Report

CRM Review Project

Based on our experiences with CiviCRM and our use cases, we identified a plan for moving forward.

The goal is to enable community-based organizations to run their own version of CiviCRM that is:

• pre-configured to address common organizing needs
• retains commonality so a shared skill set can be used across organizations
• is still capable of being modified and customized for the particular organization

The project should provide a public facing web site, explaining the goals and providing links to download the components so that anyone can use it. Ideally, the configuration files and code generated should be kept in a revision control system and an issue tracker should be setup to track problems and provide for an easy method to fix problems and release new versions that can be tracked against new versions of CiviCRM.

We've broken down the common project into following components:

• Common configuration: We will take a default CiviCRM installation and configure it with all the database-stored settings, field list, etc. that make sense for a community organizing group. This component will include a human readable file explaining what changes were made along with a sql file that can be automatically imported into a fresh CiviCRM installation.

• Local changes: (template, language file changes, and Drupal modules) CiviCRM provides separate directories - local to the installation - that can hold customized templates and customized internationalization files (allowing us to use more organizer-friendly lingo in the database interface). We will prepare templates and internationalization files that are customized for organizing groups, allowing a common set of changes to be used by all participating organization in a way that does not require modifications to core CiviCRM code. In addition, we will include Drupal modules for added functionality (like reports or a custom dashboard).

• Themes: We will develop a custom Drupal theme for the project designed to meet our own design/layout needs.

• Hosting: The project will develop components that can be hosted on any typical, free-software hosting provider. However, we may want to consider using a dedicated virtual server for a few reasons, including: control over system resources, ability to configure custom mail options, and ensuring that we have the required versions of supporting software (like PHP, MySQL, etc). Part of getting a dedicated virtual server should include the labor to maintain, backup, and trouble-shoot problems related to the server and the installations.

In addition to the common parts of the project, there will also be individual parts based on the number of groups who will implement the database:

• Setup: installation the components and setting up the initial database
• Import: importing data from existing data sources
• Training: initial training on how to use the system
• Ongoing support and training: answering questions and providing continued support