Hello All,
I am looking for your assistance in identifying the proper open source web software to use for a non-profit project supported by our organization.
In short, it’s about managing several steps in a multi-stage process of treating individual applications. Potential supporters go through a qualification form, if they are found eligible (it’s based on a number of criteria, and we have the form ready, feeding results in a database), subsequently they can continue the process, at which point they are assigned a profile in the system, and their application is processed by one of a few volunteers, acting in a help-desk-like fashion.
Since we have already covered the qualification (by means of the form) we don’t need that part integrated into the software I’m inquiring about. Integration would be nice, but not a must.
Overall, the whole process involves about 25 different steps, some of them requiring candidate involvement (not through the system, but offline, like sending forms via regular mail), while others only internal processing (our volunteers checking different checkboxes, confirming that certain steps have successfully passed due to positive candidate action).
Needed features:
– the candidates should be able to log in and securely check the status of their application;
– emails should be sent out once the application passes certain stages in the process (similar to an online shop, where emails are being sent once the payment goes through, the package has been sent, etc.);
– the process definition should be flexible enough to have the ability to change over time, without affecting already started applications, which should be treated by the same process as when started (but an application should be movable to the subsequent versions of the process, should this be required by the change in procedure)
– some reporting (e.g., number of applications in a certain stage, dormant applications, etc.)
– the ability to store files (<5MB/file) as binary objects in the database
- any volunteer should be able to log in and provide candidates' all details concerning their application.
We are looking for a web-based LAMP application (as our team is international), and are not demanding any Web 2.0 features, especially in the back-end portion. All we need is the ability to design/define our process (in the CRM lingo this would presumably be called a 'funnel'), and to lead our applicants through it.
We have considered working with a CRM product, but have quickly found it it's too sales-centric (which we don't do). Then we considered an ERP, which proved to be too hard to configure, and way beyond our needs (things like ordering, purchases etc. are not needed - we don't buy or sell anything, it's only about processing applications).
Some online research seems to point towards 'work-flow software' - but we're stuck there, we haven't yet found anything suitable.
Can anybody help? Again, I'll emphasize that we are unfortunately not rich to be able to purchase expensive software or consulting services. We are a small team of dedicated volunteers, but possessing the ability and willing to install and configure most available open source software.
Thank you for your answers!
