This is David Coons from Church Community Builder.

I wanted to let you know that I have sent you pricing on multiple occasions (12 Aug, 29 June, 13 July) as well as a long email on 16 July, explaining how you don’t seem to be receiving any of my pricing.

When you responded again today, asking for pricing, expressing your disappointment and not even mentioning my previous email, I decided to post my response here, knowing that you would actually see this message.

I noticed in today’s email, you are using a different email address than the one that you supplied us for communications. I will attempt to send pricing one more time to this new address. If you have not received it in the next 24 hours, please let me know and I will contact you to find out how we can overcome what appears to be a breakdown in communication.

Contrary to what you may have been feeling, CCB does appreciate the opportunity to work with you and your ministry needs. God is doing a lot of great things among the Australian churches and He is allowing CCB to be a part of that…which is VERY exciting.

Please let me know if you have not received the pricing information.

Your Brother in Christ,

David Coons
CCB

#1: Not unreasonable at all, attention to detail is often a mindset that pervades the entire company, if Sales/Marketing don’t have this as a priority then it is likely that Development/Product Management don’t either.

This is a generalisation I know, but let’s face it – what else do you have to judge these companies by?

#2: In terms of how to judge a database, I’m using a system whereby I list out all our requirements (separated into functional & non-functional groups). Then rate the importance of each using defined categories, I’m using “Must Have”, “Should Have”, “Could Have” for example but the general idea is to prioritise requirements. Also by splitting requirements into Functional & Non-Functional you are assessing more then just the ‘widget’ value. Examples of non-functional would be; support for various browsers, implementation of particular security levels, etc.

If you don’t have a list of requirements you are looking for then it can be hard as there is no baseline or “yard stick” with which to compare functions of each solution. Solution XYZ may have some fantastic function – but is it something that your Users really need (or will use)? If not (i.e. it isn’t rated as “must have”) then it isn’t really of high value to you (even though out of context it might be technically a very impressive function).

Steve, you are a more patient man than I.

1. You are not being unreasonably pedantic. A database provider’s website is the face of the company. If it looks rubbish, they’re rubbish, especially if they’re an online solution.

2. After a reasonable period, it’s time to name and shame these people. If they can’t get sales right, what hope do you have for getting support? You’re getting non-replies, impersonal one-liners and misspelt emails. That’s a dealbreaker, ladies.

These are two sides of the same coin: poor customer interface (website) + poor sales response = fail.

I have had a play with quite a few of the databases you’ve listed. I’ve found it really hard to find one that ticks all the boxes.

The one that intrigues me the most is OneBody. The things I like about it are that its free, its not hosted which means you own the data and can integrate its database into other systems, but mostly its Social Networking orientation makes it modern and powerful for much more than just database functions.

It is easy to use, replaces the church directory, maintains itself (ie your congregation maintain their own record) and it helps groups to communicate and collaborate.

Other pros are – its an open source project being actively developed and the lead developer is a really nice guy who is happy to integrate any code contributions.

The cons are – its a bit light on with traditional database features… eg its not easy enough to add custom fields to people’s records. It’s also Ruby on Rails and can be a bit tricky to install.

anyway – really keen to hear your findings… I think the ‘social network’ angle is definitely the way to go.

There are a few other social networks that look interesting including cobblestone: http://www.cobblestonecn.com/ and Mars Hill’s ‘the city’.

“Thank you for contacting Logos Support. A technician will beresponding within the terms of your contract. Please note that, forsecurity purposes, file attachments to emails that do not contain yourcustomer ID in the subject line will not be opened.”

I sent my email to the only email address listed on their contact page.

“Dear Mr. Kryger,

Thanks for your interest in MembershipEdge.
I am writing to let you know that we do not market our service outside of the US and Canada.
Primarily this is because we do not support dates in the dd/mm/yyyy format.
This is a show stopper for everyone who uses this date format since dates are such an integral part of church management.
Again, I thank you for your interest and wish you the best in your
mininstry [sic].”