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

Agenda
1.Intros/warmup
2.Throatclearing
3.Demostrations
4.Discussion
5.Questions
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Software Evolution
Parallel and complimentary
trends:
1) Software that lives online
Desktop -->
Client/Server -->
\"Software as a service\"
+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
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Monolithic
software
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Monolithic software does many things moderately well, but few components are \"best of breed.\" No choice.
Tends to be all-or-nothing. Rarely communicates well with others. Raisers Edge is a classic example.

Alternative: Hybrid vigor
(Our friend the Goldendoodle)
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
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.

...and many more!
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Small pieces, loosely joined can be very powerful
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

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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 \"over the
internet\" -- 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
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Demos
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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11
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Oregon Environmental Council
Eco-Healthy Child Care
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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Goals
• Build a database of eco-healthy childcare
providers who’ve completed a certification
checklist
• Connect parents with eco-healthy child
care providers
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

A \"reverse mullet\"
web app
A fancy front-end, but all
business in back.
: A Plone website presents
data stored in
Salesforce.com
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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Finding childcare providers on a Google map,
by state and city.
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Finding childcare providers on a Google map,
by state and city.
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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New childcare providers can request a
certification packet.
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
Provider information flows directly into Salesforce
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Inquiry Handling System
Plone + Salesforce
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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Van Jones
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Problem:
200+
requests per
month
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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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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Plone and
Salesforce to
the rescue
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

All requests
come in
through a form
• Built in Plone
• Easy to edit
• Dumps directly to
Salesforce
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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Request dashboard in Salesforce
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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A single request
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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Send a templated email response - fast!
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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Online Donations
Plone + Salesforce
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

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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Example product page
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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Shopping cart and additional donations
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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Checkout = Valuable Information
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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User data
04/23/09
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data
order
payment
04/23/09
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

data
order
payment
contact

 opportunity
 dona1on details
04/23/09
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Dumped into unverified contacts
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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Contact record with donation
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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Donation details include products
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

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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All web donations roll up to campaign report
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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Strengths and Weaknesses
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
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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
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Chris

What will it cost?
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

• 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
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Steve + Chris

Making
engagement
platform projects
successful
Stakeholders
Articulating requirements
Chunking/phasing
Questions: http://is.gd/tVgk
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
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.

A holistic approach
can be uncomfortable.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

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
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Finding vendors
who can balance
and juggle.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
You need people who can juggle AND balance.
Any vendors in the room?

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

Thanks, Flickr users!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/taylormiles/601779414/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/55079705@N00/2869549151/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/45238005@N00/129823044/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/senorwences/2366892425/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69319106@N00/2925035414/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greenery/3365081/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51614546@N00/12877197/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22384185@N08/2608411576/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7159451@N02/420404675/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/18650097@N08/2323398662/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11657252@N06/3007393167/
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Questions
Tuesday, May 5, 2009