead to the same result — choose whichever feels more natural.

Function-first: "Start with what we do"¶

Best for organisations that:

Do not think in terms of "services"
Want a more structured approach
Prefer to start with familiar categories like Finance, People, and Communications

You begin by selecting which organisational functions apply to you, then add the systems used for each function.

Service-first: "Start with what we deliver"¶

Best for organisations that:

Have clearly defined services they deliver
Think in terms of what they provide to users, clients, or beneficiaries
Want to map technology around their delivery model

You begin by listing your services, then add the systems that support them.

Not sure which to choose?

If your organisation is small and does not have clearly defined services, start with function-first. The standard functions (Finance, Governance, People, etc.) give you a solid scaffold to work from.

3. Function-First Wizard¶

Step 1: Select your functions¶

You will see a list of 8 standard organisational functions:

Function	Description
Finance	Financial management, accounting, budgeting, and reporting
Governance	Board management, compliance, policies, and organisational oversight
People	HR, recruitment, payroll, volunteering, and staff management
Fundraising	Donor management, grant applications, campaigns, and income tracking
Communications	External communications, marketing, social media, and website management
Service Delivery	Delivery of core services, programmes, and activities to beneficiaries
Operations	Day-to-day operations, facilities, logistics, and procurement
Data & Reporting	Impact measurement, data collection, analysis, and funder reporting

Select all the functions that apply to your organisation. You can also add custom functions if your work does not fit neatly into these categories.

Tip

Most organisations will select at least Finance, People, Communications, and Operations. Do not overthink it — you can always come back and adjust.

Step 2: Add systems for each function¶

For each function you selected, you will be asked: "What software do you use for [Function]?"

Stackmap suggests tools based on your organisation type and size. For example, a small charity selecting Finance might see suggestions for Xero, QuickBooks, and FreeAgent.

For each system you add, you can provide:

Name — The name of the software (e.g., "Xero", "Google Sheets")
Type — CRM, finance, HR, case management, spreadsheet, etc.
Vendor — Who makes it
Hosting — Cloud, on-premise, hybrid, or "don't know"
Status — Active, planned, retiring, or legacy
Cost — Amount, period (monthly/annual), and pricing model

A system can support multiple functions. If you have already added a system for a previous function, you will be able to link it rather than entering it again.

Step 3: Services (optional)¶

You will be asked: "Do you want to map specific services within these functions?"

This step is optional. If your organisation thinks in terms of services (e.g., "Advice sessions", "Youth programmes"), you can add them here and link them to the functions and systems you have already mapped.

If this is not relevant to your organisation, skip this step.

4. Service-First Wizard¶

Step 1: List your services¶

Add each service your organisation delivers:

Name — What the service is called (e.g., "Employment support", "Community meals")
Description — A brief description of what the service involves
Status — Active, planned, or retiring

Stackmap provides 10 service templates you can use as starting points:

Advice sessions
Grant distribution
Housing repairs
Youth programmes
Training courses
Community events
Counselling
Food bank
Advocacy & campaigns
Volunteer coordination

Selecting a template auto-populates suggested tools for that service type.

Step 2: Add systems¶

For each service, add the software used to deliver it. As with the function-first path, you can provide details about type, vendor, hosting, status, and cost.

Step 3: Tag functions¶

Tag each system with the organisational functions it supports. This categorises your systems for analysis and helps identify which functions are well-served and which have gaps.

5. Adding Systems¶

Whether you are on the function-first or service-first path, adding systems works the same way.

Suggested tools¶

Stackmap shows tool suggestions based on your organisation type, size, and the function or service you are mapping. Suggestions are drawn from a database of tools commonly used in the sector.

If a suggested tool has data in the known tools database, Stackmap can automatically provide:

Cost estimates with per-seat pricing
TechFreedom risk scores (if enabled)
Provider and category information

Manual entry¶

You can always add any system manually. Enter the name and fill in whatever details you know. Fields you leave blank can be completed later.

