Upgrading to SugarCVRM 6.0

Sep 14 |00:00

Last Updated on Mon, 27 Sep 2010 22:43

Many of our clients are keen to upgrade their copies of SugarCRM 5.5.4 to 6.0. So what are the benefits and is it worthwhile?

SugarCRM is the latest version of SugarCRM - the leading opensource CRM solution.

So what are the benefits of version 6.0?

New Datetime field data type (was available to 5.5.4 as an add-on)
Ability to display layout panels as tabs
Ability to set the next number for auto-increment number fields in issue-type modules
Ability to revert to default module layout
sAbility to customize module Sugar Dashlets in Studio
Ability to customize Select field pop-up views
Ability to customize Quick Create views for custom modules built in Module Builder
Ability to customize the size of textarea fields
Ability to customize out-of-the-box field lengths
Ability to change the properties of out-of-the-box fields (required-ness, etc.)
Many bugs have been fixed

Of all of these reasons, my clients seem to want the ability to display layout panels as tabs - which when coupled with Development Tools 0.7 allows panels to appear depending on which particular dropdown has been selected. The other benefits, although nice to have, really don't make a huge amount of difference to the end user.

So do we upgrade to Sugarcrm 6.0?

There is a general policy that you never upgrade any software until the .01 version comes out - well it has now with SugarCRM. SUgarCRM 6.01 was released in September - so should you now upgrade?

The answer really depends on which additional modules you are using, and do they work with version 6.01. One of the most popular modules with our clients is the Security Suite - which was updated to 6.0 compatability in August. At Clystnet we rapidly found a bug - the new version of Security Suite didn't work correctly with SugarCrm 6.0. Happily however, after informing the developer of our findings, a new version was released which seems to be fine.

We have also tried the Dispage extensions, which we believe have just been upgraded, but were not the last time we checked. The excellent Kinamu Reporter does work with Version 6.0 of SugarCRM. As for other modules - you are just going to have to check.

So - our suggestion would be to build any new database using SugarCRM6.0 - but only upgrade an existing database IF you aren't using many modules (any even) and even then - try on a test copy of your database, and TEST TEST TEST. If you are using lots of modules - maybe hold off until a few more months have passed - or be very carefgul and expect some nasty surprises.

Cheers for Now

Henry