Installing Zurmo CRM and Oxwell Social Network Platform

Introduction

Zurmo CRM is a customer relationship management system with a wide range of features such as Contact Management, Activity Management, Deal Tracking and more. Oxwell social network platform allows creation of social networks and online communities. Both applications are written in PHP and MySQL. Both platforms are open source and free to use.

Installing Zurmo CRM

Zurmo CRM is based on the Yii framework. It also uses JQuery and RedBeansPhp ORM library. It requires Php 5.3 and above and also requires a few extensions. The installation is described in the Zurmo installation guide. To install the Zurmo CRM, we need to first download the source code to the webroot and then extract the zip file. We then need to run the installer from the browser. This will start the installation wizard for Zurmo CRM.

The installation wizard will ask for database connection information and the superadmin user credentials.

Installing Oxwell Social Network

The installation of the Oxwell Social Network is similar to that of the Zurmo CRM. The installation is described in this manual installation guide. We need to first download the source code and move it to the web root. Next we need to extract the source code and configure the virtual host for the new website.

Next we need to run the installation wizard from the web browser. The wizard will ask us for the database information and the admin user name and password.

Zurmo CRM features

Zurmo CRM features are described in this feature list on the Zurmo CRM website. The features include Contact Management, Activity Management, Deal Tracking, Gamification, Reporting, Workflow, Marketing Automation, Product Management, Internationalization and more. The Zurmo CRM has an online demo which showcases all the features.

Oxwell Social Network features

The Oxwell Social Network has many useful features for developing online social networks. The features are documented in this feature list on the Oxwell website.

The core features include: Messages, Friends, Facebook Connect, Privacy, Contact us, Image slideshow and more. Other features include Facebook-like newsfeed, Photo sharing, Forums, Video embeds, User blogs, Groups, Social media sharing, Birthdays, Events, Chat and more.

Oxwell Social Network supports several monetization options such as User credits, Membership levels, Banner rotation, PayPal integration and more.

Administrative and Management features of the Oxwell Social Network include the ability to add new features with plugins, 1-click updates, Theme customization, Drag’n’drop CMS, Mobile CMS, Public/private site modes, Site translation, Statistics, User roles, Pre-moderate content, Appoint moderators, Mass-mail users, Code injection and more.

Conclusion

Oxwell Social Network Platform and Zurmo CRM are excellent applications for building social networks and managing customers. Both applications are feature rich and open source.

Published 21 Nov 2017

Tutorials about Web Development, Server Management, Computer Science and more