google devfest 2010 - affinitylive and the marketplace

Google Confidential and Proprietary

Integrating with the Apps MarketplaceGeoff McQueen

© Hiive Systems 2010

Where we’ll go today

What is AffinityLive?

Why the Marketplace & Google Apps?

Integration & Challenges with Google Apps

• Single Sign-On

• Calendar

• Contacts (incl shared directory)

• Schedule

• Future: Docs, Contextual Gadgets, Wave

Conclusions & Next Steps

2


What is AffinityLive

Web-based Professional Services Automation (PSA) software

Currently in Private Beta – launch in Sept 2010

CRMMaking the Sale

PSADoing the Work

AccountsGetting Paid


AffinityLive: Job & Task Tracking


AffinityLive: Work & Scheduling


AffinityLive: Emails, Notes & Files


Why integrate with Google Apps & Marketplace?

Google Apps:

• Our users are asking for integration

• Gives our product new features for low effort Calendar

Wave

Google Apps Marketplace:

• Market: large potential market of cloud-believing customers Over 2 million businesses using Google Apps

Over 3000 new businesses sign up a day

• Channel: existing sales & support ‘channel’ through Apps partners

• Credibility & Publicity: Google seen to be ‘vouching’ for us

There are challenges – technical & business – to overcome though!


Integrations with Google Apps

Single Sign-On via OpenID and OAuth

Calendar

Contacts

Schedule

Docs

Contextual Gadgets

Wave

Storage


Single Sign-On with OpenID


Single Sign-On with OpenID – Lessons Learned

Google Federated Login ≠ OpenID

• Need to check additional domains

• Ability to add OAuth scope options – hybrid

Glenn’s Net::Google::FederatedLogin for Perl

What 2-Legged really means – über impersonation!

Support multiple Apps domains per ‘client’ or not?

OAuth: AuthSub & Scope Error Messages – beware https!

On-Boarding of new users – they come in authenticated but unknown

Security issues in self-editing account info - some fields should be locked


Calendar


Calendar – Lessons Learned

Fun with invitations & requests

• Make sure you use the attendee status, type & notification values or you’ll get phantom appointments

Gmail’s identity crisis – all your bases belong to us

• If a Gmail user has added their non-Gmail address to their Google Account, Google will think it is control of their calendar

Extended properties are hidden (great), but you can’t search for them

• Make sure you keep sync info in your app for updates, etc

Choices about “multiple calendars” and what to sync with


Contacts


Contacts – Lessons Learned

Two types of contact lists

• Personal contact list

• Shared contact list (Directory), only in Premier

Patience, my friend, patience

• ‘Contacts’ interface very laggy

• Shared contact list can take up to 24 hours!!! (it is in the docs)

Email address primary key in Contacts, but you can’t search on it

• Again, you’ll need your own sync records on your end

Use the right Gdata version header – Contacts is now on 3.0!


Schedule


Schedule – Lessons Learned

Ability to visualise all time commitments is very popular with users

Need to handle the multiple-calendar issue intelligently

Searching for entries based on dates and modified times is great

• But you can’t search on extended properties

Still working through best way to put schedule info back into Calendar


Docs

Still experimenting/testing integration

Issues/Considerations:

• Hybrid environments suck – choices to make

• Import/export is good, but lose version history of course

• Shared/common doc folder only for Premier accts

• Sharing/ACL issues for us – opposite assumption


Contextual Gadgets



• Performance issues on your end – be ready for load!

• Strong regex model to describe whether to fire is great!!!

• Unfortunately, you can’t run regex across arbitrary headers Message-ID and References would be obvious ones to add

• Could be a bit too attractive/appealing – overload in the UI


Wave



• Creating and Embedding Waves now much easier

• Federation still a bit bleeding edge

• Wave API allows for OAuth based Wave interactions – more coming soon!

• Wave doesn’t yet support 2-Legged OAuth

• Marketplace manifests don’t “know” about Wave yet

• Business/interface issues: what role/depth should Wave play?


Storage

Currently experimenting/testing


• Yet another authentication framework AuthSub, OAuth & now Storage keys!?!

• Three way interplay: Storage, Docs & AffinityLive

• Sharing, ACLs & Bucket limits – different approach

• Potentially cost-effective backup/archive solution

• Desktop/Network Drive interfaces for users

• Where does Storage fit into the Apps/Enterprise play?


Summary

Technical:

• OpenID and OAuth are challenging & fluid

• Documentation is extensive but scattered

• You need to handle sync status & IDs

• Security considerations get more tricky

• Many levels of “being integrated”

Business:

• More than 2 million businesses today on Apps

• Over 3000 new businesses a day ‘Going Google’

• System Integration=Evil. Business knows this. Marketplace & integrations remove this pain


Contact Details & Questions

Questions? Comments? Abuse?

Private Beta Signup: www.affinitylive.com

My Details:

• Geoff McQueen, Founder, Hiive Systems

• [email protected]

• @geoffmcqueen

http://www.affinitylive.com/

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.twitter.com/geoffmcqueen

http://www.twitter.com/geoffmcqueen

google devfest 2010 - affinitylive and the marketplace

Technology

hiive systems

marketplace google apps

google apps single sign

google account

calendar lessons

google confidential

contacts lessons

affinitylive web