The #CiviOneClick project – increasing CiviCRM’s accessibility

Published
2024-11-05 04:28
Written by
theresa.eberle - member of the CiviCRM community - view blog guidelines

The project #CiviOneClick aims to simplify access to CiviCRM – starting with an easy setup of demo sites but with the long-term goal of a new way to install CiviCRM. The project is coordinated by the German CiviCRM association Software für Engagierte e. V. (SfE) and funded by the German Foundation for Engagement and Volunteering (“Deutschen Stiftung für Engagement und Ehrenamt“).

#CiviOneClick’s aims

During the first project phase, which lasts until the end of 2024, the project aims to create automated OneClick-Demos and ideally a basic framework for OneClick-Installations to make CiviCRM more accessible and increase the number of users in Germany as well as globally.

OneClick-Demos will allow organisations and initiatives who are interested in CiviCRM to visit a website, where #CiviOneClick is installed and create their own CiviCRM demo site – with only one click. They will be able to try out functions and extensions without needing to go through complex demo-installation processes or look into the CiviCRM systems and data of other organisations. With the demo system, it will also be possible to enter and process data.

The vision of SfE is that #CiviOneClick will allow organisations to host easily their own CiviCRM or for CiviPartners and hosting providers to offer their customized SaaS (“Software as a Service”) solutions with CiviCRM. Additionally, it would be possible to export a demo site account and its data into a permanent install with a similar technology, such as bulk hosting. But also, #CiviOneClick will allow users to create “on the fly” a clone of their production system to test changes before putting them into production.

Here you can read more about the project’s goals and planned activities.

An initiative for and with the CiviCRM community

It is our goal to combine existing initiatives and developments from the CiviCRM community and together create  new ways of deploying CiviCRM installs. This would include supporting Docker and Kubernetes as viable one-click solutions to deploying CiviCRM, thereby complimenting other similar efforts and providing a wider range of options to the developer community. Since its start, the project has been receiving remarkable interest and support from international CiviCRM partners, the CiviCRM core team and other initiatives.

During the project's kick-off at the Ashbourne Sprint in December 2023 and a number of follow-up calls, we discussed target groups, user stories and a modern architecture of the #CiviOneClick software, based on best practices of containerisation.

In the long run, #CiviOneClick should support all combinations of CMSs. For the first phase, however, it is being considered to develop it without a CMS and instead base it on the brand-new CiviStandalone.

Accompanying activities in Germany

For SfE, the work is not yet done with the development of the technological basis: with the demo installations, we want to provide sample configurations that are adapted to different types of organisations. Therefore, allowing sports associations with complex member types to choose different fees, contributions and donation receipts or for NGOs to focus on html newsletter management and fundraising.

For the German community, the technical process of #CiviOneClick will be accompanied by communication activities such as online Q&A sessions on CiviCRM and the creation of informative flyers.

Interested in participating?

If you are interested in participating in discussions on #CiviOneClick, feel free to join our #CiviOneClick Mattermost group or send SfE an email if you have any questions.