A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system helps businesses manage interactions with customers, prospects, and sales opportunities in one place. It stores customer information, tracks communications, automates workflows, and provides reporting.
Core Features
| Module | Purpose |
|---|
| Contacts | Store customer names, addresses, phone numbers, emails |
| Companies | Track organizations and businesses |
| Leads | Manage potential customers |
| Opportunities | Track deals through the sales pipeline |
| Activities | Calls, emails, meetings, tasks, reminders |
| Calendar | Schedule appointments and follow-ups |
| Quotes | Create and send estimates |
| Orders | Convert quotes into orders |
| Invoices | Track billing and payments |
| Products | Inventory and pricing |
| Documents | Contracts, PDFs, proposals |
| Email Integration | Send/receive emails from within CRM |
| Notes | Record customer interactions |
| Dashboard | KPIs, charts, and reports |
| Security | Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) |
| Audit Log | Track user activity |
Typical Database Tables
Sales Pipeline
or
Dashboard
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Total Sales
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Sales This Month
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Open Opportunities
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New Leads
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Upcoming Appointments
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Follow-ups Due
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Revenue by Month
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Top Sales Representatives
Technology Stack
Since you're familiar with PHP, Bootstrap, and MariaDB, a good stack would be:
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Backend: PHP 8.4+
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Database: MariaDB
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Frontend: Bootstrap 5
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JavaScript: Vanilla JS or jQuery
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Templates: Smarty
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Authentication: PHP Sessions
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Reports: TCPDF or Dompdf
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Charts: Chart.js
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Icons: Bootstrap Icons
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Speech-to-Text: Whisper integration (for notes and activities)
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REST API: JSON endpoints for future mobile integration
Nice-to-Have Features
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Customer timeline
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Email templates
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SMS notifications
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File uploads
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Electronic signatures
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Kanban board for opportunities
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Advanced search and filtering
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Custom fields
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Import/export (CSV, Excel)
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Google/Microsoft calendar synchronization
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Mobile-friendly interface
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AI-generated meeting summaries
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Customer portal
For Your Environment
Based on your previous projects, a CRM could fit well with:
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PHP 8.4+
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Bootstrap 5
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Smarty templates
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MariaDB
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RBAC
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Whisper speech-to-text
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PDF generation
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Responsive design
It could share common components with your existing CRUD framework, making it easier to maintain and extend. A modular architecture would also allow future additions such as inventory management, help desk, or billing without redesigning the system.