Sandbox

I now work for a non-profit organization.  The Directors do not like the site we have now.  Which is fine, I don't either 

What I am faced with is little funds to work with.  Which makes J! perfect for the job.  I have started a test site to determine what components and modules we could use, and am sort of running into a wall.

many tasks are on paper right now, and difficult to access or even find from time to time.  So a central accessible location is perfect.  Our host has J!, and will run it fine - perfect.  We actually have a VPS - Virtuial Private Server (Don't know much about them yet, working on that).

What I am looking for is some suggestions on what components and modules we can use that are GNU.  Several tasks we are looking at putting up are:

Support ticket module/component (Help Desk)
    We have a one person IT department (ME  ) It would be nice to have a method so that I can keep track of what is being serviced or what I need to fix.  I have been looking at WebAmoeba Ticket Systemhttp://extensions.joomla.org/component/option,com_mtree/task,viewlink/link_id,151/Itemid,35/ which looks nice to a degree.  There are some things I don't like about it.  But maybe that is because I have not had plenty of time to research it and get it setup correctly.

Reservations:
    We have the normal conference room that most offices have.  We also have some vehicles that are used.  It would be nice to have a reservation system that would handle all of this.  From what I have seen in the extension list, the only one that will handle it is a commerical license.  Which as a non-profit, we only have may trouble using.

Additional things I would like to see as usable, but have not had the chance to investigate:

Electronic Donations
RSS News (native to J! I beleive, just havn't used it yet)
Maps


What suggestions of other components and modules which we could find useful.

TIA

Hi, gjacob!
Don't know about Ticket/Support components for Joomla!, but I have recently been testing Cerberus Helpdesk, a respected stand-alone Helpdesk/Support Ticket/Knowledgebase tool. Automated replies to incoming tickets can be configured to offer suggested answers (drawn from your own knowledgebase) to problems raised. It is a commercial tool, BUT they offer a free version which is fully functional with (as far as I know) only ONE limitation - it allows only one "incoming" mail address for receipt of the tickets. For a one-man support desk, that should be ideal 
The program includes a back-end Admin "module" and a front-end "user" module.
Added to that, its relatively easy to skin, so you could match it to your exisiting template without too much work.
HTH
John Mc

Look at WATicket for your help desk...

The rest are all easy to find in the extentions site!

http://extensions.joomla.org/

For electronic donations you can use one of the paypal modules...you will have to set up a pay pal account for the organization though.

I think you'll need to explain what you wish to achieve with the maps - it's too vague at the moment. Not that I have any answers myself but expect others here will.

Good luck.
Robert

jmc wrote:Hi, gjacob!
Don't know about Ticket/Support components for Joomla!, but I have recently been testing Cerberus Helpdesk, a respected stand-alone Helpdesk/Support Ticket/Knowledgebase tool.
<...>
Added to that, its relatively easy to skin, so you could match it to your exisiting template without too much work.
HTH
John Mc

Cerberus seems a bit indepth...  Looks good from the fine minutes I've been able to go over it.  But I wonder if it's more then I really need.  I will investigate more on it.  How do you mean match to existing template? Not sure I follow there...  One thing I'm looking for is simple..  Since I am a one man shop and I spend half of my day teaching intro to computers four days a week, I need something rather simple.

Asphyx wrote:Look at WATicket for your help desk
<...>
For electronic donations you can use one of the paypal modules...you will have to set up a pay pal account for the organization though.

I did a search for WATicket and came up with nothing found.  A google search returned a grinning trooper from Washington...  If you have a direct link, that would be great.

I figured as much on the donations that a PP account would be needed.  If we go that route,... I'm making sure I have a 256bit security key on it (password)...  I don't want it hacked.

RobertinEngland wrote:I think you'll need to explain what you wish to achieve with the maps - it's too vague at the moment. Not that I have any answers myself but expect others here will.

Good luck.
Robert

Good point Robert...  I'm not totally sure about the map either.  We have detailed directions to our facility online right now.  I don't really know if the map would be helpful or not.  Again looking for ideas and suggestions. 

How do you mean match to existing template?

I simply meant that, as Cerberus is a stand-alone app, it's default display will not match any Joomla! template you may use for your site. It would be a reasonably easy task to create a skin which matches your Joomla! template. Or, you could always use the Joomla! "Wrapper" component.
HTH,
John Mc

gjacob3412 wrote:What suggestions of other components and modules which we could find useful.

A discussion forum? I've just set up SMF although it does require a bridge.
A photo gallery - again I've just set up Gallery2 which also requires a bridge.

SMF offer a good registration system, much better than J! IMHO, and the official bridge lets you select which registration system you use Although I only discovered this after installation

Problem is, as each of these J!; SMF and Gallery2 are totally independent products I'm having to map the different usergroups between each of these products.

Robert

jmc wrote:

How do you mean match to existing template?

I simply meant that, as Cerberus is a stand-alone app, it's default display will not match any Joomla! template you may use for your site. It would be a reasonably easy task to create a skin which matches your Joomla! template. Or, you could always use the Joomla! "Wrapper" component.
HTH,
John Mc

AH Ha,.. The Wrapper.  That would work, I didn't really think much on that.

RobertinEngland wrote:

gjacob3412 wrote:What suggestions of other components and modules which we could find useful.

A discussion forum? I've just set up SMF although it does require a bridge.
A photo gallery - again I've just set up Gallery2 which also requires a bridge.

SMF offer a good registration system, much better than J! IMHO, and the official bridge lets you select which registration system you use Although I only discovered this after installation

Problem is, as each of these J!; SMF and Gallery2 are totally independent products I'm having to map the different usergroups between each of these products.

Robert

As for the discussion forum - I don't think we would have much use for that.  Not to mention, I don't think anyone would be interested in keeping up with it other then me.

Gallery might be an idea.  Although I am working on getting the Ajax Header Rotator working.  I don't know what else we could use with it.  But I will keep it in mind.

Reservations:
    We have the normal conference room that most offices have.  We also have some vehicles that are used.  It would be nice to have a reservation system that would handle all of this.  From what I have seen in the extension list, the only one that will handle it is a commerical license.  Which as a non-profit, we only have may trouble using.

I work for a non-profit as well.  I couldn't find a Joomla Component I liked for reservations.  We just recently started using MRBS: Meeting Room Booking System in a wrapper on our page.  It's pretty customizable and seems to be a pretty good fit for conference room reservations.  We're going to use it for equipment like projectors, laptops, and cameras as well.

http://mrbs.sourceforge.net/

We're also looking for some kind of IT ticket system.  The only one I've found so far that comes as a Joomla component is WATS: WebAmoeba Ticket System.  I'm not TOO impressed with it so far but hey it does the job and its free.

http://www.webamoeba.co.uk/joomla/

External Hosting vs Self Hosting...

Well it looks as if some of my issues are going to be removed.  Which is a thrill.  As part of a SOX(Sarbanes Oxley) and other compliance issues we will have to tackle, we will be obtaining and installed a new server (or two).

As part of that, I am looking at Windows SBS2k3... Which will have Exchange.  With Exchange my need for room or device reservations has been removed.  Looking over some of the SBS2k3 dox, they mentioned a help desk feature.  But I have not been able to locate it.

Still investigating it though.

TIA