Address Validation in SugarCRM using SmartyStreets

Knowing and recording details about the business client and interaction with those clients is the central purpose of any CRM implemented by an organization. Having accurate addresses ensure that the Quote generation is accurate. Also if you are determining taxes, you would already know how it depends on accurate address attributes like ZIP and County. 

Also, if you are using any geo-targeting solution to map your customer’s location, having validated addresses in your SugarCRM solution can greatly add value to the same.

How to integrate SugarCRM with SmartStreets 

SugarCRM comes ready with many modules for the client to jump start from day one. Few of the most accessed modules which also maintain postal address for the respective records are Accounts, Contacts and Leads. The below section details how we enhanced SugarCRM to integrate with SmartyStreets. 

On the technical architecture level, SmartyStreets provides JSON based API to validate the address in question. Following is the sample code for sending an address validation request. For the request to be processed by the server the user should provide a valid AuthId and AuthToken along with the request URL.

<?php
/**
Sample code to interact with Smarty Street for address validation
Input Data required
  $street 
  $City
  $state
  $ZipCode
  $Country (optional) if US
*/
$authId = urlencode("your authId");// Your smartystreets account specific authorization Id
$authToken = urlencode("your authToken");// Your smartystreets account specific authorization Token
if(!empty($street)){
	$street1 = urlencode($street);
	$query_str = "street=".$street1;
	if(!empty($city)){
		$city = urlencode($city);
		$query_str .= "&city=".$city;
	}
	if(!empty($state)){
		$state = urlencode($state);
		$query_str .= "&state=".$state;
	}
	if(!empty($zip)){
		$zip = urlencode($zip);
		$query_str .= "&zipcode=".$zip;
	}
      if(!empty($Country)){
		$Country = urlencode($Country);
		$query_str .= "&Country=".$Country;
	}

	print_r($query_str);
$req="https://api.smartystreets.com/street-address?{$query_str}&auth-id={$authId}&auth-token={$authToken}";      
	$result = json_decode(file_get_contents($req));
}

Steps to use smarty street in SugarCRM

• Each response for an address validation consists of the following components::
  Address components, metadata including latitude and longitude;
•  In  the module menu, select the option  ‘Accounts’ > “Create account”.
• Fill the required fields for creating the account module.
• Enter some value for the zip code, street and country.

• As soon as the minimum address field values are provided the address validation process is initiated 
• Based on the given response the list of valid matching addresses are shown in the ‘Address List’ drawer, for the user to select an address matching.

• The address selected in the drawer reflects into the record’s address field set.

• Selected addresses are shown in the facility address with city, state, country and postal code.

• If a user chooses he/she can continue without choosing any of the suggested addresses, the address will be flagged as dirty address and would be shown in the record view with yellow background highlight

Advantages of using SmartyStreets in SugarCRM

Following are the advantages of integrating SugarCRM with SmartyStreets. 

1. Consistent Format: As the address suggestion is from smarty street, all the addresses will be in the same format leaving the least scope for manual errors. 
2. Ease of Use: No need to validate the address manually. Auto suggestion of addresses will make users easy to select valid addresses from the suggested list.
3. Expedite process: The process is as simply as “type it, get it, save it”.
4. Address validation: It helps organizations to maintain valid addresses for all business purposes.
5. No Hardware Costs: Because SmartyStreets is a web-based service, there’s no need to invest in expensive hardware to maintain large databases of postal service data. All you need is an Internet connection.
6. Less Time: Users no need to spend time on validating the address manually which saves their time and helps to concentrate on other tasks.
7. Accurate Geo-targeting – Having accurate address in SugarCRM helps in plotting the customer location accurately in a map.

Automating address validation processes in CRM helps business organizations to maintain valid addresses and eliminates manual errors. With valid addresses organization can generate valid invoices.

Background to SmartyStreets

SmartyStreets is a Utah-based software services company that provides address validation and geo-coding services. SmartyStreets provides awesome address validation services for addresses in 240+ countries and territories.  world’s fastest (and easiest) postal address verification company with unlimited technical support from real live humans. And, it provides free, unlimited accounts to qualifying startup companies.

About SugarCRM

SugarCRM is one of the world’s most popular CRM (customer relationship management) software used from small to midsize business organizations to maintain company’s interaction with current and potential customers with full pre-sales and post sales cycles. It comes with great scope to customize the platform according to the business needs. Making best out of it for the users will increase their productivity and that leads to increase in the revenue and profitability for  the organization.

Evaluating SugarCRM for your business – We can help

Reach out to us so that we can assess and plan a road-map for your CRM implementation. Let’s build a system, which you will use for years to come.