Collective feature purchasing for #CiviCRM and #FOSS

training.dyslexiaaction.org.uk

Collective Feature Purchasing for CiviCRM and FOSS

Alternative to MIH

Dominik Lukes, Learning Technologist

@techczech

With contributions and advice from


Maren Deepwell, Operations and Services Manager Seb Schmoller, CEO

http://www.alt.ac.uk

Tweet comments @techczech with #civicrm


Outline

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vijo/1231276186

Options for sponsoring development

Pros and Cons of MIH

Collective purchasing

Some practical ideas

Discussion

How do new features get into CiviCRM?


Somebody pays for them or contributes time via SYOI (Scratch Your Own Itch) or during Code Sprint

Sponsoring custom development in CiviCRM Now


http://civicrm.org/mih

Custom code developed

Sponsor release of custom code to public

Contribute to MIH (Make it Happen)

Custom code developed


Pros Cons

• Quick• Running site with code

implemented

• Expensive• Difficult to maintain

(upgrade)• No shared expertise

benefit• No public code review• Often hardcoded

options to save cost = low customizability

• Variable documentation

Sponsoring sharing of code


Pros Cons

• Long-term support• Benefit of public review /

shared expertise• More customizable /

generic interface• Better documentation• Easier maintenance /

upgrading

• More expensive (more development needed)

• Benefit of public review limited if no support offered (for modules not core)

• Possibly less flexible

Contribute to an MIH


Pros Cons

• Cheap• Long-term support• Benefit of public review /

shared expertise• More customizable /

generic interface• Better documentation• Easier maintenance /

upgrading

• No precise control over features

• Functionality only available with upgrade cycle

• Difficult to fit in with organizational accounting

Alternative:

Collective Feature Purchasing


Collective Feature Purchasing (CFP)


Several organizations get together around specific feature (feature set) that they identify as having in common, contract with a developer (company) who will implement the features taking into account specific implementation needs of individual contributors.



A CFP collective can also work with the Civi Core team to determine roadmap synergies and needs for future maintenance. E.g. will the features be modules or rolled into core code base?



CFP collectives can be ad hoc or more permanent. Members can join or opt out of specific CFP rounds.



Key difference between CFP and MIH is greater transparency and accountability on both sides. A successful CFP round would end up with all contributors running actual code on their website.

CFP – Pros / ConsPros Cons

• MIH < Cost < others• Control over features• Benefit of shared

expertise• New features translate

to immediate site functionality

• Easier maintenance / upgrading

• Easier accounting (hopefully)

• Potential contractual framework complexity

• Agreement on features among CFP partners

CFP Spec Framework (Uservoice)


Anybody wants to work on Events?


CiviEvent Wishlist (#CiviCRM)Posted on September 1, 2011 by Dominik Lukeš

We have been using CiviCRM for event management for over a year. This list covers the sort of things that might be needed by an organization running a wide range of events and courses of different types.

Event management1.Easier search: There should be an equivalent of the quick search bar for contacts for events. We run close to a hundred events at any one time and it would be nice if we could access them from the front screen. The workaround using Views/Finder works but doesn’t provide access to all the event functionality.2.Configurable event dashboard: The dashboard as it is now is pretty much useless for us since it only shows about a dozen events (we need a quick overview of many more) without any clear indication which events make it there. Also, it would be nice to be able to choose the columns displayed. E.g. event type is irrelevant to most admins but they would appreciate more granular registration count display. This could be built in Views in Drupal except, Views don’t seem to have access to counts of users. Plus the links provided by views to event configuration and participant listing appear to be broken.3.Multiple changes to event configuration: Often we have lots of events that need to have a small change made to them – e.g. the event price or location or default profile. It would be nice to be able to make those changes at once. Also, it would be nice to be able to edit event dates and things like registration status inline without having to go to the whole edit interface.4.Participant info: Better access to participant info would be really great. It would be great to be able to configure what is visible at a glance or have the participant profile expand similarly to what happens on case listings.

Event functionality5.Multiple registration paths: We need to register tutors, volunteers and students for the same event and it would be nice if we could have a different registration page for each. Particularly for paid events where only internal staff get to attend free. Showing a free option on the registration page is unprofessional and confusing.2.Internal/hidden prices: At the very least, it would be nice if we could have internal/hidden prices for events. At the moment, if we want to give somebody a special price we have no way of accounting for it in the database. Some of this could be accomplished by CiviEvent discount http://drupal.org/project/civievent_discount3.Post registration contributions/Partial payments: We have a number of events where the participants have to go through an approval process before they are asked to pay. It would be nice if we could associate contribution pages with specific events and have those show up as fees. Even better, it would be nice if multiple associated contributions would add up to an event’s fee (for instance, deposit and full payment).

http://bit.ly/civieventwishlist

http://techczech.net/2011/09/01/civievent-wishlist-civicrm/

http://techczech.net/author/dominik-lukes/

http://techczech.net/author/dominik-lukes/

http://civicrm.org/

http://www.drupal.org/

http://drupal.org/project/civievent_discount

Anybody wants to work on Events?


4.Internal/external event titles: This is a small but annoying feature. We would like to be able to refer to events with internal titles that would be used for internal listings and long descriptive titles that would be displayed to students. This way, managing events is cumbersome within the existing interface.5.CiviAdmissions: Many of our events require the student to go through an admissions process. We use CiviCase for this at the moment but it is a big too big of an overkill for the job. It would be nice to have some sort of an event admissions workflow to manage event status. Perhaps per event type event status list with notes on each status and a record of event status changes on the event screen. Or an integration with CiviCase where a case status would trigger an event status.

Profile behavior6.Multi step profiles: This has been mooted elsewhere before. Here’s a nice way of how this can be accomplished but it would be nice to have this as core functionality:http://civicrm.org/blogs/kurund/using-civicrm-profile-survey2.Private profile titles: The profile titles show up on the registration form as is which makes it impossible for us to manage over 100 profiles effectively since we can’t name them in a descriptive way: “Short event initial info – Version 2 since May 11″3.Profile field logic: This has also been discussed. But we could really use “If you check X, Y becomes available/compulsory” kind of logic on profiles.4.Multi value fields in profiles: This is also not new and is standard functionality on most forms. http://forum.civicrm.org/index.php?topic=11563.05.Contribution/participant fields on non-event related profiles: Very often we want to have participants submit additional details that we want associated with their participant profile and/or a contribution. It would be nice to be able to associate specific profiles with particular events and their related contributions.

http://bit.ly/civieventwishlist

http://civicrm.org/blogs/kurund/using-civicrm-profile-survey






http://forum.civicrm.org/index.php?topic=11563.0

Discussion


http://www.flickr.com/photos/ktylerconk/3045268759

Tweet comments @techczech with #civicrm

Collective feature purchasing for #CiviCRM and #FOSS

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