integration

How Easy Is It For You To Manage, Analyze And Present Data?

I ask because my articles are up, including my big piece from NTEN’s Collected Voices: Data-Informed Nonprofits on Architecting Healthy Data Management Systems. I’m happy to have this one available in a standalone, web-searchable format, because I think it’s a bit of a  signature work.  I consider data systems architecture to be my main talent; the most significant work that I’ve done in my career. I integrated eleven databases at the law firm of Lillick & Charles in the late 90’s, using Outlook as a portal to Intranet, CRM, documents and voicemail. We had single-entry of all client and matter data that then, through SQL Server… Read More »How Easy Is It For You To Manage, Analyze And Present Data?

Why SharePoint Scares Me

For the past four years or so, at two different organizations, I’ve been evaluating Microsoft’s Sharepoint 2007 as a Portal/Intranet/Business Process Management solution. It’s a hard thing to ignore, for numerous reasons:

XML, API, CSV, SOAP! Understanding The Alphabet Soup Of Data Exchange

This article was originally published at Idealware in October of 2007. Let’s say you have two different software packages, and you’d like them to be able to share data. What would be involved? Can you link them so they exchange data automatically? And what do all those acronyms mean? Peter Campbell explains. There has been a lot of talk lately about data integration, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), and how important these are to non-profits. Much of this talk has focused on the major non-profit software packages from companies like Blackbaud, Salesforce.com, Convio, and Kintera. But what is it really about, and what does it mean… Read More »XML, API, CSV, SOAP! Understanding The Alphabet Soup Of Data Exchange

How To Find Data-Exchange-Friendly Software

This article was co-written by Laura Quinn of Idealware and first published on the NTEN Blog in October of 2007.  Peter Campbell, Techcafeteria, and Laura Quinn, Idealware This is an excerpt adapted from Idealware’s article, “XML, API, CSV, SOAP! Understanding the Alphabet Soup of Data Exchange“. Repeat this mantra: I will not pay a vendor to lock me out of my own data. Sadly, this is what a lot of data management systems do, either by maintaining poor reporting and exporting interfaces or by including license clauses that void the contract if you interact with your data in unapproved ways. The software you choose has… Read More »How To Find Data-Exchange-Friendly Software

Seven Questions For Peter Campbell On Open APIs

This interview was conducted by Holly Ross and first published on the NTEN Blog in July of 2006. What’s an Application Programming Interface (API)? APIs are the code in any application that allows for the customization and migration of information in and out of the program’s data store.The API allows your application to interface with other systems in the same manner that a door or data line allows your home to interact with the world around it. APIs were originally developed in the telecom industry, as the need to have computer applications that integrated with telephone systems arose.The concept quickly expanded as a method for… Read More »Seven Questions For Peter Campbell On Open APIs