Planning Center Integration: Standalone Component vs Proclaim Addon

[bcordis]

Overview

Planning Center is a comprehensive church management platform with robust APIs for:

• Publishing - Sermon/episode management and podcast distribution
• Calendar - Event scheduling and room booking
• Services - Service planning and volunteer scheduling
• People - Contact management and group organization
• Giving - Donation tracking and reporting

Currently, I've researched integrating Planning Center Publishing with Proclaim for bidirectional sermon synchronization. However, this raises a strategic question:

Should Planning Center integration be a standalone Joomla component that multiple extensions can use, or should it be Proclaim-specific?

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Option A: Standalone com_planningcenter Component

Advantages

• Broader Ecosystem Benefit: Other Joomla extensions could integrate
  • Events extensions (JEvents, iCagenda) → sync Planning Center Calendar
  • Form extensions (RSForm, Fabrik) → integrate with People/Groups
  • Content management → sync sermon notes, blog posts
  • Donation extensions → integrate with Giving
• Separation of Concerns: Core API client, OAuth, webhooks in one place
• Reusable Infrastructure: Other developers can build on it
• Better Maintenance: Single codebase for PC integration

Disadvantages

• More Complex Initial Development: Needs generic data model
• Coordination Required: Multiple extension maintainers must collaborate
• Slower Time-to-Market: More planning needed upfront

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Option B: Proclaim Addon (Current Research)

Advantages

• Faster Development: Direct Proclaim-specific implementation
• Tighter Integration: No abstraction layer needed
• Immediate Value: Solves a specific Proclaim user need
• Less Coordination: Self-contained within Proclaim

Disadvantages

• Limited Scope: Only benefits Proclaim users
• Duplicate Effort: Other extensions would rebuild the same OAuth/API code
• Harder to Extract Later: Refactoring to standalone component would be difficult

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Community Input Needed

I've created a 40-60 hour research document for Planning Center Publishing ↔ Proclaim bidirectional sync. It includes:

• Complete API research and data mapping
• Bidirectional sync architecture with webhook support
• 5-tier conflict resolution strategy (timestamp, source priority, merge, user selection, field-level)
• Database schema for sync_map, sync_log, conflicts tables
• 6-phase implementation plan

But before proceeding, I want community feedback:

Questions

1. Scope: Should this be standalone (com_planningcenter) or Proclaim addon (admin/src/Addons/PlanningCenter/)?
2. Priority: How many churches use both Planning Center and Joomla/Proclaim?
3. Use Cases: What other Planning Center integrations would be valuable?
   • Calendar events → Joomla events extensions?
   • People/Groups → Joomla user management?
   • Giving → donation tracking?
4. Architecture: For standalone component, what's the best data model?
   • Generic entity sync (works with any extension)?
   • Service-specific modules (Publishing, Calendar, People)?
5. Maintenance: Who would maintain a standalone component long-term?

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Technical Considerations

If Standalone Component

• Core Features:
  • OAuth 2.0 authentication with token refresh
  • Generic API client for all Planning Center services
  • Webhook receiver endpoint
  • Sync mapping table (PC entity ↔ Joomla entity)
  • Conflict resolution UI
• Extension Integration Pattern:
  • Proclaim registers: episodes → messages, channels → series
  • JEvents registers: events → events
  • Extensions implement sync handlers via plugin events
• Admin Interface:
  • Connection settings (OAuth credentials)
  • Service-specific configuration tabs
  • Sync logs and conflict dashboard
  • Manual sync triggers per service

If Proclaim Addon

• Same features but Proclaim-specific
• Simpler data model (direct table mapping)
• Faster initial development
• Could be extracted to standalone later (with effort)

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Research Document Highlights

The existing research covers (for Publishing service only):

1. Bidirectional Sync:
   • Proclaim → Planning Center: Push new sermons, update metadata
   • Planning Center → Proclaim: Pull published episodes, sync media URLs
2. Conflict Resolution:
   • Timestamp-based auto-merge
   • Source priority (PC master vs Proclaim master)
   • Non-destructive merge (combine descriptions, preserve both)
   • User selection UI (side-by-side diff)
   • Field-level merge (keep PC title, Proclaim description, etc.)
3. Data Integrity:
   • Sync mapping table tracks PC episode ID ↔ Proclaim message ID
   • Sync log records every operation (success/failure, payload)
   • Conflict detection via last_modified timestamps
4. Performance:
   • Webhook-triggered real-time sync (when PC publishes an episode)
   • Manual on-demand sync button in admin
   • Batch sync for initial import (100+ existing episodes)

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Next Steps

Your Input Requested:

• Vote with 👍 for standalone component, 👎 for Proclaim addon
• Comment with your use cases and requirements
• Share if you use Planning Center + Joomla

Based on feedback, I'll either:

• Path A: Create com_planningcenter component with Proclaim as first integration
• Path B: Implement Proclaim addon with future extraction option

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Related Resources

• Planning Center API Docs: https://developer.planning.center/
• Planning Center Publishing API: https://developer.planning.center/docs/#/apps/publishing
• Planning Center OAuth Guide: https://developer.planning.center/docs/#/introduction/authentication

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