Configuring CiviCRM

Notes I’ve found useful to have on hand as I configure CiviCRM.

Entire books have been written on this subject. I particularly recommend Using CiviCRM (Joseph Murray and Brian Shaughnessy, Packt Publishing, 2011). What follows are a few observations that I’ve found useful, but this is a complex subject that cannot be distilled into a one-size-fits-all quickstart guide. Because of the subject’s complexity, I here present an overview of the subject and give links to more detailed considerations.

As newer versions of CiviCRM are released, its documentation is likewise updated and assigned new URLs. This article provides links to the particular documentation that I’ve used, but you should insure that all documentation you consult corresponds to the CiviCRM version you are using.

FIRST STEPS
In Joomla’s backend, go to the CiviCRM home (Components – CiviCRM). Follow any initial onscreen configuration instructions given. One item, setting up CiviMail, is complex; you may want to it for later.

In Administer – Configure – Configuration Checklist, complete each relevant item on the checklist. For a walkthrough of the checklist, see the admininstrator’s guide. For the first item, localization, you may also find the localization documentation and my localization notes to be useful.

MAIL
See Configuring mail in CiviCRM.

SCHEDULING JOBS
See setting up scheduled jobs for CiviCRM.

These notes refer to CiviCRM 4.3 and were last updated 16 September 2013.

REFERENCES
Using CiviCRM, cited above
User and Administrator Guide and Supplement
Modules and Extensions Directory
Organizing your data with tags vs. groups vs. custom fields: One, two, three perspectives
Support forums
How to report a bug
My CiviCRM notes