The CiviCRM train starts to leave the station

So we put out a public announcement today to most of the relevant lists about the CiviCRM documentation. CiviCRM is designed to be a GPL contact and relationship "engine" to handle NPO/NGO relationships for other NPO/NGO software applications.

For all the folks that got 50 copies of the announcement, sorry. I think that underscores the fragmentary nature of the NPO/NGO software development space that we all subscribe to the same 20 email lists to stay connected.

Anyway, pretty exciting stuff:

Please review our documentation. We need all the help we can get!

[apologies for somewhat excessive cross posting]



CiviCRM is seeking input on the design documents for

our open-source (GPL) relationship-management

application for the NPO/NGO sector. Four full-time

developers will start coding CiviCRM to the design

documents on 2/14/05. Get your input in by then!!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WHAT IS CiviCRM?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CiviCRM is a LAMP-based, open-source project to create

relationship management software for the nonprofit and

nongovernmental sectors. CiviCRM stores information on

the universe of people associated with a nonprofit

organization and on their interactions (emails,

donations, petitions, events, etc.).



http://objectledge.org/confluence/display/CRM/CRM+Project+One+Pager





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

INPUT ON WHAT?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CiviCRM manages contacts and relationships for other

software applications. Initially CiviCRM will manage

contacts and relationships for the Drupal/ CivicSpace

platform (www.civicspacelabs.org).



For other software developers to use CiviCRM, they

need to know the data model and the public API. The

data model defines what is available (individuals,

households, organizations, relationships, groups,

actions) and the API defines how developers access and

manipulate that data.



To review documents, follow the hyper link, scroll to

the bottom of the page, and click the “add a comment”

hyper link.



Feature overview (high level):

http://objectledge.org/confluence/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=592

Data model:

http://objectledge.org/confluence/display/CRM/Data+Model

Public API:

http://objectledge.org/confluence/display/CRM/CRM+v1.0+Public+APIs





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HEY, I’M NOT A CODE-HEAD!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If the documents above make your head hurt, you can

still make a valuable contribution! Write a user

narrative for us about how a NPO/NGO would store,

group and manipulate information about individuals,

households and organizations.



User narratives are plain English stories about what a

NPO/NGO would do with CiviCRM.



To contribute a user narrative, follow the link below,

read the examples, scroll to the bottom and click the

“add a comment” hyper link.

http://objectledge.org/confluence/display/CRM/User+Narratives





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS IS COOL, HOW CAN I HELP IN MY COPIOUS SPARE TIME?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CiviCRM is an open, community process. We encourage

broad participation. The more you contribute time and

effort, the more impact you will have on CiviCRM.



Find out how to participate here:

http://objectledge.org/confluence/display/CRM/How+to+Participate



Alternatively, drop me, David Geilhufe, an email at

dgeilhufe AT-yahoo DOT-com. We’ll find a good way for

you to contribute and get all your questions answered.



Please distribute this announcement to anyone that you

think needs to know about CiviCRM



David Geilhufe

CiviCRM Team Member

dgeilhufe AT-yahoo DOT-com