College ICT CommitteeAn Overview of DARS

Stewart Watson

29th April 2008

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Topics

1. What is DARS2. Strategic Aims3. Project Objectives4. A quick look (screenshots)5. The technology stack6. Deployment and connectivity7. Current project status8. Any questions

What is DARS

• Development and Alumni Relations System

• Contact/Constituent Relationship Management

• One repository of data

• Open areas and secure control

• Process focused

Strategic Aims

• Support the Campaign of Campaigns

• Sharing and collaboration

• Secure when needed

• Support common process and best practice

• Economies of scale

Project Objectives

• Implement core functionality first

• Support internal processes and users

• Establish a stable baseline

• Focus on process and data

• Work with Blackbaud as a partner (a significant internal team)

• Establish training and support for the future

User Interface - contacts

Relationship Tree

Managing Prospect Workflow

Event Management

The Technology stack

• Blackbaud have built a 3 layer architecture:– Role/Process focussed modular top layer– Open Standards - Web service middle layer– Microsoft .Net 2 / SQL Server foundations

• Smart Client (richer than browser) – over a web connection

• ‘Relatively’ easy to build new modules – this doesn’t mean cheap.

Business and IT Architecture

Deployment and Connectivity

Database Server

BBNC - Web Access

BBEC AppServer

ReportingDatabase Server

Internal Users

External Users

Smart Clienthttp:/https:

Browserhttp:/https:

Browserhttp:/https:

Current Project Status

We are here

Apr-07 Dec-09

Jan-08 Jan-09

(Dev Off and5 Colleges)

May 07 - Sep 07Requirements Gathering

May 07 - Jul 07First Round RFI

Sep 07 - Nov 07Main ITT

Nov 07 - Jan 08Scoping and negotiating

Nov 09 - Dec 09Project Closure

Apr 08 - Jun 08Assessment Phase

Jul 08 - Dec 08Pilot

Oct 08First release available?

Jan 09 - Dec 09Main Roll-out

Tranche 1 Tranche 3Tranche 2

Any Questions? #1• Is it intended for the College systems to parallel run?

– No – the aim is for a single Collegiate wide system – though this may take some years to arrive at.

• System performance may be a concern– this has been seen in RE7? Testing will be key in the assessment phase – Blackbaud have

tested the product at Microsoft Labs (paper attached)• Isn’t a single system open to abuse – i.e. poaching of contacts?

– This is a common concern. The relationship management scheme should manage prospect contact. Governance will be in place – but it requires Sharing, Collaboration and above all TRUST

• How does the solution deploy?– Initially the connection is via a browser which downloads the Smart Client. This then

updates itself – Blackbaud tell us that it doesn’t need admin rights to deploy or upgrade.• Does the web portal (Net Community) meet Accessibility Guidelines.

– There is a requirement to – but we will check this.• How many Colleges are ‘signed up’.

– We have 5 Colleges involved in the Assessment Phase (Balliol, LMH, Magdalen, St John’s and St Peter’s) – with a further 12 saying that all things considered (i.e. mainly answering concerns over data security) they would expect to move during the main project roll-out, planned for calendar year 2009 at present. We have 5 who are not keen or too busy to consider at the moment – the remainder are still to be canvassed fully – though indications from previous communications are that at least half would fall into the positive camp.

Any Questions? #2• Who does the migration effort?

– The project will pay for the migration effort from internal staff or Blackbaud, some effort from college on data testing and advice

• A number of College systems feed off their current databases – how would we replicate this in BBEC.

– BBEC uses a web services model – the connection would generally change from ODBC to web services. This is an issue for migration which will need addressing.

• Can DARS hold the current College focussed local Net Community data– Yes – we are told that is the case – essentially branding and content per group –

but yet to see it demonstrated – there is an Assessment Phase workshop on the ‘online solution’.

• Won’t current RE using Colleges get this product at their next major upgrade?

– No. BBEC is an Enterprise solution. RE 8 will use the same platform (Microsoft) and some of the modules may have similarities but BBEC has been designed for large organisations – the needs of smaller units require a different approach (or so Blackbaud say).

• Advice to the project– be aware – the Colleges you talk to may not properly understand the issues of moving their data – for example connectivity from other systems (e.g. data feeds to web pages).