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Technical Overview

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John Jones edited this page Jun 10, 2019 · 2 revisions

IIRMa Logical Diagram

The IIRMa project consists of two distinct parts:

  • The back end, powered by the Laravel framework, collects impact investment information from various data sources and merges those data sets into one schema stored in a Neo4j database. The back end also relies on MySQL for storing a user database and metadata and a Redis database for caching.
  • The front end, powered by WordPress, houses the visualization. The visualization itself runs in React and uses Sigma.js to render the many thousand nodes shown in the original Network Map. WordPress requires a MySQL database to function.

Included in this wiki are articles that detail how IIRMa functions, how to set up a local copy of the code, and suggestions for how to set up a production system.

Table of Contents

  1. About
  2. How to Use IIRMa
  3. Technical Details
    1. Overview
    2. Getting Started
      1. Setup
      2. Deployment
    3. Back End
      1. Data Flow
      2. Database Schemas
      3. Creating New Data Sources
    4. Front End
      1. Data Flow
      2. Caching

The Origins of IIRMa

In 2017, The Case Foundation launched the Impact Investing Network Map, with data partners Impact Space and CrunchBase, to present the best publicly available data on impact investments to better inform the sector of the size, breadth and depth of the impact investing ecosystem. We believed that incorporating engaging data visualizations to display connections between investors and companies would not only bring greater accessibility and transparency to Impact Investing data but would demonstrate growth and inspire action in this catalytic movement.

We are appreciative of the resources and expertise provided by our advisors to build the initial product and their influence can be seen throughout IIRMa. We utilized elements of the CASE Smart Impact Capital, Impact Capital 101: Supply and Demand diagram to help illustrate the flow of capital between the supply and demand side actors. Check out the full video to learn more on capital flows within Impact Investing.

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