Building Your Personal CRM System
Tutorial: Building Your Personal CRM System
1. The Foundation: Using Template Tables
Don't start from scratch. Use our pre-built tables as a foundation and adapt them to your needs.
The core of your CRM. Store customers, partners, and suppliers here.
- Company, Last Name, First Name
- Email, Phone, Website
- Status (Lead, Customer, Partner)
Organize your work. Link tasks directly to customers.
- Title, Description, Due Date
- Priority, Status
- Link to "Addresses"
Keep track of every interaction.
- Date, Type (Mail, Phone Call)
- Content, Result
- Link to "Addresses"
Tip: Supplement this base with Appointments (for meetings), Notes (for quick thoughts), and Documents (for contracts and offers).
2. Customization & Extension (Custom Tables & Fields)
A standard CRM rarely fits perfectly. With our tools, you make it your system.
Practical Example: Lead Management
Want to map your sales process? Extend the Addresses table:
- Go to Settings > Table Definition > Addresses.
- Add a field "Lead Status" (Type: SELECT): New, Contacted, Offer, Won, Lost.
- Add a field "Potential" (Type: CURRENCY) to estimate expected revenue.
- Add a field "Next Step" (Type: DATE) to ensure follow-ups aren't forgotten.
3. Keeping Track (Custom Views)
Data is useless if you can't find it. Create specialized views for different tasks.
Visualize your sales pipeline.
- Create a view for Addresses.
- Select
Lead Statusas the grouping field. - Enable the "Kanban Field" in the table definition.
- Result: Move customers via drag & drop from "New" to "Won".
Start the day focused.
- Create a view for Tasks.
- Filter:
Status != DoneANDResponsible = [USER]. - Sort:
Due Dateascending. - Result: A list showing you exactly what needs to be done today.
4. Automation (Custom Buttons & Snippets)
Save time with intelligent workflows. Let the system work for you.
Create a button in the Projects table that:
- Generates a PDF offer from project data (via Custom Print Layout).
- Opens an email to the customer with the PDF as an attachment and personalized text.
- Automatically sets the project status to "Offer Sent".
Use the Button Script Generator for this.
Avoid typing effort and errors.
A small PHP snippet (validate_addresses_snippet.php) can check upon saving:
- Is the "Salutation" field empty?
- If "Gender" = male -> Set "Dear Mr.".
- If "Gender" = female -> Set "Dear Ms.".
5. Analysis & Reporting (Charts & Print)
Make decisions based on data, not gut feeling.
Revenue Forecast
Create a Bar Chart on the Addresses (or Opportunities) table.
- X-Axis: Lead Status
- Y-Axis: Sum of "Potential"
See instantly how much revenue is in the pipeline.
Visit Report
Create a Print Layout for Appointments.
Use placeholders like {date}, {customer.company}, and {notes} to generate a clean PDF for your files or the customer with one click.
Your System Grows With You
The best part of this approach: You never reach any border. If you need a ticket system for support tomorrow, simply add a "Tickets" table and link it to Addresses. Your CRM adapts to your processes – today and in the future.