Building a very custom application upon google applications and enterprise - CAN it be done?

I think I haven't been able to define my question properly. I've been doing a bit of reading on google applications and the idea of integrating their applications such to form a complete product. Especially after reading case studies of small companies shifting to google and 'customising' google applications.

Basically I have a strong php background and this is a bit new to me. I'm not very sure of how to approach it to begin with. Basically let me define the situation I have or rather the mental picture of what I want and whether or not such a thing is possible.

We have a collaboration system built up. Basically our company takes orders from clients via emails and processes them and once processed those orders are archived for billing and history. A single order may require a number of different resources which are attached along with the order. Basically in the realm of the collaboration system a single 'order' is an organised accumulation of all the resources such as documents, tasks, user roles, discussions, comments etc required to process and complete a single clients request.

The work process is like this:

1 - We get an email for a request

2 - The email is marked as such that bang a new order is created. (An order can be created from a single email or multiple 开发者_StackOverflow中文版emails can also be attached to an order)

3 - Users are assigned roles on the order.

4 - Resources required are accumulated and attached

5 - Notes are posted

6 - Contact details of related individuals and companies are attached

7 - Once all required resources are accumulated eg: order has been dispatched and reciepts etc recieved - the order is considered as completed and done. It is then archived for billing.

That was the scenario - currently what I'm having in mind is:

1- I login to GMail - we get email from a client - click some doohickey or button on the same interface to create an order from the email and mark it as such.

2 - Go into a custom Orders area where we can assign roles and users to work on the order - users log in with their gmail accounts - would have to set up a users management.

3 - Attach documents and resources using the Google Docs application interface or a widget to the order.

4 - Assign contact details by somehow attaching references to contacts already in google contacts Address book.

5 - Dates of order recieved and dispatched dates should be viewed on google calendar.

6 - In the custom orders module - we see all orders that are open or archived. A single order upon viewing would show - the related email(s) from GMAIL, the attached DOcuments from Google Docs, the concerned users who have been assigned the order...

Thats pretty much what I'd want to see - using the robustness of Google applications! Is the above solution possible I mean can I really integrate GMAIL, Google Docs, Google Calendar etc attached by a custom module which is supposed to handle my business logic - can it be customised to that extent.

Or is it the opposite and I have no idea of what google applications / enterprise really is. Basically we have an application running but its not very reliable to begin with taht is why we were thinking of using a google based solution ..

I really need a detailed answer on this - thanks in advance

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What you're referring to with regards to GMail, Docs, Calendar, etc. is known as Google Apps for Business. That allows you to use those apps under your company's domain name (i.e. send/receive email for user@yourdomain.com, share calendars and documents between users). For more detailed information about that I suggest you read the above link.

You want to extend the basic functionality of Google Apps with some more business logic and workflow functions. This can definitely be done, but it might be worth looking first at the newly launched Google Apps Marketplace which has a number of business oriented applications that integrate with Google Apps. Maybe there is something in there that would suit your needs, before you would look into custom development yourself.

Please be aware that Google Apps (application suite) and Google App Engine (cloud hosting platform for custom applications/websites) are two completely different things, and people do tend to mix them up a bit.