Ministering Data for Data-Rich Organizations

Organizations of all sizes are bombarded with data from various sources. How can all of this data be gathered, consolidated, and managed to best support the organization’s goals? Using real-world examples from the nonprofit sector, we will show how teams with differing areas of technical expertise can leverage Drupal’s unique combination of interactive flexibility and structural versatility to capture the vital data that organizations need to succeed.

We will use the constrained, ambitious world of nonprofits to explore these challenges. The nonprofit world is an ideal storm of challenging data, including donations, event registrations, volunteer signups, petitions, and more, all unique to each organization. And that’s just the online ecosystem; often there are also in-person or snail-mail transactions to handle as well. How, then, does the nonprofit staff get all of this data into one database of record?

Join Gabe Carleton-Barnes from ThinkShout and Melissa Barber of North Peak to learn how two firms with different areas of expertise (Web Development and CRM implementation) have worked together to build unified solutions for nonprofits suffering from the effects of disconnected, single-purpose tools.

Using examples from a selection of site builds involving integration between Drupal websites and Salesforce databases, Melissa and Gabe will teach you best practices for handling important data, preparing two sophisticated systems to share information, and aligning data with an organization's mission.

A basic understanding of Drupal's data structures, and data structural concepts in general, will significantly add to attendee's enjoyment of this talk.