Tag Archives: Kintera Connect

Making Sense Out of Data Integration

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Peter Campbell, IT Director of Earthjustice and author of Tech Cafeteria has published a wonderful primer on data integration, Understanding the Alphabet Soup of Data Integration.  Thanks to Idealware, which sponsored this article.

Exchanging data between applications can be done in a variety of ways, but many can be difficult to grasp.  Peter offers a clear explanation of how data can be stored, types of data formats and methods to transfer data, as well as how APIs are used.  What I found especially useful was his section on how to identify “data exchange friendly software,” in ways such as “Can I do data exports” and “Is there an API available?”

Tate Hausman who issued his Integration Proclamation also recently described to me how he is attempting to manage an integration project between SalesForce and Democracy in Action, two applications often used by nonprofits.

It’s clear that being able to share data is finally getting some attention, as evidenced by the recent announcements of Kintera’ Connect and Convio Open.  Wouldn’t it be nice if eventually we could select the applications that are best for each of our needs, and easily move data between them.

My take: data integration must be discussed before products are chosen;  if they don’t connect, look for an alternative that does.  Vendors must also do more to make this area understandable by non-programmers.  Why is this important for online fundraising?  Because everyone in a nonprofit needs to have access to the same information about constituents (not just development), and it shouldn’t be different depending on which internal system you use.

Report from NYC Joomla Day

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Sat, Oct. 13 I attended the NYC Joomla Day run by PICnet and sponsored by Google.  Joomla is currently the most popular open source CMS (Drupal and Plone are also widely used).

As a relatively new Joomla user, I found the ‘Joomla 101′ session helpful.  Louis Landry, a core Joomla developer, also reviewed the history of the development of upcoming 1.5 version and why it has taken a while to be released (it will be fully internationalized).

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I am a big believer in data integration, and that applications should be able to share data with each other.  (I’m not alone in this effort – see the Integration Proclamation.)  Ryan Cozimek of PICnet led an afternoon session to explain why integration of CMS & CRM products is important.   Some benefits include allowing constituents to manage their profile on the web, providing a way to search data in inventory systems, making available help tickets to users and allowing for ACLs – access control lists, as a way to customize web site content.  PICnet is currently developing tools to integrate Joomla with SalesForce and Democracy in Action.  Recently announced integration initiatives by the big nonprofit vendors are Kintera Connect and Convio Open.

If your organization doesn’t have an current web site because it takes too much time to update content, using a content management system will help. With an active community and developer base, Joomla looks like the strongest option in the open source CMS market.

A New Day at Kintera

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Since my current organization has used Kintera since January 2005, I eagerly signed up for yesterday’s Nten conference call with Scott Crowder, who joined the firm as Chief Technology Officer earlier this year.  Although I’ve raised nearly $7 million in online fundraising revenues, working with Kintera has been a challenge, especially when trying to integrate with Raiser’s Edge, our offline fundraising software.

In addition to Scott’s arrival, Kintera also hired a new Chief Executive earlier this year, Richard LaBarbera, replacing the firm’s founder who had long held the position.  Recently, Kintera announced a new initiative - Kintera Connectwhich promised a new approach to integrating with other systems, a complete reversal from Kintera’s past strategy.  However, when few details of this program were available, I feared this was mostly talk with little substance.

By agreeing to do yesterday’s call, Scott made himself available for questions by the entire Nten community.  Although Kintera Connect was a main topic, he also addressed many other issues including one that Kintera has always sought to bury – the company’s financial viability.  After detailing many new technical initiatives currently in process, Scott described the firm’s goal of reaching profitability later this year and that they are “almost there now.”

Scott also described how Kintera no longer wants to do “everything for everybody,’ which has led to it having a product which tries to do too many things, not all which it does well.  By opening up to tie in with other systems, Kintera seems to now realize that it must focus on its strengths: e.g. CRM, CMS, advocacy, and leave the rest to others.

Other announcements included:

  1. implementation of Akamai technology to enhance performance
  2. data center migration
  3. sharp increase in capacity to send mass emails
  4. enhanced CMS, replacing current system

Although I’ve often been a critic of Kintera in the past, this conference call shows that the new management at Kintera is determined to set things right.  I’ll wait and see if the results equal the promise, but Scott’s willingness to talk openly is a promising sign.  A recording of the conference call is available at Nten’s site.