Case Study: GraceNet, Inc

I really enjoy working with clients who think outside the box; clients who keep me on my toes.  Martha Grace Reese at GraceNet is one of those clients. 

An in-demand author and speaker, Reese works with the leadership of various churches and is in the midst of an enormous research project called the Unbinding the Gospel Project.  She keeps me busy with various design and programming updates to her site on a regular basis. 



When I say that she thinks outside the box, I mean it.  She is constantly bringing me new ideas for functionality on her site, which has become a major piece of the research project.  By using the web to collect data, communicate with the people involved, and provide easy access to common documents, Reese is able to free up time to focus on the data itself and spend less time worrying about common tasks.  Here's a quote from her about this:

"...we are about to shift into another phase of research where we'll use the site to collect and process immense amounts of data and stories for a new national, four-year study of two thousand churches. Dave's technical expertise is going to save me innumerable headaches and two years of salary for a data collector and coder."

The core of the project is a team of coaches that are each assigned a group of pastors.  Both the coaches and pastors constantly use the website for things like automated questions & responses, scheduling, and group correspondence.  Reese herself is able to use the site for keeping detailed notes, notifying pastors and coaches, viewing reports, and more. 



Here are a few highlights of the Unbinding the Gospel web application:

• Detailed signup for pastors that captures information about congregation, pastor history, etc:

• Coaches and Administrators can manage an AJAX-enabled calendar for each specific group:

• Coaches can send questions to all group members, and the recipients click a link that brings them directly to the response page:

• Coaches can record notes after group phone calls that are then available for review by Administrator:

• The Administrator can send out a mass, branded email based on custom criteria such as specific groups, pastors, coaches, coordinators, sessions, and more:

• The email itself:
  
  

• After data is collected, Reese is able to view and export responses in an organized fashion:
  
  

We continue to add and refine functionality on the Unbinding the Gospel application.  In the end there will be a complex system of tagging chunks of data for easy access and classification. 

The Unbinding the Gospel Project is succeeding in part by taking manual processes and automating them using the web.  I believe this is a perfect example of what Lift Development does best: Advancement through web-related technology.