College ICT Committee An Overview of DARS Stewart Watson 29 th April 2008 Copy for distribution.

College ICT CommitteeAn Overview of DARS

Stewart Watson

29th April 2008

Copy for distribution

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).