# About This Guide & the CBM CRM Setup

## Who this guide is for

This guide is for the **CBM CRM administrator** — the staff member(s) responsible for keeping the Cleveland Business Mentors CRM running smoothly day to day: adding and removing users, adjusting settings, importing data, and handling the occasional problem.

It assumes you're comfortable using web applications, but **not** that you're a server or database expert. Where a task is genuinely technical (server upgrades, recovery), this guide summarizes it and points you to the right person or runbook rather than asking you to do it yourself.

If you're a **mentor** or a member of the **Client Administration** or **Mentor Administration** teams, the guides on the other shelves are for you — this one is specifically about *administering* the system.

## What the CBM CRM is

The CRM is the central system that holds CBM's people and activity — mentors, clients, the engagements that pair them, the sessions they hold, and the supporting records around them. As administrator, you don't change *what* the CRM tracks day to day; you keep the system healthy and help users get their work done.

## Two environments: Production and Sandbox

There are **two** copies of the CRM, and knowing which is which is the single most important thing in this guide:

| | Address | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| **Production** | `crm.clevelandbusinessmentors.org` | The **real, live** system. Everyone's actual work and real data live here. |
| **Sandbox** | `crm-test.clevelandbusinessmentors.org` | A **safe copy** for trying things out. Nothing here affects real data. |

> **The golden rule:** when you're about to make a change that isn't routine — a settings change, a configuration tweak, a bulk data operation — **try it in the Sandbox first**, confirm it does what you expect, *then* do it in Production. [Chapter 3 — Configuration & Customization](https://docs.clevelandbusinessmentors.org/books/espocrm-system-guide/chapter/configuration-customization) covers this sandbox-first workflow in detail.

## How the system is maintained

A few things are handled *outside* the CRM's own screens, so you don't have to:

- **Configuration** (custom fields, layouts, new record types) is applied through CBM's implementation process and tooling, not hand-edited in Production. See [Chapter 3 — Configuration & Customization](https://docs.clevelandbusinessmentors.org/books/espocrm-system-guide/chapter/configuration-customization).
- **The server, hosting, backups, security certificates, and software upgrades** are managed at the infrastructure level. You don't log into servers; [Chapter 6 — Operations & Maintenance](https://docs.clevelandbusinessmentors.org/books/espocrm-system-guide/chapter/operations-maintenance) explains what's automated and who handles the rest.

## What's in this guide

- **[Chapter 2 — Users, Roles & Access](https://docs.clevelandbusinessmentors.org/books/espocrm-system-guide/chapter/users-roles-access):** add and remove users; manage who can see and do what.
- **[Chapter 3 — Configuration & Customization](https://docs.clevelandbusinessmentors.org/books/espocrm-system-guide/chapter/configuration-customization):** settings, the navigation menu, and the sandbox-first change process.
- **[Chapter 4 — Managing Data](https://docs.clevelandbusinessmentors.org/books/espocrm-system-guide/chapter/managing-data):** importing, exporting, duplicates, and cleanup.
- **[Chapter 5 — Integrations](https://docs.clevelandbusinessmentors.org/books/espocrm-system-guide/chapter/integrations):** Google, email, the website, and this documentation site.
- **[Chapter 6 — Operations & Maintenance](https://docs.clevelandbusinessmentors.org/books/espocrm-system-guide/chapter/operations-maintenance):** backups, updates, and routine upkeep.
- **[Chapter 7 — Troubleshooting, Recovery & Reference](https://docs.clevelandbusinessmentors.org/books/espocrm-system-guide/chapter/troubleshooting-recovery-reference):** fixing problems, recovery options, and where everything lives.

> **When in doubt, slow down.** Most administrative actions are easy to reverse, but a few (bulk deletes, resets) are not. If a task in this guide carries a warning, take it seriously — and if you're unsure, see [Getting Help and Next Steps](https://docs.clevelandbusinessmentors.org/link/60) at the end of the guide.