Joomla, one of the best Open Source Content Management Systems (CMS) and SugarCRM, the world's leading Open Source CRM are a great match. SalesAgility has started the Joomla Portal project in the SugarForge. We haven't deployed any code yet as we're not sure what the most useful generic implementation would be.
SalesAgility has developed an integration between SugarCRM and Joomla to deliver communications with external partners and stakeholders. Joomla acts as the authentication and presentation layer and SugarCRM as the data store and primary business logic. Joomla masks the SugarCRM complexity and lets clients view the information that they need, that is stored in SugarCRM, in an easy to use tool (Joomla).
An example would be business services: You have clients who want to report issues and request quotations through the public facing site. So, you create an Account in SugarCRM. This in turn creates an Account and Password in Joomla and emails the customer with their login details. If the customer wants to report an issue, they use Joomla. This populates the Cases Module in SugarCRM via the SugarCRM SOAP API and alerts an internal customer service representative. Customer Services processes the Case, all changes in status in the Case are reflected in Joomla and any dialogue that Customer Services wants the client to see are published in Joomla. It becomes an asynchronous communications tool letting clients know what is happening, relaying any questions and presenting them with the resolution when it's available.
The same client might want prices for standard services. They access a Quotations tool in Joomla. Again, through the SOAP API, prices are delivered from SugarCRM Products Module (from the OpenSales module).If the client wishes to place an order, the order is placed through Joomla and into SugarCRM where the progress of the order and any dialogue surrounding it are also made.
There are many reasons why you might want clients to access and change information that you store in SugarCRM. Putting a friendly Portal in front of SugarCRM is the perfect way to do this.
Contact us if you'd like a web demonstration of some of the solutions we have developed for this.
