Posted by PetePO on July 28, 2010 at 5:18pm
So I know this is something of a wide-ranging question but I was wondering if there were essential pieces I should know before trying out OM_Install+OM_Me? Seems to presently be the same moduleset kreynen mentioned in a previous post as OM_Lite.
I'm hoping to get CMAP to a point where they can begin using CiviCRM and OM_Project on a local dev install by next week and have enough information and configuration done for them to be able to move forward with MERCI deployment on their own.
Big hopes but excited to see what we can get accomplished in two days and I'd appreciate any advice from folk more active in the project.
-pete
Comments
Good luck! I'm not actively
Good luck! I'm not actively involved in the OMP as of late (though that's soon to change), but give me a call if you have any need for CiviCRM help.
Good question
Sounds like exactly the type of question that would work in my proposed system for capturing help requests and questions for better documentation
http://groups.drupal.org/node/83784
What version of CiviCRM?
Not sure what version of CiviCRM u'll are on, but we'd love to see OMP upgrade to the latest version of CiviCRM (v3.2). Let us know if we can help/facilitate that
Also, would be good if CiviCRM and some OMP tools (specifically) Merci are more tightly integrated. Resource Management comes up quite often in the CiviCRM forums (and we redirect them to Merci). At some point, i'd like to see CiviEvent have integrated resource management via a module like Merci
lobo
I believe stations are on
I believe stations are on varying versions - Denver Open Media is currently running 3.1. We're upgrading to 3.2 on Monday. In general, for stations using CiviCRM with the OMP the most significant dependencies are the CiviGroup/Role sync modules, and then we make a few API calls in several of the OMP modules (civicrm_contact_get mostly) to pull in contact information for areas like MERCI reports & Contracts.
One thing I know that would help Denver Open Media, and has come up with other OMP partners in the past is the ability to sync smart groups with CiviGroup sync. This would help stations build more complicated rules around automatically adding individuals who attend a class to be placed in a smart group that is synced with a Drupal role, or having individuals who are added to two-three separate groups automatically added to a smart group... etc.
For improved CiviEvent / MERCI integration, are there some specific examples people are asking for? Maybe our goals would be close enough that we could help make that happen.
Brian
Open Media Foundation
synching roles and certifications
I think it could be very useful. Perhaps it would work well for us along with the module Darrick created - CiviEvent Status CiviGroup sync.
Right now the downside of using Darrick's new module for us is that we have various membership levels and often have people taking our classes who do not have the membership level required for use of the equipment (they just want to learn more). So, automatically adding them to a certification group will allow them to check out equipment even though they aren't authorized to use it, ie a Studio member takes a Field class and then has access to field equipment even though they don't have the Field membership level.
Currently we work around the issue by creating Field Class group to indicate they took and passed the class for future reference if they don't have the correct membership level. If they have the correct membership level then we add them to the Field Certification Group so they can access the right equipment. My understanding is that smart group synching could help with this issue and then the CiviEvent Status CiviGroup sync would be a huge timesaver.
As for MERCI, I would love to see CiviEvent be able to look at equipment/facilities availability. When I was at MNN, with so many classes and events on a weekly basis we used to dream of the day when we could register a class, book the studio and gear all in one shot. I'm sure it would be very popular!
Ann
Smart group synching ...
the smart group synching with roles has come up periodically on our forums also. The main issue is a smart group is a query, so doing this on every data change can be computationally very very expensive (if you have lots of smart groups). I suspect the easiest way to do this would be to do the sync via a cron job on a "regular" basis. If you do have 100+ smart groups, i'd probably just do it a couple of times a day. Hopefully we'll convince a developer or two to extend the drupal module to do the above
I'll check on the merci requests and get back to you. in the past i've sent a few folks to the merci project when they checked if civicrm could do equipment management.
lobo
Thanks for all the great feedback! The project was
Thanks for all the great feedback! The project was unfortunately not a success, although I don't believe there were any major flaws with the OMP Install.
lobo & Brian - I was hoping to use a minimal set of smart groups to keep things as streamlined and out-of-the-box configured as possible. I think Kevin's working on 3.x Civi OMP deployment somewhere - we talked a bit about how to work with 3.x before I left for CA. It sounds like the workflow for staff created reservations could greatly improve with the new features.
Ann if I remember right at PCM we had memberships cross-reference a drupal sync somehow. I'm not sure if it was custom but I think there was a smart-group membership status call that you could work into a no merci access function. Oh - and I totally share your love for a reservation/event tie somewhere.
Below is a brief description of what the CMAP project involved and a status update to hopefully help out other CMCs looking to deploy OMP in their facilities.
Quick background for documentation purposes: I worked at Portland Community Media (PCM) and was fairly heavily involved with OMP while they were a development partner for the project. My first introduction to Drupal came with PCM's adoption and implementation of the CMS (D6) for a new website back in 2008 I believe. Both of these projects were funded by a grant from the Mount Hood Regulatory Commission. Since leaving PCM I've worked on a couple of sites including a commerce site overhaul and a couple of small deployments. An enthusiast to the platform, I've been attending local meetups and DrupalCon SF.
I believe this background is important because it seems to be a something of a replicable experience set for CMCs to be able to attain. I'm about at the point where a staff member of a CMC could be with about a year of on-the-job experience managing their CMC website.
Below are the steps I took to be able to get MERCI, OM_Project, and CiviCRM running on CMAP's development server before I made a couple of mistakes that brought the site down as well as the next steps I had planned. Site was Drupal 6.14 and Civi 2.x
The items in parenthesis were things I didn't get to or should have done.
I was able to install both merci and om_project to what I believe was a stable and working tested configuration (tested ok at step 12) but got tripped up a bit with some host-specific and nested multi-site strangeness as well as a couple of sloppy mistakes on my part.
I think it was worth a try and looks good for the project's future sustainability but I was a little out of my element and at the end of the day and didn't meet my deliverables.