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StarStation (Codename: "CRM")

Welcome to StarStation; a new CRM that focuses on efficiency, modern technologies, and awesome design to let you manage your business more effectively. Assistance is more than welcome and appreciated. Let's build something awesome :-)

Screenshot

** THIS APP IS IN HEAVY DEVELOPMENT, THIS IS NOT A "PUBLIC" RELEASE BY ANY STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION. **

LATEST NEWS

**The LAST stable build is 0.0.0.8. ** We are rapidly approaching 0.0.1.0 -a major alpha release candidate! The 'master' branch will work towards this new release candidate which includes a major code revamp as we migrate to a new UI. If you are a developer, choose the master branch. If you are a user, choose the stable branch.

Updated README, now with LINKS. Temporary assets pulled in for layout purposes. Revamped index of People and Places modules.

1.1 CONTENTS Top

1.2 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Top

Current minimum system requirements are:

  • PHP >= 5.6.4
  • OpenSSL PHP Extension
  • PDO PHP Extension
  • Mbstring PHP Extension
  • Tokenizer PHP Extension
  • XML PHP Extension
  • Internet Connection is currently required as assets are imported from CDNs for development purposes
  • Supports all modern browsers and IE 9+. Support across devices/screen sizes, but currently only optimized for desktops.

1.3 INSTALLATION Top

  1. Initialize Git git init and clone this repository git clone https://github.com/chris985/crm.
  2. Create an empty database.
  3. Rename /.env.example to /.env and create your aApplication key by running php artisan key:generate from command line within the root folder.
  4. Configure /.env to connect to your database per: https://laravel.com/docs/5.4/configuration
  5. Run the Artisan database migrator to create the database schema. You can do this by running php artisan migrate from a command line in the root application folder /. Alternatively, to create the schema and fill with sample data find /database/seeds/DatabaseSeeder.php.example and rename it to DatabaseSeeder.php and run php artisan migrate --seed.
  6. Check to be sure that all files have completed copying and the database structure has been created successfully. That's it... enjoy!

1.4 UPDATING Top

  1. BACKUP your Database and Files.
  2. Clone the latest version of the repository git clone https://github.com/chris985/crm overwriting all files.
  3. Run the Artisan database migrator to re-create the database schema. You can do this by running php artisan migrate:reset followed by php artisan migrate from a command line in the root application folder /. If you encounter errors, manually dump all tables from the database, then run php artisan migrate. If you wish to add back in sample data, be sure to add --seed to your command.
  4. Cross your fingers and toes! That should be all.

1.5 UNINSTALLATION Top

  1. Simply drop the database and delete all of the files.

2.0 DOCUMENTATION Top

Better and more complete documentation will be added once rapid development has ceased.

2.1 CONCEPTS Top

The app is built to play off of the "Person, Place, Thing" idea. These 3 core areas along with "Tasks" are the central focus of a CRM if you really boil them down to their core. The top main menu provides access to each area, then displays simple context-sensitive actions next to the page title to either create a new item, delete, or edit an existing item.

  • People - Contacts within your app. People are physical human beings and can be associated with one or more places that they work with or associate with. (You may call them "Contacts, Leads, Prospects")

  • Places - locations, either a business or company, or a location of interest such as a meeting location. (You may call them "Companies, Vendors")

  • Things - Everything else. They can be websites, logins, configuration records, products, services, and other reusable assets to your business. (You may call them "Vendors, Products, Services, Configurations")

  • Tasks - These are all the items you need to complete. Tasks can be either be a one-time item, or a project that consists of a bunch of individual tasks. (You may call them "Projects, Service Tickets, To-Dos, Meetings")

  • Money - All your business finances consisting of billable invoices, expenses, quotes/proposals, and other money that is coming or going. (You may call them "Invoices, Expenses, Quotes, Proposals")

  • Times - Time frames such as the amount of time worked on a task, when something renews or expires, a meeting time, or a calendar appointment that are converted to billable items. (You may call them "Timesheets, ClockIn, Clock Out, In/Out Boards, Calendars, Meetings")

2.2 DESIGN LANGUAGE Top

An elegant interface is a key component to this system. Leveraging Bootstrap for the time being, the UI is heavily inspired by Google Material Design Language with a Card-Based Layout rather than the usual table-based layouts.

