MMMEC.in - MMMEC Community Website

I was just thinking about the dozens of available Alumni databases. One in college, one in Delhi one in Bangalore, one in US... and so on. I am registered to many of them, but still I am not able to keep all of them up-to-date. I am sure this must be the case for most alumni working in private sector. People tend to change jobs, houses, cities and email services. They have to get information updated in banks, mobile company, cooking gas agency etc. MMMEC.in is one of the last things people update, if they do update at all. In such scenarios, updating multiple databases is a pain.

I see this as a challenging problem waiting to be solved. I am providing suggestion/opinion on a solution which I feel good. If you have better ideas, you are welcome to reply in comments. Whatever be the case, the current scenario of having multiple databases at different locations is not the best way to go. A unified database can act as the authoritative information and be used by all alumni chapters and the various Malaviyan sites. Can we bring some order to this chaos of multiple websites with overlapping features with replicated and non-current information?

Server Requirements
So, how to implement it? Firstly, there is a need of a web server so that anyone anywhere can access the database. A good server with at least 90% availability is a must. Considering that our college has been in operation for more than 40 years, and keeping a budget of 25KB for each of the 500 students in every batch, the space needed is 500 MB! For future, it is only wise to have the option to increase it up to 1 GB.

Profile Database
A scalable database is needed which can store information as key-value pair for profile data is needed. Open source MySQL database is good choice, provided the schema is designed properly. I am sure we have enough database experts in our community to do the job properly. A backup of this database should be maintained remotely, which can even be offline.

Data Access
Users need to access the database to view details and search friends or to update their information. A form based approach is necessary for users. Also, the profile page may be used as an OpenID. This will allow the information to be used on a daily basis, keeping it current. It should also be possible to search members by name, location, year of graduation, branch of study, company, etc. It should also have a mailing list server so that people can contact other who match a particular search criteria. The various partner sites should be able to use the database through SQL access. It should also be possible to export the data in XML or XLS format so that it may be added to alumni directories published elsewhere.

Any other ideas? Add in comments! Probably if we have the requirements and ideas together, then we may be able to consolidate the MMMEC information available online.