Several churches are using or are interesting in using the Planning Center SAAS service for scheduling, etc. In our Churches BOF (@see http://groups.drupal.org/node/299228) we had at least 3-4 people express interest in creating some kind of Drupal integration. I would like to start a planning discussion here that could eventually lead to a sandbox module which could lead to a public release of a module or feature for Drupal.
I went to the Planning Center website and asked for some kind of API documentation and/or a test account if they have one. I will see what they say. I don't know enough ab the Planning center to know exactly what it does and what integration with Drupal would look like. So maybe we can start an open thread here and do some pre-planning on what the module could actual do to make it easier to integrate PC with Drupal.
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Ideally I would like a
Ideally I would like a stand-alone module that integrates with Drupal. I don't know however if it needs to be tightly integrated with Drupal content. For example are people wanting to integrate an Event content type with Planning Center? If so then that presents a challenge bc we would need to be able to have an admin configuration where you could point the planning center module to the correct content type and/or fields to make it integrate with that entity.
From an OpenChurch standpoint I'd like to include the planning center module (which again would be stand-alone) and pre-configure it for OC. That would be my ideal situation as OC would not have the complete burden of maintaining the module and it would also have usefulness outside the context of an OC site.
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2 Cents
If anyone decides to pursue a stand-alone module, I'd be happy to help with that. Small churches will have a gard time with the additional costs of Planning Center, plus the I think it would be ideal if it could come up with a design. I suppose we could do this without nodes, but it seems like it might be the wrong approach. I'm trying to figure out if the biggest part of the problem is the bulk creation of nodes (each of which having positions that need filling), or if its the date management aspect.
I created a free account and
I created a free account and got the API key so I am ready to go but I still don't really know where integration would be needed/appropriate. Like do you have a vision for what the module would need to do?
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Free PCO account
They do offer a free 'micro' account that has few resources, but may be good enough for testing. The link is on their site, but not terribly obvious...
https://www.planningcenteronline.com/signup/free