We have been building our next generation application platform (code name Infinity) for almost two years now. I can’t talk in specifics at this point, but I can say that we have two brand new applications built on this platform ready to ship! Sorry, no dates will be revealed here, my friends.

Is that Linux? Yep.

So, as we exit one of the most intense R&D cycles in the 18 years I’ve been at Blackbaud, I took some time to reflect back on our initial goals for the platform and do a little internal report card of sorts around how I think we did. I won’t bore you with the details, or maybe I will in another post, but for now I’d like to look at one place where I give the team an A+.

You didn’t think I was going to blog about the “B” grade did you?

Goal: Embrace web standards to maximize interoperability

I know, it’s a mouthful, but I can’t figure out how to put it any more succinctly. Two years ago it was obvious to the team here that we needed to be web delivered and if we were going to be web delivered we should use as many standards-based technologies as possible.

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Friday I was walking through the Product Development department when the Director of Core Technologies, Paul Gibson, waved me into a developer’s cube. I could tell by the look on their faces that they had something cool to show me. They sure did.

Paul Crowder (the dev) has been working on implementing platform-level support for KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) in our upcoming Infinity application platform. KPIs will be featured throughout future applications built on the platform (Galileo, RE8, Bullseye etc.) Apologies for all the code names, we’ll cover those in a future post.

What are KPIs?

KPIs are quantifiable measurements that reflect the health of the organization. By quickly scanning an organization’s KPIs one should be able to get a solid idea on how things are tracking against the defined business goals. Some examples might be:

• Response Rate for a direct mail segment
• Number of gifts per day
• Avg days to close a major gift
• Gifts This Month
• Cost Per Dollar Raised

Those are just a few samples, but each one represents a single value that could be calculated and compared vs. an established goal.

Infinity’s KPI Platform

Editing a KPI Definition

Infinity’s base platform support provides the following for KPIs:

• A framework and UI for establishing, securing, and managing KPIs.
• A way to express a goal for a KPI.
• The ability to define warning and alert zones for a KPI as it progresses toward or deviates from it’s goal.
• An automated process to calculate KPI values and cache those values for quick rendering at a later time.
• A mechanism to back-calculate KPI values to establish historical trends.
• RSS support for KPI values so they can be monitored without running the application and logging in.
• A personal dashboard that can be customized by an end user to display the most important and relevant KPIs as the user sees fit.
• The ability to view the dashboard outside the application from any web browser without having to log in and navigate the application (assuming the user is authenticated).
• A stock set of KPI calculations “in the box”.
• Advanced support for creating custom KPIs using an open, extensible XML specification. (you’ll be hearing a lot about “specs” in the Infinity platform as I discuss it in future posts…)

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First, welcome to BlogBaud! I’m super excited about the fact that we got this kick-started. A few of us here at ole BB have been dying to do this for a while now. Kudos to Chad Norman for doing it the old fashioned way — do it first, then ask if it’s ok after you have built something too cool to deny Every year at our conferences I get a shot of adrenaline when I get to interact with so many of our customers, so maybe we’ll get a community going here that will perpetuate that feeling year round. Now what’s with the title to this post?

On New Year’s Day the Sullivan family made our annual journey to Sullivan’s Island (no relation!) for the Polar Bear swim. It’s an amazing event where literally thousands of people dressed in a bizarre array of “bathing attire” take a running plunge into the Atlantic at exactly 2 PM. The swim takes place on a stretch of beach behind Dunleavy’s Pub, the event’s organizer since its inception 14 years ago. The whole thing can simply be described as surreal. They have a great saying, “freezin’ for a reason” which refers to the fact that the whole event is focused on supporting charity. I’ve got a really good friend whose sister has Down Syndrome and I know this day warms his heart, so we do it together, along with an ever-increasing number of our sons (we have 3 each). My 9 year old, Sammy did it this year, proclaiming “that wasn’t so bad.”

The vibe of the whole event is awesome, with an awareness and camaraderie born from the fact that we all know we are doing something to help someone else. What a great way to start the year.

Now I probably should come clean. This year a real polar bear would not have survived the conditions. The air temperature…67. The water temperature…a balmy 60. It is South Carolina after all. However, knowing how much it means to my friend and his family, coupled with the sheer spectacle of the event, I know I’d do it no matter what the conditions are.

Happy New Year. We’ll “dive” into something technical next time…