Cost information¶

For each system, you can record:

Amount — How much it costs
Period — Monthly or annual
Model — Subscription, perpetual licence, free, or unknown

If a tool is in the known tools database with pricing data, Stackmap will estimate costs automatically based on your organisation's staff count.

6. Data Categories¶

After adding systems, you will map the data your systems hold.

Adding data categories¶

For each system, tag the types of data it holds. Common categories include:

Client records
Financial transactions
Case notes
Staff records
Donor information
Contact details

Sensitivity levels¶

Each data category has a sensitivity level:

Level	Meaning
Public	Information that is or could be publicly available
Internal	Internal working information, not for public release
Confidential	Sensitive information requiring controlled access
Restricted	Highly sensitive data (safeguarding, health, legal)

Personal data flag¶

You can mark whether a data category contains personal data. This is useful for understanding your data protection obligations and GDPR exposure.

7. Integrations¶

The integrations step captures how your systems connect to each other.

Connection types¶

For each pair of connected systems, record:

Type	Description
API	Automated connection via programming interface
File transfer	Scheduled or manual file exchange (CSV, Excel, etc.)
Manual	Someone copies data between systems by hand
Webhook	Automated trigger-based notifications
Database link	Direct database connection
Unknown	You know they connect, but not how

Direction¶

One-way — Data flows from system A to system B only
Two-way — Data flows in both directions

Frequency¶

Real-time — Immediate, as changes happen
Scheduled — Regular intervals (daily, weekly, etc.)
On-demand — When someone triggers it
Unknown — Not sure how often

Integration honesty

Most small organisations do not have APIs — they have "Sarah exports it on Tuesdays." Stackmap is designed to capture this reality honestly. Selecting "Manual" as the integration type is completely valid and helps identify where automation might add value later.

8. Owners¶

Assign ownership for each system:

Name — The person or role responsible (e.g., "Finance Manager", "CEO", "External IT support")
Role — Their position
External — Whether they are outside your organisation (e.g., outsourced IT provider)
Contact info — Optional contact details

Ownership mapping helps with:

Understanding who to ask about a system
Identifying single points of failure (one person responsible for everything)
Planning handovers and succession

9. Review and Export¶

The final step shows a summary of your complete architecture map.

What you see¶

Organisation overview — Your org details and the mapping path you chose
Functions and services — What your organisation does
Systems — All the software you use, with cost and risk information
Data categories — What data you hold and its sensitivity
Integrations — How systems connect
Owners — Who is responsible

Architecture diagram¶

Stackmap generates a Mermaid diagram showing your systems and their relationships. This can be embedded in documents, wikis, or GitHub README files.

JSON export¶

Export your complete architecture as a JSON file. This produces a structured document containing all entities, relationships, and metadata. The JSON format can be:

Shared with colleagues
Imported into other tools
Stored in version control
Used for sector-wide aggregation

10. TechFreedom Risk Assessment¶

TechFreedom is an optional feature that assesses the risk profile of your technology stack across five dimensions.

What is TechFreedom?¶

TechFreedom scores each system in your architecture on a 1-5 scale across five risk dimensions:

Dimension	What it measures	Example risk
Jurisdiction	Where data is stored and under which legal regime	US-based service subject to CLOUD Act
Continuity	Risk of the service disappearing or changing terms	Startup with uncertain funding
Surveillance	Extent of data mining and telemetry	Advertising-funded platform profiling users
Lock-in	How difficult it is to export data and switch	Proprietary format with no export
Cost exposure	Risk of price increases	History of above-inflation price rises

Scores range from 1 (low risk) to 5 (critical risk).

How to enable TechFreedom¶

TechFreedom has a two-tier toggle:

App-level — Controls whether TechFreedom is available at all. This is a global setting.
Organisation-level — Even when enabled globally, individual organisations can opt out of risk assessment for their architecture.

Reading the results¶

Risk badges¶

Each system shows a risk badge with an overall risk level:

Low — Score 1-2, minimal concerns
Moderate — Score 2-3, some areas to watch
High — Score 3-4, significant concerns in one or more areas
Critical — Score 4-5, serious risks that need attention

Heatmap table¶

The TechFreedom analysis view shows a heatmap table with all your systems and their scores across the five dimensions. This makes it easy to spot patterns — for example, if all your systems score high on jurisdiction risk because they are US-based.

