Small Group Software¶

Opportunities¶

1. Knowing the health and condition of small groups is vital small group ministries
2. There are a lot of "bits" of information that could provide insight into small group ministries if it is organized and collected consistently
   1. number and time scheduled meetings
   2. attendance of scheduled meetings
   3. level of participation by person in the small group
   4. Individual demographics ( Name, address, etc)
   5. unscheduled contacts between leaders and members (Phone calls, emails, letters and postcards, txt messages, etc.)
   6. invitations made by members to non-members
   7. visitors
   8. prayer requests / answered prayers
   9. giving
3. There are very few software packages available for managing small/cell groups
   1. http://www.connectionpower.com/
   2. http://www.fellowshiptech.com/
   3. http://www.churchteams.com/ct/
   4. http://www.peopledrivensoftware.com/
4. There is (almost?) no open source small group software (but some church management s/w: ChurchLedger, ChurchInfo)

Project Goals and Principles¶

1. Learn and practice more progressive programming skills and techniques including:
   1. Scrum project management methodology
   2. TDD - Test Drive Development
   3. Ruby on Rails / Code to Convention / MVC
   4. Ajax UI enhancement ( jQuery )
2. Value for Every One - Create a system that provides immediate value to users at all levels - groups members, group leaders, ministry leaders
3. Easy to Use - Focus on user experience and ease of use
   1. ajax enhanced data recording
   2. alternative input paths - iPhone/mobile devices
   3. dynamic and customizable visualization of data
4. Don't Re-Invent the Wheel - Intergrate with and take advantage of Web2.0 services like Google Voice, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr
5. Scale Up and Out - Support multiple organizations with multiple groups, leaders, members (for bulk hosting?)
   1. Support specialty groups like missions teams (security issues?), focus groups and classes (limited scope and duration), life groups, cell church, church plants
6. Pay the Bills - Provide income opportunities through hosting, advertising, installation, support, custom development (Basecamp-like subscription model?)