Open Source Pays Off for Nonprofit

After weeks of work, Foran traced the error to his own typo and made the fix. "It was more a problem of not having a second pair of eyes to look at it and see where the error was," says Foran, who had to configure and troubleshoot the portal solo.

FSW's homegrown database, now available on the portal, includes data from just about every aspect of the organization's operations, including client demographics required for regulatory and funding purposes. It also generates customized reports. "The database securely contains data on everyone who comes through the door so we can report to our funders and government agencies," Foran says.

Open-Source Overhaul

The LifeRay portal is just one of several open-source tools FSW has deployed in a major network and system overhaul this year to help defray the costs of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) compliance. FSW had to re-architect its entire network to meet HIPAA standards (See "The Hard Sell"), which help protect the privacy and security of client health data. The open-source technology saved the nonprofit nearly $100,000 over off-the-shelf alternatives. So far, FSW, whose annual revenue exceeds $10 million, has spent more than $27,000 on new hardware and software for the project, including commercial e-mail and virtualization software for which there were no acceptable open options. The organization plans to spend another $12,000, not including user training, to complete the overhaul.

Aside from the portal, FSW has deployed open-source tools for security and content monitoring as well as Linux operating systems on its servers and some of its workstations. The nonprofit also replaced an aging Novell NetWare 4.11 and 5.0 LAN with Samba 3, an OpenLDAP back-end directory, and FreeRADIUS for remote user authentication. Foran--a former senior network specialist at filtration-product maker CUNO who had plenty of Linux experience under his belt when he came to FSW six months ago--says the nonprofit passed on Red Hat Linux because it was too pricey, and instead went with the open-source CentOS4 and Fedora Core 3 Linux operating systems for its servers.

FSW has deployed a Gigabit Ethernet LAN--the organization got a discount from Dell on its PowerConnect 3324 switches, which ended up costing just $20 more than standard Fast Ethernet switches. The nonprofit's e-mail server is commercial--Stalker Software's CommuniGate Pro, with open-source Jabber-based instant messaging as well as virtualization software. "None of the open-source e-mail out there is really a drop-in replacement for Microsoft Exchange," Foran says. Apps such as FSW's accounting system--Best Software's M.I.P. Fund--don't have equivalent open-source counterparts and can't be replaced with free code.

The advantage to open-source software--aside from cost--is that you're not dependent on your vendor for patches or fixes, Foran says. "The code [is] visible to everyone out there, so any bugs are brought to the surface quickly and not hidden for six to 12 months," he says. "When it's out in the open, patches get deployed quickly, and there's a larger base of community support available."

Of course, the lack of vendor support for open-source technology can be tricky--as the portal error demonstrates--but that's where testing comes in. "Testing is a way to avoid those problems," Foran says. For instance, FSW ran 20 different content-management tools for the intranet and put them under simulated load tests. "Some broke, and others had bugs, but we settled on the default CMS under LifeRay because it installed quickly and easily," he says.Virtual Reality

The network makeover required some new servers. But rather than get a dozen or so in order to segment the far-flung nonprofit's wide range of operations, Foran opted for off-the-shelf virtualization technology that makes one big server look like multiple, separate servers. FSW runs a Windows 2003-based primary Dell PowerEdge 2850 and a backup Compaq ProLiant 1850R running Fedora Core 3, along with VMWare's GSX 3 virtualization package. Foran chose the VMWare software over open options such as ZEN and PairPC because of its performance and support, and because he had previous experience with the software.

Foran plans to gradually move FSW's off-the-shelf apps to open source--that is, where it makes sense to do so. FSW's MediSoft electronic medical records application will be one of the first apps to be replaced with open source, probably by July 2007.

Joseph Foran 32, is director of IT at FSW, a Bridgeport, Conn.-based nonprofit that provides health-care and social services. Foran has led FSW's HIPAA compliance efforts, including its move to an open-source infrastructure. A former senior network specialist at filtration-product maker CUNO, the 10-year IT veteran has been at FSW for six months.

How nonprofits are different to work for: "There's a lot less political infighting. People in nonprofits tend to believe in the mission in a way for-profits just can't match. Employees treat the organization less like a faceless provider of paychecks and more like a personal cause. Another difference is in the financials--there's never enough money to go around. On the upside, this encourages creativity and opens a lot of doors for coming up with fun solutions."Most annoying thing about HIPAA: "The ambiguous nature of the legislation and the loose definition of 'reasonable' security. A close second is the cost in money, time and paperwork that could have been better spent elsewhere."

Why open source sometimes gets a bad rap: "Large organizations that could significantly drive open-source development are driven by their relationships with vendors. The vendors, in turn, use those relationships to protect their client bases from evaporating, including spewing lots of FUD around. If I were a vendor, I sure wouldn't want to see my expensive products and support plans replaced by open source."

Favorite team: "My son's soccer team. I'm also a die-hard Mets fan. Nothing beats watching an airplane take off from LaGuardia and fly just outside Shea's outfield just as a home run sails out of the park. Sadly, it's more often the opposing team's home run, but I'm confident things will pick up."

Best geek joke: "While perusing the VMWare message boards, I came across this one:

Wheels: "Saturn L300. I don't believe in flash, but I do believe in comfort."FSW's Foran persuaded execs that his tiny IT staff could support the proposed open-source infrastructure--and that the tools would truly work.

Not every organization can pull off an open-source overhaul--you need the IT expertise to support it. That makes Joseph Foran a pretty valuable guy at FSW.

FSW's upper management liked the proposed open-source initiative, but wasn't sure the organization's tiny IT staff of two full-timers and several part-time volunteers could support the new systems, according to Foran, FSW's director of IT.

In the end, FSW's previous experience with some custom in-house applications swayed management to give the green light for deploying the open-source tools, which included the LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL Perl/PHP/Python) stack and Nagios monitoring tools.

"We had some custom programs developed by single developers or in-house staff without formal support from a vendor, so it wasn't much of a stretch to go with open source," Foran says.Foran's predecessor had already laid the groundwork for the open-source push, so when Foran joined the organization, it was up to him to win support for specific hardware and software. FSW executives grilled him on how these tools would meet the nonprofit's security and privacy requirements, especially HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) standards. But Foran was up to the challenge--he showed them, for example, how you can discover and repair a security hole just as quickly with an open-source tool as with a commercial product.

Because the open-source software carried no license fees, the only costs involved in its deployment were for the requisite hardware and related training. Like most nonprofits, FSW generally relies on grant money for its IT projects, though basics like computers and printers are paid for out of the organization's general operating fund.

"Before I pitch something, I must have grant information," Foran says.

FSW had already secured $500,000 from the Casey Foundation for IT and non-IT initiatives before Foran came on board, so he had to ensure that some of that money would be allocated to the open-source effort. Foran says he ultimately won over FSW's president, executive vice president and vice president of finance by talking business rather than tech. Haunted by a Linux pitch that failed in a previous job, he was intent on winning this one at FSW. Foran says he lost the other pitch because he focused on the technical merits of Linux rather than the business case.

"Executive management didn't buy it," he recalls. "So I then learned real fast to pick up the business stick and walk quietly with it."This time, Foran didn't mess around. He tested out his proposed mix of open-source and commercial tools--including the LifeRay portal, Stalker Software's CommuniGate Pro e-mail package and VMWare's GSX Server 3.1--using a couple of old Compaq ProLiant servers he personally bought on eBay. The strategy worked, he says. "I got the approvals one by one, over the past few months."