The BMLT (Basic Meeting List Toolbox) is a complete NA meeting search and list system in one. It is a software program, called a “CMS” (Content Management System), that your Webservant (The technical administrator for your Web site) installs on your Web server. It creates an “instant” NA meeting list search engine, which includes maps, detailed listings, easy printing, and even direct Adobe PDF printable meeting lists.

Figure 1: A Map-Based Search

Figure 2: Simple, Attractive Meeting Details

The BMLT has a “hub and spoke” architecture. This means that your Webservant creates a central “server” (the “hub”), and other Service entities can connect to the “hub” (These would be the “spokes” -we call them “satellites”). This architecture is ideal for implementation by a Regional Service, and the “spokes” could be Area Service, or Metro Area Web sites. The central server (We call it the “root server”) contains all the data, but people who use the Area Service sites never have to know about the root server. They use their own Web sites, which have a local view of the data on the root server. In other words, the root server knows about all the meetings in the Region, but each Area can focus on only those meetings and locations within their own Service boundaries.

Just to make this perfectly clear:

THE BMLT IS A COMPLETELY, 100% OPEN-SOURCE PROJECT THAT HAS NO STRINGS ATTACHED. IT IS FREE (AS IN “LUNCH”), AND WILL NEVER, EVER BE SOLD, OR USED AS LEVERAGE FOR FINANCIAL GAIN FROM ITS CREATORS.

NEVER. EVER. IT IS FREE, AND THE COMPLETE SOURCE IS AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION, DOWNLOAD, AND EVEN REPURPOSING, AS PER THE GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE (GPL). THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY THAT SOME FOLK MAY OFFER SERVICES OR CODING, BASED AROUND THE BMLT, BUT THAT WILL NOT BE MAGSHARE.

FREE. NO KIDDING. NO EXAGGERATION. FOREVER.

What Are the Main Benefits of Using the BMLT?

1. Incredible, “natural” usability. We use Google Maps, and display direct, simple, usable and relevant meeting data. Usability has been the #1 priority on this project since Day One.
2. Unsurpassed Flexibility. The BMLT has been designed to allow you to customize the appearance, the meeting formats and even what data is stored. In fact, it has already been used to store non-meeting information. It uses a number of techniques to afford tremendous flexibility.
   As one example, the BMLT satellites are designed to be tweaked and customized. It’s not difficult to make them fit into existing themes. You can also do things like have your local map appear in a region and zoom level of your choosing, so the Regional site may show the entire region at a wide zoom, but the ASC site shows only the area covered by that ASC, and zoomed in more precisely.
3. An opaque database. No one needs to know anything about the DB. Heck, they don’t even have to KNOW there’s a DB. The database type is also flexible. You are not required to use MySQL.
4. Scalability. This has been tested with as few as 120 meetings, and as many as 4,000+ meetings. It has no upper limit (besides the iron needed to process larger datasets).
5. Security. Security has been designed in from Day One. We won’t invite hacks by saying it’s bulletproof, but it will resist your average M16 round.
6. Very easy administration. The administration (editing) system has been designed to allow multiple logins, with the ability to edit only a certain subset of meetings. For example, the RSC administrator might be able to edit all meetings, but each ASC administrator can only edit the meetings in their ASC. Additionally, we have gone well out of our way to make administering the system as natural and easy as using the system.
7. Direct PDF downloads. This system has the ability to provide a link that will create your entire meeting list for printing in one URL. It produces “live” PDF documents, based on the state of the database at the very moment the PDF is produced.
8. Location-Aware Mobile Phone Support. As of Version 1.4.1, we support both the Apple iPhone, and Google Android devices. These devices are "location aware," so they can be used to "find meetings near me."
9. Regional Relevance. This system is absolutely ideal to help an RSC (Regional Service Committee/Conference) provide a hugely useful, popular and relevant Service to its constituent ASCs.
10. Localizability. The BMLT has been designed to render non-Roman text systems, and can be localized in different languages. If there is a language that you would like to see supported, contact us, and we’ll see what we can do (HINT: It may involve you helping us out).
    Here’s a couple of quick demos as to how truly flexible the localization can be: The German-Speaking Region’s Main Root Server. Note that it is in German, the native language of the server. Now, here’s the same server, but in English. Here is the Greater New York Region Meeting Search. Note that it is in English. Here it is in German. This is absurdly easy to do. The BMLT has been designed as a World-ready system from the very start.
11. Data Exchange. Through facilities such as our CSV export, we can use the BMLT as a way to exchange data with other NA entities, such as NAWS.
12. Future expansion. This is merely a baseline system. More stuff is planned in the future.

Follow This Link for A List of inFrequently Asked Questions

Find Out More

Follow This Link for A List of Current Implementations of the BMLT.

Download a Printable PDF One-Page Document that Explains the Operation of the BMLT

View a Short Movie that Demonstrates the BMLT

Download a Brief PowerPoint Slideshow for Service Committees Interested in Using the BMLT

Download a More Involved PowerPoint Slideshow, Covering the Process of Implementing the BMLT

Visit this page to see a live demonstration of the BMLT.

Visit this page to see the user guide.

Visit this page to see the administration posts.