Thoughts regarding TntMPD 3.0, the cloud and mobile

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TNT.tips from Bob!

Someone recently asked me my thoughts regarding TntMPD in the cloud and TntMPD on mobile devices. Actually they are considering developing their own solution, so they wanted to know where I'm at and where I plan to be. This is becoming a more frequent question, so I thought I'd share my response below.

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Hi Peter and John,

I’d be glad to let you know my roadmap, w/ an emphasis on my plans re mobile/web/cloud.

Right now I’m in the middle of development on TntMPD 3.0. TntMPD 3.0 is not a rewrite, but a lot of core stuff is touched, so I haven’t been able to release it in piecemeal. I have about a year of development on it already. Some major things included in it will be: Password-protected database w/ true encryption, integration w/ Google maps, much better integration w/ MailChimp, modernized and spouse email and phone fields, and support for managing paper and email newsletter lists. So far I’ve listed the stuff already done. Some more things I want to include before releasing it (and some are indeed broken now because of the previous changes I mentioned) improved sync w/ Outlook, improved ability to stay in sync w/ the organization re gifts and donor changes, improved ability to import contacts from other systems, better support for avoiding conflicts w/ multiple users on Dropbox, Facebook integration, and a bunch of other small things that make it so that TntMPD “just work”. I’m EXCITED about TntMPD 3.0!

I wouldn’t be surprised if TntMPD 3.0 wasn’t released until next spring. Personally, I REALLY want it done before next summer as our family will be taking a big two month MPD trip to South Dakota once school is out. And I really want those features to help me personally.

Once TntMPD 3.0 is released, my plan is to start work on TntMPD in the Cloud. The picture below shows my strategy for version 1.0 of this.

For Version 1.0, it’s effectively a read-only web service. The idea is that you login to “TntMPD in the Cloud”, give it permission to see the “TntMPD” folder in your Dropbox folder, and then select the database you want to use. “TntMPD in the Cloud” will provide a basic website that gives you access to your contacts in TntMPD. I personally have an iPhone, so don’t be surprised if the website is optimized for that! :) The website will run completely off of the web services (REST or SOAP … I haven’t decided), and any other developer could tap into these web services to feed data to their own app.

Eventually I want to make the web service read/write … and even more have TntMPD users synchronize their database (husband and wife, for example) via the web services instead of via Dropbox (Dropbox requires you to be one-at-a-time to avoid conflicts).

But I believe that version 1.0 gives me 80% of what I really want in a web/mobile solution: REFERENCE DATA. I don’t desire to run the entire MPD part of my ministry on my iPhone or even my iPad. That sounds painful. But it would sure be handy to have all my contact/gift/history/notes with me on my iPhone when I’m visiting a church and I see someone in the parking lot and I seem to recall that they made a significant gift, or had a significant prayer request. Having up-to-the-minute reference data is my main need for cloud/mobile.

When will TntMPD in the Cloud be done? About the only thing I can say w/ any certainty is after TntMPD 3.0. Limiting it to read-only for version 1.0 will certainly speed things along in terms of getting a useful release out the door.

I’m a strong believer in supporting backward compatibility, so the web services provided in version 1.0 should continue working into the future. They will just be a subset of version 2.0, etc.

Well, I hope that helps you understand my future plans a little better and helps you make a decision. Let me know if you need further clarification on any points.

Thanks,
Troy

Posted 7 Oct 2012 6:43 PM by Troy Wolbrink

Comments

Bret Hern wrote re: Thoughts regarding TntMPD 3.0, the cloud and mobile

on 17 Jan 2013 7:27 AM

Troy -- just wanted to commend your vision for "TntMPD in the Cloud."

I would tend to agree that at least 80% of the battle is simply having reference data available when mobiile/away from the mothership. I might push it to 90%!

Random thoughts/tidbits in this space:

1) The one bit of "read/write" that would be immediately helpful to have *live* when mobile is contact information edits. (Vs. task completions, history/notes, etc.) Being able to reliably capture a new phone number from a call in, or a new email address, etc., is a constant need. This in turn points to my own MPD (Massive Philosophical Debate) point:

2) What repository will be the reference data? Will TntMPD be the "boss" with everything rolling downhill from it, or will the user be able to work from any point in the network and reliably impose changes on the rest? I'm fine with whatever the answer is, and would argue to you that if you were to choose to make the answer "TntMPD has to be the center of the universe" in order to release these services and features sooner, that would be fine. Even if that turns out not to be a requirement, I would argue that to require the user to *designate* the "boss repository" would simplify both the work to deploy these feature AND the use of these features for the user. Having struggled with the overly fussy and unnecessarily complex tools for synching between Outlook, Google, and iOS, I think that allowing the user to say, "This is my master data, everything else is a copy," is so much cleaner and easier, and if the tool is available on all of my platforms like it will be, it isn't even a limitation at that point.

3) As I understand it, CCCI is making a massive move toward Google Apps, which makes sense on a lot of levels. Will that impact the priority of synchronization and features surrounding Outlook vs. Google Calendar, Contacts and Mail?

Blessings to you on your work -- it is massively appreciated, and I'm eager to see what 3.0 looks like as soon as it's ready for action.

Troy Wolbrink wrote re: Thoughts regarding TntMPD 3.0, the cloud and mobile

on 21 Jan 2013 4:21 PM

Hi Bret, Good questions! I'm starting to shift my thinking in terms of starting off as read-only. Recently, it occurred to me how I can support true simultaneous-multi-user two-way sync using Dropbox. (I believe this is an answer to my prayer request for direction from the Lord in our last end-of-year letter!) Because of this, there would be less technical reasons for limiting the web service stack to read-only. It might be read-only in the short term as I'm figuring things out, but I don't expect this to be the normal.

So my plan now is to include in TntMPD 3.0 the ability for multiple users to be in the same TntMPD database at the same time without losing anyone's updates. Because of this additional functionality, TntMPD 3.0 is a little further out ... and thus the cloud ... but it will be so much better long term. And the ability for husband/wife to keep their TntMPD in sync over the cloud (in an easy foolproof way using Dropbox) will really help spouses work together on MPD better.

Previously I was thinking that true multi-user 2-way sync (for TntMPD) would require me to write custom code and run it on my web server. I'm delighted to have found a way for Dropbox to be the only server required in this new paradigm. PTL ... and thanks to my partners for their prayers!

To answer your questions:

1) I'm expecting that you'll be able to add/edit contact basic information very early in the "TntMPD on Web" feature list.

2/3) TntMPD won't have to be the master. My plan is to have "TntMPD on Web" provide standard contact/calendar protocols (like CardDAV or CalDAV) so that contacts and appointments will integrate into your mobile device natively (along side Exchange or Google). Thus the need for TntMPD to sync w/ Outlook Contacts or Google Contacts goes away.

Please keep me in your prayers!

--Troy

NicholasAlsop wrote re: Thoughts regarding TntMPD 3.0, the cloud and mobile

on 23 Apr 2013 7:08 PM

In this discussion, does the program Keep for TNTMPD on iOS cover most of what version 1.0 would be?