CSM (Wordpress etc) or Self Build

Patrickof

Hi,

I currently have a site thats based on AWS infrastructure (mySQL on RDS at the back, front end server and server running SugarCRM in the middle).

Up to now, the client facing front end is a fairly basic (very basic) site that allows them to log in, fill in a form (pick from 5 or 6 options depending on the service required) and then that form is submitted to our CRM (SugarCRM). We have API interfaces to our service providers who actually then deliver the services. The client who submit the form have access to a simple list of their orders, that shows a status (New, in Progress, Completed, etc.)

It now time to make the client facing end a bit more user friendly, and by that I mean a more professional looking website.

I've loaded up a Wordpress instance on AWS, but it seems to be more suited to having your data hosted within its own database, rather than showing info from another system (our CRM).

Maybe I'm going about this wrong, but is Wordpress (or Joomla or Drupal) a good front end to use when the data is essentially external to it?

I'm comfortable with PHP, javascript, but not really a creative HTML person.

I like the plugins/pre built facilities of Wordpress but it seems like theres going to be too much modification required to have it work with our CRM as a back end.

What would anyone suggest (last option is to start from scratch in Dreamweaver)? By that I mean am I looking down the wrong road by considering Wordpress/Joomla/Drupal or are there other systems I'm missing?

croo

SugarCRM is also open source... why not just extend it rather than add another layer?

I've not experimented with it in years but Joomla did have SugarCRM integration.
I only looked at some basic connectivity then; when you signed up for an account on the joomla site it auto created a contact/lead in the CRM and you could indicate interests on the joomla site that were set on the CRM too. I'm sure it would be easy to use those existing modules to extend. They're all xAMP too so your PHP skills would fit well. Those I know with more experience tell me Drupal is a great [lamp based] CMS when you plan extending. I've never tried to integrate it with sugarCRM however so I cannot say if there is existing integration for it.

Patrickof

Thanks, I might have a good look at Drupal, there are lots of 3rd party modules to link Drupal and Sugar.

We've already modified Sugar to use a lot of custom modules, but what I find lacking is a "nice" front end that our users can use. By that I mean a responsive web site that has fancy menus, looks, features.

Drupal might just do it!

oscarBravo

Sounds like you could just use something like Twitter Bootstrap to build a responsive, reasonably pretty front end without having to hand-craft it from scratch. If you want something fancier than basic Bootstrap, there are themes and templates available for it.