[software] Rapport2 (was Re: OffstageArts and CiviCRM)

[Bob F]

> Every non-profit has a different workflow, and the problem is the
> existing systems are built around specific sub-area workflows (OA for
> Arts orgs, CiviCRM for campaigns/canvasing).  We need a more  
> modular set
> of stuff that can model different workflows.

I would say that both OffstageArts and CiviCRM are modular.  Both  
offer a number of modules that provide specific functionality for  
certain kinds of tasks.  And both are free software, which allows  
people to write additional modules to them.  I will do everything I  
can to support the efforts of people who wish to add modules to  
OffstageArts.

The reason (at this point) that we don't have one system that's  
suitable for everything is because the existing systems don't have  
modules that cover all functionality.  Everyone has basic CRM  
functionality.  But beyond that, it varies: CiviCRM can do bulk email  
and event management.  OffstageArts can print mailing labels and run  
a school.  In both cases, the specific set of modules included has  
most likely depended on the needs of the early adopters.  And in both  
cases, many more modules are planned.  Planned modules are vaporware,  
of course --- but I hope we ARE thinking long-term here, rather than  
looking for one system off-the-shelf that can serve everyone's needs  
without any extension work --- because there will never be such a  
system.  Therefore, we need to evaluate products in terms of their  
core design and their flexibility --- their ability to be extended by  
programmers and consultants, at low cost, to suit a variety of  
needs.  And we also need to evaluate the ability for customizations  
and additional modules to be integrated back into the core codebase  
for everyone to use.

Another reason for the perceived lack of universality comes down to  
practical business and marketing reasons.  OffstageArts, for example,  
has been developed so far on a very limited budget. Considering the  
state of the market and the resources I had available, I believed my  
best chances of success were to be had if I pursued the niche market  
of arts organizations -- this was a market niche with NO effective  
existing products, free or non-free.  Of course I understand that  
OffstageArts can work for non-arts non-profits, and I've even already  
deployed it for some such organizations.  But the marketing is still  
(for now) arts specific, since that is where I have the best networks  
and there is the least competition.

I disagree with the assertion that there is no existing system that  
fits the needs of this product; rather, there is already more than  
one.  The only thing sitting between us and a complete system that  
can service every organization's needs is a sustained, common  
investment in one system, to add modules as needed.  And the  
maintainers of code need to be committed to integrating modules of  
all different purposes, not just the purposes that they understand.   
There is no need to re-implement the basic functionality in already- 
existing systems, since it is possible to extend and add features to  
existing systems.

I would love to see modules added to OffstageArts that serve needs  
not common in the arts sector.  For example, with a little bit of  
thought and an additional module, OffstageArts would be suitable for  
the management of most American churches.  Even the name of the  
product can be changed, in order to better suit additional niche  
markets.  That would open up an entire new effort, and it would  
require a sustained marketing push in terms of signing up and  
training the thousands of churches in this country.  To make this  
work, we would need consultants who are networked in the church world  
and interested in pursuing this kind of consulting work.

In addition to wholesale new modules, a lot can be achieved with  
already-existing customizations.  Both CiviCRM and OA are also  
already customizable, as any system needs to be if it can enjoy  
widespread use.  OA allows customizations in fields, tabs, price  
computation, reports --- and probably more in the future.  CiviCRM  
similarly offers a high degree of customization.  Just the addition  
of fields and tabs provides an astonishing degree of capabilities for  
various organizations, since it allows them to add space to record  
structured data that is unique to them.  For example, one  
organization specializes in giving tours.  Although I'd never  
designed "tour management" capability into OffstageArts, we found  
that a couple of customized tabs were able to serve their needs.   
Total time to build these tabs: under 1 hour for maybe 30-50 lines of  
code per tab.  Customized reports then allow those data to be used in  
novel ways.  A lot of thought has going into OffstageArts to allow  
customizations and the main code base to work together seamlessly.

Finally, it is important to consider this kind of software not just  
in terms of how we will build the capital infrastructure (the code),  
but also how we will service it.  Non-profits will not just use a  
system because it's available on SourceForge and has no license  
fees.  Rather, they will use it because a consultant tells them it  
will solve their problems.

And even though we know that one common software platform can service  
a wide variety of organizations, consultants do not usually operate  
that way.  Consulting organizations tend to build networks in  
specific industries, and become experts at talking the language,  
understanding the needs and providing solutions for those  
industries.  Therefore, in order for a common platform to be used in  
a wide variety of market niches, we need to:
  1) Identify each niche.
  2) Make sure that our product really answers the needs of that  
niche, extending it if possible.
  3) Network within that niche to develop the contacts needed to see  
the system adopted.

There is a lot of on-the-ground work to be done beyond building the  
code base.

In trying to find a "one system" that can serve needs, maybe we  
should be talking about building a common shared database schema that  
can be extensible and can support a variety of needs in the future.   
I believe that FSF has considered this at least once in the past.   
Not only would this help standardize the development of existing  
products --- it would also ease integration between products as  
needed, without having to re-implement features from one system into  
another.  Rather than porting CiviCRM's email capabilities, I could  
(for example) just use them with OffstageArts by pointing the two to  
the same database.

If there were common momentum to a shared schema, then I would  
definitely want to migrate OffstageArts to it.  This is like the  
standardization on OpenDocument format and the subsequent adoption of  
the format by a variety of word processors and automatic text  
processing tools.

-- Bob

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