basxconnect

A core implementation of a CRM system for non-profit organizations.

Documentation at readthedocs

Vision

Providing non-profit organizations with a code framework that helps to build tools for managing their data.

Mission

Create and maintain a django-based framework which implements:

• A standardized UI concept based on IBM's carbon design system
• CRM-like core data models which are open to extension
• Code building blocks and shortcuts which allow easy customization and extension

Core values

• Open source development (this, however does not include free support)
• Use of existing and proven technology where possible while minimizing external dependencies
• Focus on workflows and tasks for Non-Profit organizations (User experience)
• Writing code and APIs for developers, not for website administrators (Developer experience)
• Development does not center around a final product but around the tools to create a product (because every product is different)

What we have so far

• Integration of the core parts of carbon design in django ("like bootstrap for django")
• CRUD-framework ("Quick generation of create/read/update/delete views")
• HTML-layout framework which allows a more flexible hooking-in than the standard HTML-rendering mechanisms ("DOM on the server side")
• Core model to manage people, communication and relationships
• Additional modules for:
  • Generating reports
  • Generating documents and PDFs from word templates
  • Custom add/edit forms
  • Data import from PDFs with form-fields
  • Customiable Database triggers to send notification emails
  • Invoicing module
• Demo project which implements a bare-bone version of a product (this repository)

What we still need to do

• Improving the existing code base to have better support for extendability
• Write documentation where necessary and add code-examples and how-to's
• Implement revisions completely to allow going to a certain date and maybe display diffs

Other TODOs:

• Explain more why basxConnect is necessary and the difference to alternative solutions

We would like to thank the following projects for their work, they provide a valuable base for basxConnect:

• Translation: https://weblate.org/
• Design System: https://www.carbondesignsystem.com/