A presentation from NTC 2009 by Jon Stahl, Christopher Johnson and Steve Andersen. Demonstrates real-world integration of Plone, Salesforce and other supporting apps to create flexible, powerful online engagement solutions for nonprofits.
An Open Civic Engagement Platform: Plone, Salesforce and Friends
1. An Open Civic Engagement Platform
A New Generation of Tools That Play Nice Together
Jon Stahl - ONE/Northwest
Chris Johnson - ifPeople
Steve Andersen - ONE/Northwest
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
3. Software Evolution
Parallel and complimentary
trends:
1) Software that lives online
Desktop -->
Client/Server -->
quot;Software as a servicequot;
+Web APIs
2) Software that shares
Programs that do everything
and share with nobody -->
Programs that do one thing well
and assume they need to play
nice with others.
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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4. Monolithic
software
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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Monolithic software does many things moderately well, but few components are quot;best of breed.quot; No choice.
Tends to be all-or-nothing. Rarely communicates well with others. Raisers Edge is a classic example.
5. Alternative: Hybrid vigor
(Our friend the Goldendoodle)
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An alternative vision: multiple pieces that are independent. Each is chosen because it best fits your needs. The
play nicely together because they all assume they are part of a larger system.
Allows for each piece to evolve independently (and thus more rapdily).
Allows you to not spend money on elements you don't need.
Leverage great work that the market is providing.
Mix open-source, closed-source, custom software and services.
9. API - Application Programming Interface. An element of a software system that
allows other products to exchange data.
Open API an API that is publicly documented and available without cost to its intended
audiences.
Web Services API a generic term for APIs that are built to be used quot;over the
internetquot; -- by software systems on entirely separate servers.
SOAP - Simple Object Access Protocol. A widely used standard for building web
services APIs.
REST - REpresentational State Transfer. Another widely used standard for
building web services APIs. Simpler than SOAP but less powerful in some ways.
CRM - Constituent Relationship Management. A database of people.
CMS - Content Management System. A database-driven website.
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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10. Demos
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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13. Goals
• Build a database of eco-healthy childcare
providers who’ve completed a certification
checklist
• Connect parents with eco-healthy child
care providers
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14. A quot;reverse mulletquot;
web app
A fancy front-end, but all
business in back.
: A Plone website presents
data stored in
Salesforce.com
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22. Problem:
200+
requests per
month
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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23. Goals
• Allow efficient “team coverage” of
speaking, information and media
requests.
• Accumulate a database of interested
people for long term organizing &
followup.
• Track and report on all of this activity
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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24. Plone and
Salesforce to
the rescue
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25. All requests
come in
through a form
• Built in Plone
• Easy to edit
• Dumps directly to
Salesforce
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26. Request dashboard in Salesforce
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27. A single request
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28. Send a templated email response - fast!
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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30. Goal: Grow online revenue
• Connect donors more
intimately with impact their
contribution has
• Make the giving process
easier
• Make tracking and
reporting on giving easier
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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41. Verified Contacts Now in the Loop
• Added to printed newsletter (managed by Conga)
• Added to email list (managed by VerticalResponse)
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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42. All web donations roll up to campaign report
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44. Strengths
Platforms with a future: hosted apps constantly
upgrading, open source has strong support.
Low entry cost, pay only for what you eat.
High end tools provide lots of headroom for growth
Weaknesses
Demands rigorous understanding of your processes
Easy to underestimate implementation & learning
effort
Multiple moving parts require coordination
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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Chris
46. • Basic websites + simple integration: $10k-20k
and up. 3-4 months.
• Basic CRM database $8-15k and up. 3-4 months.
o Wildcard: data migration
• Email broadcasting & online activism: $1k-2k
setup, plus ongoing costs ($50/month and up).
1-2 months.
• Custom integration functionality: varies widely.
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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Steve + Chris
47. Making
engagement
platform projects
successful
Stakeholders
Articulating requirements
Chunking/phasing
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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Stakeholder involvement: this will involve your whole organization! Be prepared to have to deal with
o
organizational change, challenges, and diplomacy (aka, the technology is the easy part!)
Product Owner: someone in the organization with authority to decide, point of reference to
consultant(s) throughout project, determines priorities.
Stakeholders: cross-functional internal stakeholders; may also include external stakeholder. Involv
throughout process.
This is hard! Good consultants will expect to help guide you through this.
o Articulating your requirements
Know where you want to get to, but be open about the road
Avoid pre-maturely articulating requirements
Work with consultant to articulate what you really need
Focus on your goals, your mission, your business processes, and how you imagine new systems
helping you improve your business processes.
Holistic projects often raise deep and uncomfortable questions about what your organization does,
how it does it and why. Be prepared to grapple.
o Chunking/phasing projects (web, CRM, etc.)
All things being equal (and sometimes they're not), try to start with your CRM and work outwards f
there. (Why? Relationships with people are the heart of your work.)
Discovery scope
CRM
Website
Email broadcasting
Iterate - work back through elements and develop additional, discrete features and
improvements or integrate new tools into your mix.
You have limited attention; try to focus on one thing at a time.
You will learn as you go! Allow time to consolidate your gains and learn from experience before
introducing additional changes.
49. Roles and Skills You Need
Skills
Roles
• Project management
• Executive
• Ability to investigate &
resources, leadership
articulate your
support & vision
business requirements
• Program staff who
• Collaboration and
will be using these
negotiation
systems daily
• Operations & technical
• Communications
implementation
• Organizers
• Ongoing training/
• Fundraising
support
• IT
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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50. Finding vendors
who can balance
and juggle.
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You need people who can juggle AND balance.
Any vendors in the room?
51. More information
Plone: plone.org
Consultants and example sites: plone.net
Salesforce.com:
http://salesforcefoundation.org (donations, info)
AppExchange: http://sites.force.com/appexchange
Plone-Salesforce Integration:
http://groups.google.com/group/plonesf
http://snurl.com/plonesfdoc (documentation)
ONE/Northwest: http://onenw.org
twitter: @onenw @jonstahl @gokubi
ifPeople: http://ifpeople.net
twitter: @nomadslounge
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
