Unchained at Last – Advanced Integration Development
Unchained at Last
A complex technical solution for Unchained at Last, the leading organization fighting forced and child marriage in the U.S., creating a custom WordPress plugin to seamlessly synchronize donor data between Donor Perfect and Salesforce, automating critical data management processes while maintaining data integrity across multiple platforms.
Project Overview
Client
Unchained at Last
Location
New Jersey, USA
Timeline
Oct 2024 - Nov 2024
The Challenge
Unchained at Last, the only nonprofit dedicated to ending forced and child marriage in the United States, faced several complex technical challenges with their donor and contact management systems:
- Disconnected Systems: Their new donation platform (Donor Perfect) and their CRM (Salesforce) operated as separate silos, requiring manual data entry and synchronization
- Data Inconsistency: Critical donor information and donation history was fragmented across platforms, making it difficult to maintain a comprehensive view of supporter relationships
- Resource Constraints: As an almost all-volunteer organization, Unchained at Last lacked the technical staff to manage complex data integration processes manually
- Special Use Case Requirements: Their Salesforce implementation had been customized for their unique needs in managing connections with those seeking help, requiring any integration to respect these customizations
- Bidirectional Updates: Changes made in either system needed to propagate to the other without creating duplication or data conflicts
- Tracking and Monitoring: The organization needed visibility into the synchronization process to ensure data integrity and troubleshoot any issues
- Limited Commercial Solutions: Off-the-shelf integration tools couldn't accommodate their specific workflow and customized fields
Our Solution
I developed a comprehensive technical solution for Unchained at Last that bridged their critical systems and automated their data management processes:
Phase 1: Analysis and Planning
- Conducted a thorough assessment of both Donor Perfect and Salesforce implementations, including data structures, API capabilities, and custom fields
- Mapped data relationships between both platforms to identify essential synchronization points and potential conflicts
- Developed a detailed data synchronization strategy with rules for handling conflicts, duplicates, and bidirectional updates
- Created a system architecture that would utilize WordPress as the integration hub, leveraging its scheduling capabilities and familiar interface
Phase 2: Custom Plugin Development
- Built a custom WordPress plugin that serves as the integration agent between Donor Perfect and Salesforce
- Implemented API connections to both platforms, handling authentication, rate limiting, and error recovery
- Developed a sophisticated data transformation layer that normalizes information between the two systems
- Created a merging algorithm that intelligently combines records from both sources, prioritizing the most recent or authoritative data
- Built a database structure within WordPress to temporarily store and process synchronization data
Phase 3: Synchronization Logic Implementation
- Implemented bidirectional synchronization capabilities (DP→SF and SF→DP) with intelligent conflict resolution
- Developed change detection mechanisms to identify and process only modified records, improving efficiency
- Created data validation processes to ensure information integrity before transmission between systems
- Built logging and tracking functionality to maintain a complete history of all synchronization activities
- Implemented error handling with automatic retry capabilities for failed synchronizations
Phase 4: Dashboard and Monitoring System
- Designed an intuitive WordPress-based dashboard to monitor synchronization activities
- Created visual reports showing synchronization status, success rates, and potential issues
- Implemented alerts for critical synchronization failures requiring manual intervention
- Developed administrative controls for manually triggering synchronization or resolving conflicts
- Built detailed logging with searchable records for troubleshooting and auditing
Phase 5: Automation and Deployment
- Initially configured WordPress cron jobs to automatically execute synchronization processes at optimal intervals
- Added dedicated server cron job support when processing time exceeded WordPress cron capabilities
- Implemented a flexible dual-method approach allowing the plugin to switch between WordPress cron and server cron depending on processing demands
- Implemented progressive synchronization to handle large datasets without overwhelming system resources
- Deployed the solution with minimal disruption to existing workflows
- Created documentation for the organization to understand the integration and address common scenarios
- Established monitoring protocols to ensure long-term reliability of the integration
Project Screenshots
Some example settings
Donor sync display
Gift sync display
Technical Overview
DonorPerfect to Salesforce Integration Flow
This flowchart illustrates the data synchronization between DonorPerfect and Salesforce through a WordPress plugin. The plugin fetches data from both systems, processes it through staging tables, and updates both platforms while skipping organization records. Key components include the WordPress database for storing staging data and logs, and the bidirectional flow of contact information. The recent enhancement prevents organization donations from overwriting individual contact names by identifying and skipping organization records throughout the sync process.
Results
Manual Data Entry Reduction
60
hours per month of manual data transfer between systems eliminated
System Reliability
100%
uptime synchronization process runs with automated error recovery
Data Integrity
~100%
synchronization accuracy achieved between platforms
