Viewing by month: November 2007
An Alumni Solution for Schools
I was recently asked by one of our clients, Bridgton Academy, if we could assist them with a brief alumni area for their web site. We've had similar requests from other clients, so I thought I'd research what was available in the marketplace and use a tool that had already been developed. What I found in my research is that there are some very nice tools available targeted at Ivy League schools (with Ivy League price tags), but little or nothing at the moderate end of price spectrum. One of our developers had recently read a blog post about Ning, a social network tool that might be adaptable for our needs. Boy was he right on the mark. I was able to set up a private network in no time as proof of concept for the school. There was no cost, but the network does show Google ads. For $20 a month, you can either remove the ads or replace them with your own. The network supports video, images, chat, discussions, blogs... pretty much everything an alumni office would want. I anticipate that Bridgton will begin rolling this out to their alumni starting with the new year. Stay tuned for results.
The Pros and Cons of Hosting Your Savvy-powered Web Site
Let me first start off this discussion by stating that we do not offer web hosting to clients. We are often asked by clients if hosting their own Savvy site makes sense. Usually these clients have a high-speed internet connection and may already own their own servers. Before we can recommend that a client host their own site, we ask the following questions:
1) Do you already own Adobe ColdFusion and do you have a server-level database running on a server? Savvy requires Adobe ColdFusion to be installed on the server and needs access to a proper datebase. The current cost for ColdFusion as listed on Adobe's site is $1,299.00 for the standard edition. You may qualify for an educational discount, but it's still an investment. You can use MySQL for your database (it's free), but you may want to invest in a third-party control panel (budget $200.00) to make administration of your databases easier. If you want MS-SQL, I won't even begin to decipher Microsoft's licensing costs. Depending on the load on your web server, you will want to consider having the SQL database run on its own server.
2) Do you have redundant high-speed internet access into your facility? If you're using a CMS to power your web site, you've decided that your web site is a significant (maybe strategic) resource for your organization. Without redundant lines, you're at the mercy of every backhoe operator, faulty router or inattentive driver. And before you agree you have redundant lines, please make sure they don't share the same phone pole or service provider.
3) Do you have a back-up power supply? What type of power generation is available in the event of a power outage? If you live along the coastline or in an area that is subject to significant storms, power back-up during a weather event is critical. After all, a CMS powered web site lets you communicate during a disaster, provided your servers are running and your network is up.
4) Do you have the resources and expertise to manage external servers? If you're religious about installing updates, managing firewalls and locking down your servers, hosting your own web site may be an option. If your last backup is sitting on top of your server, you may want to consider using a hosting service.
Most organizations that host their own sites have legitimate business reasons for wanting to do so. Given today's inexpensive and professional third-party hosting services, cost is no longer a legitimate business reason. In fact, for most, hosting your own site will increase your costs when compared to third-party hosts.
Choosing a new web-based Membership Management tool
One of our clients, the New Hampshire Society for Technology in Education (NHSTE), recently approached us to help evaluate tools for membership management. They are trying to deliver more of their services over the web - you know, the things that really make sense like newsletters, membership renewals and event registrations. Their current solution is pretty limiting. Currently the email lists are handled outside of the membership tool. If a member changes email preferences, someone has to manually update the listserv. As cumbersome as their current product is, it offers forms of payment that most tools don't, like accepting Purchase Order numbers for payment.
NHSTE asked us to research available products and to make a recommendation for a tool that will meet their needs while still offering the flexible payment options they currently have. After our research, we have recommended MemberClicks as their solution. NHSTE's Board of Directors will be voting soon, and I expect they'll move forward with Memberclicks. If they do move forward, we'll be documenting the project here - how was the data migration, were there any pitfalls, what's the learning curve like. Check back for the details.