Installing CRM Core

The initial installation of CRM Core happens much the same way as it does for any other module for Drupal. Download CRM Core and its dependencies through any of the standard methods.

• You can download a copy from Drupal.org and enable it through the modules page.
• You can use Drush to download a copy from Drupal.org and manually enable it.
• You can use a makefile to download a copy and enable it.

In addition to CRM Core itself, you will need to download its dependencies and probably want to download some other modules to make it easier to work with contact records. CRM Core depends on the following contributed modules to work:

• entityreference
• views
• ctools
• entity API
• relation
• name field

And it works best when the following contributed modules are enabled:

• date
• field group
• phone number
• link
• email field
• address field

Once you have a copy of CRM Core downloaded, you will probably notice it is several modules. First-time users will want to enable all the modules to get acquainted with the basics of the system. More advanced administrators may want to be selective about what is enabled.

Here's a breakdown of the modules, categorized by the kind of things they do in the system, to help you understand how they all work together.

Required Modules

• CRM Core: the only required module. Holds everything else together.
• CRM Core UI: provides some necessary interface components for other modules. Enable this if you want any of the other UI modules to work.

Modules for Tracking Information

These modules are mainly concerned with storing information in the system.

• CRM Core Contact: tracks contact information and makes contact entities fieldable.
• CRM Core Activity: tracks information about interaction with contacts.
• CRM Core Relationship: tracks information about relationships between contacts.

Modules for Identifying Duplicates

These modules are mainly concerned with identifying potential duplicate records in CRM Core and external contact systems.

• CRM Core Match: for administering different systems for applying logical rules that identify duplicate contacts (matching engines).
• CRM Core Default Matching Engine: provides field-based duplicate matching per-contact type.

Modules for Managing the Interface

These modules are mainly concerned with creating the UI for working with contact information.

• CRM Core Contact UI: provides an interface for working with contact records.
• CRM Core Activity UI: provides an interface for working with activity records.
• CRM Core Relationship UI: provides an interface for working with relationships.

Modules for Making Things Usable

These modules are mainly concerned with making CRM Core more straightforward to use and addressing everyday tasks for most Drupal websites.

• CRM Core Report: provides an interface for displaying reports in Drupal. CRM Core does not ship with reports of its own; other modules and features create reports.
• CRM Core User Sync: provides tools for linking user accounts with contact records.

In case you hadn't noticed, everything in CRM Core is optional. If you don't like how it does activities or relationships, feel free to turn them off and build your own. If you don't like the interface for managing contacts, turn it off and create your own. If you don't like anything about the UI or the entities, turn them all off and make your own.

It is best to stick with what's there. Most of the UIs are built so that the defaults can be easily customized using web-based administrative tools in Drupal. The ones that aren't can be easily overridden through simple code.