I asked this question over at the main Sugar forum. I’m posting it here because I’m in the process of moving over to a new CRM. I really need something that can do workflow automation. I’ve been watching SuiteCRM, especially since I’m using the Advanced OpenWorkflow plugin to do 99% of what I need.
My main concern of course is that the fork will die and I’ll be stranded without an upgrade path. :-\
Regardless, I haven’t made a final decision yet. I really like the stuff I see in SuiteCRM. I currently have Sugar installed but I haven’t completed the migration yet. (I currently use Highrise). If Suite can do what I need I may make the jump.
Is it possible to modify the History subpanel in the contacts module to show an excerpt of each note and email?
I would like to be able to quickly skim through and see like the first 300 - 400 characters of each note / email. This would enable me to quickly see whether it’s the note that I’m looking for before opening it.
I’m aware of the “View Summary” option, but that requires me to scroll through entire emails to get what I want. Frequently those emails are quite lengthy and it makes it difficult to find the information I’m looking for.
Any suggestions?
For reference… I’m currently using the “Email to Sugar” script. This is crucial to the way I do business. We really need that email dropbox capability.
We understand your concerns. SuiteCRM has been built upon SugarCRM Community Edition. Our SuiteCRM codebase has no core code changes. This means that each time SugarCRM CE is upgraded, SuiteCRM can be kept up to date with Sugar’s code base. This allows for users to easily upgrade from SugarCRM CE to SuiteCRM and if they so wish, revert to SugarCRM CE from SuiteCRM with ease.
As you have mentioned, SuiteCRM hosts various modules which benefit and enhance your CRM user experience. We have a good community and the SuiteCRM project is growing and gaining momentum.
As regards your point on history subpanel view excerpts, SugarCRM/SuiteCRM don’t currently have this functionality and this would be a customisation.
First off, thanks for your response. I really appreciate it! I’m glad to see that you’re committed to compatibility between the two products… At least while Sugar’s future is so uncertain. I really like Suite’s theme and pre-loaded extensions.
Two more questions if you don’t mind…
1.) Is making the theme responsive on the roadmap? I haven’t tried Suite’s theme on my phone, but the default theme with SugarCRM CE is a disaster on mobile… I certainly understand that you probably have higher priorities. I’m just curious to know if it’s on your radar.
2.) Do you know of any module or extension that streamlines going through a contact’s history? So far I haven’t found anything on SugarForge, but that doesn’t mean nothing exists.
Thank you again for responding to my questions. I very much admire your commitment to open source and your desire to keep the momentum of the Sugar Project moving forward.
Thank you for your feedback. To answer your questions:
1.) You are right, we have a lot to do. We have a roadmap which will be released soon which will detail what we are putting it out to the community in terms of development and building on current modules/functionality in SuiteCRM.
2.) I do not know of any module that would perform this. If you require this as a customisation for business you could use our contact form.
Thanks for your response. I actually managed to hack through it and do it myself. I can code just well enough to get stuff done, but not well enough to get it done elegantly. Anyone else who ever looked at my source would vomit…
If I need a Sugar/Suite consultant in the future you’re definitely who I’ll use. Thanks for your responses. I really like what I’m seeing out of Suite and wish you loads of success with your fork!
Anyone else who ever looked at my source would vomit…