Our new custom Bootstrap components consist of "card-list" and "card-open" which change the look of Bootstrap cards.

2.3 DEVELOPMENT LANGUAGE Top

The App is developed in PHP/MySQL utilizing the Laravel application and dependencies, for the time being. Coding practices will be fairly standard, although for the moment it might not appear that way. Currently, you may find in-line CSS, and embedded scripts for temporary development purposes only. Proper commenting has also not been done at the time of this writing but is definitely a top item to complete.

2.4 STRUCTURE Top

The app is built using Laravel, which follows an MVC-inspired structure. For those unfamiliar, the essential parts of the folder structure are:

2.4.1 FOLDERS Top

  • / – The root directory which contains all other folders for the app
  • /app – Contains Models
  • /resources/views – Contains the Views
  • /app/Http/Controllers - Contains Controllers
  • /database/migrations – Contains the database schema that will be written upon install
  • /public – Contains the front-end code, assets, and media

2.4.2 FILES Top

  • /routes/web.php – Contains the routes within the app
  • /.env – Contains the core configuration file for development. We ship you a .env.example file which you will need to manually rename to .env and configure to connect to your database
  • /config – Contains configuration files (overwritten by /.env file listed in the root)

Personally, I prefer having less "root" folders and would like to condense application folders around in the future.

2.4.3 DATABASE Top

The database structure has been moved to docs/database_schema.xlsx which shows the database structure as well as samples of the data within the columns. This will be updated as often as possible, but may not be kept up-to-date with most recent database changes.

3.0 WHAT'S NEW Top

Re-vamped application interface and applied to People, Places, and Tasks areas.

3.1 WHAT'S NEXT Top

Finish Tasks area, configure hierarchy so tasks can belong to a parent task
Next versions will focus on better commenting/documentation
Move media storage to storage directory, and remove from "public" location

3.2 KNOWN ISSUES Top

The app is currently in heavy development. Currently, the only working pieces consist of the "People" and "Places" sections with the rest of the functionality still needing to be programmed and built.

Additional fields are also to be added to the People and Places sections to complete the app.

3.3 ROADMAP Top

The roadmap is a look at things to come. As the app develops, these are the features that are planned, this list is subject to change, but it is in order of priority.

* Complete People Contacts list
* Complete all initial fields and database schema
* Authentication
* Integrate Markdown or Github flavored shortcodes into all text editors
* Administration area for “Admins” to add dedicated users, change types and, status dropdowns, configurable fields etc.
* System-wide Notes section. Associate multiple notes with all items
* Rollout of automatic installer/updater ala WordPress
* Integration of activity stream for system-wide changes
* Freeze Database Schema
* Official Public Alpha Release
* Mobile app layout development/optimization
* Integrate AJAX features to optimize database queries and load times
* Integrate system-wide AJAX search
* System-wide notifications system/mailer
* Table View layout for oldies, as opposed to modern card based layout
* System configuration options, colors/UI selections
* Integrate license files/keys
* Re-approach and redesign UI as needed
* Switchover app to use language files
* Code optimization, directory structure organization, and more
* Official Public Beta Release
* Further optimization and feature enhancements

3.4 CREDITS Top

Built with the following assets:

Author: Christopher Martone: http://christophermartone.com Publisher: Starcresc Interactive: http://starcresc.com

3.5 LICENSE Top

This app is provided "AS IS" and is not intended for use in a production environment, currently. Many areas are still in rapid development and the database schema has not yet been finalized.

This app is provided freely for use and welcomes any user contributions to its code base. Under no circumstances is it provided with any warranty expressed or implied by either the Author or the Publisher.

(C) Copyright 2017 Starcresc. (C) Copyright 2017 Christopher Martone. All Rights Reserved. Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) Full License Terms