What is the CiviCRM Entity Module?
Integrating the world’s largest open-source Client Relationship Management tool, dedicated to supporting membership associations and non-profit organizations (CiviCRM), with the latest versions of the popular Drupal Content Management System (Drupal 8 and Drupal 9) - the CiviCRM Enitity module allows for incredible expanded functionality by exposing CiviCRM API entities as true Drupal entity types.
This allows users to:
- Sync roles and contact types during user creation
- Register users and collect contributions using powerful webforms
- Reference any Civi data on nodes and other Drupal entities
- Create event and other contact type pages using the new core media entity system, slideshows, and other Drupal fields
- Generate reports and charts using Civi data within views displays
- Create maps and proximity filters using Civi addresses
A few more details please...
CiviCRM focuses on contact and relationship management as its core function, and is 100% open source benefitting from a large and vibrant community of contributors. The power of the CiviCRM Entity module is the extendability it provides by interconnecting features of CiviCRM and Drupal to create unlimited synergistic functionality.
By exposing CiviCRM API entities as true Drupal entity types, any Drupal feature or module can access, manipulate, and display CiviCRM contact data as if it were a native Drupal entity. This opens the doors of hundreds contributed modules to be used with CiviCRM data to build custom solutions.
Is it actively being used in modern systems?
Around since 2012, the module has active versions for Drupal 7 and Drupal 8. It is supported by 4 primary and several other skilled contributors and organizations, including our own passionate development team here at Skvare.
CiviCRM and Drupal 8 have already been in practical use together, and under steady development for the past 3 years - so the technology and basic CiviCRM features you know and love are already available, and ready with many enhanced features.
The CiviCRM Entity module’s current release is already in use on over 20 production sites for non-profit organizations and membership-based associations, including the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP), Educational First Steps, and the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA). These organizations utilize CiviCRM’s contact and relationship system with Drupal content and displays to create slick, easy-to-use frontend user experiences with powerful backend features and functionality.
Are there any other reasons I should consider using it?
With the official end-of-life for Drupal 7 set for November 2021, there has never been a better time to migrate sites to from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8, keeping current CiviCRM integrated functionality and enjoying the new features made possible by Drupal 8’s Object Oriented Code and many other improvements.
What’s more, compared to previous version upgrades and migrations, the path from Drupal 8 to 9 will be simple and painless. So once you’ve made the move to Drupal 8, and integrated and configured your CiviCRM system using CiviCRM Entity, your services and operations will be future-proof for many years to come!
Cool! So how do I learn more?
Learn more about CiviCRM Entity by checking out the module page and...
Our upcoming blog series and webinar series!
Over the coming weeks, we will be publishing more detailed blog articles demonstrating some of the powerful features made possible with CiviCRM Entity. Published articles will be listed here:
- May 18, 2020: Unleashing the CiviCRM Entity Module in Drupal 8
- May 25, 2020: CiviCRM Contacts in Drupal 8
- June 1, 2020: Interactive Maps with CiviCRM Addresses
- June 8, 2020: Contributions and Reports within Views
- June 15, 2020: Customizing Event Pages with Media
- June 22, 2020: Using Layout Builder to Contruct Awesome Event Pages
We will also hold open webinars showing live examples of the features and answering questions from the community. We will publish dates for those webinars are they are available.