I’m researching if SuiteCRM can be configured to manage Residential Property Inspections, we currently use a spreadsheet, looking to move to a digital cloud-based solution.
I’m new to SuiteCRM and trying to find the best configuration with the Property as the main identity, but having one-one, one-many and many-many relationships, as per below.?
Owner
Property manager
Buyer (pre-purchase)
Company or Trust
Inspection tech
Tenant
Tradesperson
All the captured data must stay attached to the property, but any in the list can change.
I’m wondering if anyone else has done this or any type of inspection management before using SuiteCRM and have any advice to share from experience or willing to share setup tips.
With SuiteCRM I usually recommend trying to use the built-in entities as much as possible.
Have a look at this article
Some parts will be more technical and detailed for what you need, but I think that explains the basic approach to take. I also have other “concepts” articles there that you might find helpful.
Here in the Forums there have also been multiple threads discussing using SuiteCRM for real estate operations (not exactly inspections but still, related).
I’m sure that you’ll find someone here in a similar situation or who have customised an instance in such away.
Thanks @pgr for the additional links and information, that page seems really useful.
If I was in your positions and from the understanding of what you have gave us. I would look at customising a fresh instance initially like this;
Rename contacts modules to a more relevant name and use this module to hold information about the owners and tenant, the reasoning behind this would be preventing the duplication of data. [For example one of your Tenants could also be an owner of another property]
Rename the accounts module Property and use it to hold information about the properties them selfs. [This module would require the most field customisation to make to fit inline with its new use]
Rename the leads module to Buyers and use it for what I assume is people looking to become owners? [You could also use this module for people who want to become tenants at the same time]
Create a new custom module for the Companys, Trusts and Property Managers. I would base this off the accounts template
Create a new custom module for the Tradesperson and Inspection Tech. I would base this off the contacts template
Afterwards, you would need to go through and customise the fields, relationships and views etc to your liking however making the changes in this way help keep the core functionality working. For example, you could still make use of the built-in Joomla portal integration that comes out of the box to allow your owners and tenants to communicate with you via cases etc
Heres a quick ~badly put together~ ER that points out the configuration for relationships I would consider using also
I’ll point out this could be a massive project and therefore having never worked with SuiteCRM before could hinder your progress. Especially if you want more complex functionality than the out of the box tools offer (All of the above can be done with those tools btw). It may be worth finding a company or provider to perform the customisations for you. If this is something that peaks your interest please let me know and ill get you heading in the right direction.
Any issues or questions please let us know and we’ll be happy to assist you!
I think the Docs Needs more of these things like SuiteCRM for Property Management etc. That will help more people to understand how this can be used and tailored to their requirements.
I’m not sure if Docs is the correct place for this but i would like to see some customised demo environments that could be used to show off the many uses of SuiteCRM. @pgr and @samus-aran whats your thoughts on this?
I think a section about Data design or something would be nice to have: how to map SuiteCRM concepts to your own case in the initial stages of planning to implement your CRM.
In my Blog, the Concepts series was meant to be just that:
It’s not complete, and it’s been stalled for years, but maybe one day…
I have attached a screenshot of a table, with the required data we’d like to capture. One thing I missed above is that we have a lot of repeat clients, which means we often test the same property multiple times.
I have started to customise a new instance, with your recommendations, any thoughts on table data.
