Hello all,
I am sorry that I must put out there this kind of question, but I am very new to suiteCRM and to CRM concept at the same time. I understand that CRM is intended for far more complicated systems. My idea is reuse the built-in modules for other purposes, but to do that I would need to know how to are the modules internally connected.
I would like to develop a solution for our intranet use for an automotive workshop. I am willing to work and learn, but the the most basic question here is can the CRM do something like that.
Until now I understood the close relation between the quotes and the invoices. As we do not make many quotes and even when, they are most of the time proforma invoices or just letterheads with the quote in plain text. I am thinking to re-purpose the quote module for the work orders. The account groups would be the groups of clients, personal and corporate, maybe a few special groups like in-hose vehicles and friends-and-family. Then accounts would be the customers in those groups. That part seems clear, but then we get to the part that I do not know how to implement. Every client has a vehicle or a few of them, the vehicles could be the re-purposed contacts module, because, if I understand it correctly, the contacts are subgroups under accounts. The quote module plays there nicely because a quote (work order) can be made, for an account (costumer) and for a specific employee (vehicle). But, we would also need two other modules related to a car. One would be for the standard parts that a specific car uses when doing a periodic service (so the parts can be acquired before a specific car arrives). And the other is a work log that is connected to a car, but is not a part of an work order, but internal privat log that a mechanic makes for himself. I see that there are other modules like leads, opportunities, targets and projects, but I do not know enough about marketing workflow to connect the dots, which of them are in parent/child relation to the already mentioned once and to each other.
If someone could comment I would be grateful, also you could point me to something that I could read about the specific roles of some modules that would be very helpful too. I have tried to find some data, I have also found some video tutorials on SugarCRM and a book on the sam subject. But, before I spend countless hours learning it would be helpful to know do I think in the right direction.
Thank you,
Sasa