I would like to hear your experiences/ expert opinion on the best approaches to look at to combine 2 apps. I have an existing large application to which I have been asked to add many CRM features. x2engine meets the CRM requirements, so the ‘not re-inventing the wheel’ approach is to combine them. Looking around I have a few ideas and how to combine them, but not sure which is the best ones to try first. Possible approaches are:
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make one app a module and plug that into the other (how easy is it to make a 3rd party app a module?)
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merge the 2 directory structures and rename my SiteController (SiteController is the only name clash)
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keep them separate and use an API to share information and views between them
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any other approaches I should consider
The aims of combining the applications are:
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existing app shall send events (quotes, sales, order progress etc) to the CRM
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this may trigger workflows in CRM which will add ToDo(s) to the user in the CRM
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the existing app shall be able to show users a summary view their ToDos
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a few pages need links to go from app views to CRM views and vice versa
The constraints I am working within are:
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single sign-on within the existing app
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not all users are allowed access to the CRM
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ideally keep same layout (though I could make a theme for the CRM, that looks like the existing app).
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minimal (preferably zero) changes to CRM code, to make taking updates easy
I will write up my lessons learnt, when this is finished for all to benefit from.
Thanks in advance,
proto-Guru