Configuring CiviCRM Option Groups
Most configurable options and settings for CiviCRM can be found under the "Administer" tab on the CiviCRM navigation menu, but there are a few particular options which are inaccessible from this menu, including the pages for editing and creating Activity Statuses and Contribution Statuses. You can still find these options buried within CiviCRM, simply visit the following address (be sure to substitute in your organization’s domain name, or use the official demo site drupal.demo.civicrm.org):
<yourorganizationdomain>.org/civicrm/admin/options/activity_status?group=activity_status&reset=1&action=browse
While most of the options in this list can be found elsewhere within CiviCRM or require custom code to be useful, a few particular option settings stand out and are worth mentioning:
activity_status
The CiviCRM default list for Activity Status includes Cancelled, Completed, Left Message, Not Required, Scheduled, and Unreachable. This page allows you to edit these existing statuses or create new ones to better suit your organization’s work flow. One of our clients needed a way to track the status of incoming applications using activities. The application process was simple enough to warrant the adoption of activities and avoid the more complex CiviCase, so we added a new Activity Status, “Needs Review” for them to track the process.
contribution_status
Similar to the activity_status options, the contribution_status option allows you to create new statuses for contributions. While the built-in contribution statuses in CiviCRM cover the majority of possible financial statuses, you may find that creating a new status can offer a benefit for your organization.
group_type
The two built-in Group Types "Access Control" and "Mailing List" are important in determining whether a group is used for ACL or for CiviMail, and while there are many ways of organizing groups, you may find it useful to create a new type of group. When working with an organization that uses exceptionally large numbers of groups or offers a wide range of services the number of groups can get quite large. Adding new group types allow you to find related groups more easily using the Search Filter on the “Manage Groups” page.
A good example of this are religious organizations that often have a religious school program like Sunday school, which in turn can then have related sub-groups such as teachers, students. Adding the Group Type “School” creates a quick way to find these related "sub"-groups.
label_format and paper_size
When printing PDF letters or shipping labels CiviCRM comes with a very comprehensive set of prepackaged paper sizes and label formats. If you would like to create your own customized labels or use a unconventional paper size you can use the label_format and paper_size options to create the template that suits your purpose perfectly.