Radar chart¶

The radar chart shows the aggregate risk profile of your entire stack across all five dimensions. This gives a quick visual overview of where your organisation's technology risk is concentrated.

Pre-scored tools¶

Stackmap includes a database of over 130 commonly used tools with pre-scored risk assessments, covering:

AI tools — ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini, plus privacy-focused alternatives like Ollama, LM Studio, Mistral, and other local models
Productivity — Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, LibreOffice, OnlyOffice
CRM — Salesforce, HubSpot, CiviCRM, Lamplight, Dynamics 365, Donorfy, Beacon
Finance — Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, FreeAgent, Wave
Communication — Slack, Zoom, Teams, Element/Matrix, Whereby, BigBlueButton
Social media — LinkedIn, Meta, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Mastodon, Bluesky
Databases — Google Sheets, Excel, Access, Notion, Airtable, Baserow, NocoDB
Data visualisation — Power BI, Tableau, Looker Studio, Metabase
Geospatial — QGIS, ArcGIS, Google Maps, Mapbox, Felt
Hosting — AWS, Azure, Cloudflare, Netlify, Vercel
Payment — Stripe, GoCardless, PayPal, JustGiving
And more — project management, marketing, events, design, storage, messaging

When you add a system that matches a known tool, risk scores are populated automatically. You can override any score if you disagree with the assessment.

Each tool in the database includes risk assessments, pricing data (where available), and a description of key risks relevant to social purpose organisations.

11. Cost Overview¶

Stackmap estimates the annual cost of your technology stack based on the systems you have mapped.

How costs are estimated¶

Known tools with pricing data — If a system matches a tool in the database with detailed pricing, Stackmap calculates cost based on:
Your staff count (or default for your size band)
The tool's penetration rate (what fraction of staff need licences)
The most appropriate pricing tier for your user count
Known tools with base cost only — Scaled from a baseline of approximately 15 users
Manual entry — If you entered cost data for a system, that amount is used directly

Understanding the breakdown¶

Each system's cost estimate shows:

Annual total — Estimated yearly cost
Per seat — Cost per user per year (if applicable)
Seats — Number of licences estimated
Tier — Which pricing tier was selected
Breakdown — Human-readable explanation of how the cost was calculated

Size bands and defaults¶

If you have not specified your staff count, Stackmap uses defaults:

Size	Default staff
Micro	3
Small	15
Medium	60
Large	200

As you work through the wizard, a live sidebar shows your architecture map building up in real time.

How it works¶

The sidebar displays a simplified Mermaid diagram that updates automatically as you add functions, systems, services, and integrations. It provides a visual confirmation that your data is being captured correctly.

Tips¶

The sidebar is visible on larger screens. On mobile devices, you can toggle it.
Use it to spot gaps — if a function shows no systems, you may have missed something.
The sidebar provides contextual guidance based on the current wizard step.

13. Starting Over¶

Navigating between steps¶

The stepper at the top of the wizard is fully interactive. You can click any completed step to jump back and edit your data. Your entries are preserved — going back shows what you previously entered, and you can make changes without losing work in later steps.

On mobile, use the left and right arrows to navigate between steps.

Clearing data¶

To start completely fresh, go to the path selection page (the first step). If you have existing data, you will see a banner offering to "Start fresh." Click it, then confirm. This removes all data from your browser's local storage and cannot be undone.

Cost overview and overlap detection¶

The review step includes a cost overview showing:

Total annual cost of your technology stack
Breakdown by function — which areas cost the most
Most expensive systems — your top 3 by annual cost
Potential overlaps — where you have multiple systems of the same type under one function (e.g. two CRM systems in Fundraising), suggesting consolidation opportunities

Cost data is included in the JSON export.

Warning

Clearing data is permanent. If you want to keep a copy, export your architecture as JSON before clearing.