Avoiding Common Integration MistakesWednesday May 24th, 201710:45am – 12:00pm

Ashley Wilson, American Public Works AssociationKeith A. Williams, Irrigation AssociationRandy Richter, Association Technology Solutions, LLC

• IMIS can't do everything• You want a seamless experience for your members• You want to track Engagement in one place in iMIS!

Why Integrate?

Is iMIS the center of your data?

• Is there an out of the box way to do this in iMIS?• Is there a third party bridge that exists in the iMIS community?

(ATS has over 70 of them)• Does the company have a good API (Application Programming

Interface)• Have them show you what they have done with iMIS• ONLY use the iMIS API's• NO SQL inserts

• Warning signs/questions– Is your system built on SQL server?– We have worked with AMS's before

How to decide

• Single Sign On means login once and only once. It does not mean use the same username and password.

• Push data to the third party• Pull data from the third party

– Usually Activity records– Financial information is generally hard to pull back into iMIS

Most common integration points

• What technology are they using?– Preferred Microsoft.net platform for easy integration

• Do they integrate with iMIS? (No do they really?)• Do they have an open API?• How up to date are they with iMIS?• Who owns the data?• Do they use another 3rd party to run and/or store their

data?• Are they PCI Compliant (if using for sensitive data or

financial data)• What is their policy for downtime? (if they are hosting)

Questions to ask vendor

• Do you need Single Sign On (SSO)?• What do you want to track?• What data do you need to share?• Do you need to track where the data is coming from?• What is needed from you to use the 3rd party software?

Questions to ask internally

• When upgrading iMIS, reach out to vendor to inform them• After upgrade – test all areas that use integration• Track, track, track all processes with all vendors• Take backup(s) prior to integration & right after integration• Learn what iMIS offers already or ask reseller if they know

what's coming in the very near future

Best Practices

TEST

• Join/Renew Project– Long build process & high cost– iMIS built a join/renew process we could use out of box 1 year later

• WorkZone – Job board site– No iMIS API available at first– Used a cookie, SSO & open API– Recent upgrade to iMIS, forced a different method for integration

• Event Registration – multiple vendors– Use ASI out of box API & ATS Web Services to pass data back & forth– SSO (APWA site & Encrypted ID)

http://www.apwa.net/

APWA Case Study

• IA was already in the middle of a web migration from a “home grown” solution hosted offsite to a CMS

• Had already selected• I had not really worked with 15 yet nor certification.• Main integration points needed:

– Certification CEU entry and renewal payment– 3 directory searches– Profile management– Securing content

• Later integrated other products/processes

Irrigation Association Case Study Some History

Irrigation Association March 2010 Site Launch

• Online store – PV store not really working for us

• Learning Management System

• Webinar Registration

• Grassroots Advocacy

Other things we added later

Wanted more responsive site

Ektron wasn’t what we thought

it might be

Design issuesEasier integrations

Less IT/vendor involvement

2015/2016 – New CMS

We customize each integration

We’ve never worked with iMIS before…

Integration is CMS dependent

Choose an integrator that is an official AiSP or iMIS Consultant.

Things I learned/Bad phrases

Launched May 3, 2017

Directories/Rosters

• IQA based• Committees• Leadership• Staff

Grassroots advocacy

• Votility

Online store transferred

• LMS • Webinars• Downloadable

documents

Certification still working on

• Still custom• IA Business Rules• Making interface

less customized• Looking at

changes to business rules

Went to RiSE

DON’T FORGET – Email

• Ashley Wilson– awilson@apwa.net

• Keith A. Williams– keithwilliams@irrigation.org– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithanthonywilliams/

• Randy Richter– rrichter@atsol.com

Contact information

Strategic Partners

Corporate PartnersAmericaneagle.com • Ascension Technology Solutions, LLC • Association Technologies, Inc. • Bursting Silver CadmiumCD • enSYNC Corporation • Informz • ISG Solutions • MemberPrime • RSM US LLP • Visual Antidote

Event PartnersArmstrong Enterprise Communications • Computer System Innovations • C Systems Global • iFINITY

Intuitive Business Concepts • Lane Services, LLC • Source of Knowledge (Official Recording Partner) • TGD Communications

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