We at Database Designs pride ourselves on being platform independent and vendor neutral. In our strategic assessments and implementations, we work with a wide range of technologies and software systems. Here we list some of our favorites, both for our own use and for consideration by our clients.

Project Management Tools

BaseCamp

We use BaseCamp to manage our projects with our clients. This popular tool meets most of our needs in an easy to use, flexible format. The 37Signals team who created Basecamp express this philosophy: "Projects don't fail from a lack of charts, graphs, stats, or reports, they fail from a lack of clear communication. Basecamp solves this problem by providing tools tailored to improve the communication between people working together on a project."

Please read our BaseCamp Guide for an overview of the basic features and some helpful tips.

Drupal Intranets

Many of our new Drupal web sites adapt and customize Drupal components for building collaborative learning communities and organizing spaces. Using Drupal for collaboration is just part of its strength as the now leading Open Source web site content management and web development system. Drupal software allows an individual or a community of users to easily publish, manage and organize a great variety of content on a website. A new development, Open Atrium now packages a complete set of features for program and project collaboration
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Easy shared file folders with DropBox

When you need a shared file folder to hold project spreadsheet and documents actively being edited, sometimes Basecamp is not immediate enough, and Google docs don't offer enough features. DropBox offers an easily and flexible way to share folders directly from your desktop. The free version offers 2 GB of secure storage.

Managing Software Development and Tracking Issues

CVSDude

We use the hosted system at www.cvsdude.com to maintain software code versions and track development issues for our larger projects. This means that the source code for your projects is maintained in a professional repository, with easy access to versions, strong team collaboration and great support for release planning. The site also include “Bugzilla” and "trac" for tracking and resolving issues in the code.

Planning, Design and Architecture

Essential page mock-ups with Balsamiq

We use Balsamiq to quickly create web and database page mock-ups that can be easily understood, discussed and edited by client and developer team members. Balsamiq Studios offers donated copies to qualifying non-profit and NGOs.

On-line structure diagrams with Gliffy

While Balsamiq is great at the page level, Gliffy is great for technical specifications of system architecture, database structure and staff workflow. Working completely on-line, it is easy to set-up collaboration on diagrams among a project team. Get started for free at Gliffy.com

Collaborative Documentation

Collaborative Documentation with wikis

For collaborative development of documentation systems, we may recommend setting up a wiki. We have an extensive one for our internal documentation, with some pages available publicly at docs.dbdes.com

Contact Management and Constituent Database Options

Salesforce

Salesforce has risen to the top of the heap for large scale web-hosted contact management. Nonprofits are eligible for free use of a ten user base system through the Salesforce Foundation. Learn more about the nonprofit donation program here: Weekly Webinar

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CivicCRM

Open Source Solution for the Civic Sector. CiviCRM is the first open source and freely downloadable constituent relationship management solution. CiviCRM is web-based, open source, internationalized, and designed specifically to meet the needs of advocacy, non-profit and non-governmental groups. It integrates well with both Drupal and Joomla web development systems.
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Giftworks

» missionreseach.com is a socially conscious software development company that produces GiftWorks, a network-installed software produce for managing contacts, donors, volunteers and soon, events. We have recommended this to small and medium sized organizations who need an easy to use yet powerful solution. Sign up for a free trial

DBDES Nonprofit Contact Manager

For organizations with specialized contact needs, including tight integration with their own program databases, we offer our own nonprofit contact manager based on Microsoft Access. The virtue of this database lies with ease of customization, very powerful reporting features, and the familiarity of Microsoft Access for most nonprofits.

Ecommunications

Constant Contact

Learn more about Constant Contact and sign up for a free 60-day trial of this excellent system for electronic newsletters, including web sign up and list management.

Two other excellent enews managers in use by our clients are NPO Groups through http://electricembers.net and Democracy In Action.