CRM Blog


SugarCRM’s User Interface is Simple – Here is an Overview

February 28th, 2012 by

This article details why the SugarCRM User Interface is so simple and thus easy to adopt!

The Screens in SugarCRM are Simple

The user interface in SugarCRM consists of various modules designed to help you manage customer-related records such as contacts, accounts, products, and quotes. Each module, representing a record type, groups the tools and functions needed to perform specific tasks. This enables you to work more efficiently.
 
Users can relate records to one another. For example, a contact can be related to a specific account. When you view a record in Sugar, the system also displays related records. For example, the Detail View of an account displays related contacts in the Contacts sub-panel.
 
When users log into Sugar, the Dashboards module displays immediately. Tabs for other modules display alongside the Home tab. Users can click a tab to open the module to view, create, and manage records.
 
A drop-down menu is located on the far right of the module bar. You can use this menu to view sets of modules under groups, such as Sales, Marketing, Activities, and so on. This feature is available in all Sugar themes, except the Classic theme.
 
The Home page displays a list of your activity records such as calls and meetings. It also displays emails, accounts, opportunities, leads, and cases that are assigned to you. For more information, see Home Module.

Common Module options in SugarCRM

The following options are available from any page in the Sugar application:
•
Shortcut Bar. This static bar, spanning across top of the page, displays the Global Search field and icons for Quick Create forms to create records such as accounts, contacts and opportunities. Quick Create forms enable you to create a record from anywhere in Sugar without navigating to the module associated with the form. Place the cursor on an icon to view the form’s name and click the icon to open the form. You can also access this form from the sub-panel of a related record that displays in a record’s Detail View. For example, you can create a contact from the Shortcut bar, and also from the Contacts sub-panel of an account’s Detail View page. Administrators can add, remove, and move fields to customize the Quick Create forms.
•
Global Search field. This field, located in the Shortcut Bar, enables users to enter a letter or a keyword to search all the modules for matching records. For more information, see Global Search.
•
System links. System links, located at the top right-hand corner of any Sugar page, are common to all modules. These include your <name>, Logout, Employees, Support, Help, and About. When an administrator logs in, the Admin link is also visible.
Click the left arrow located next to the Logout link to display all the System links.
Click the right arrow next to the About link. The slider bar hides all the System links and displays only your name and the Logout link.
•
Your Name. Click this link, located at the top right of the page, to view your settings. These settings include your profile information, layout options, and so on. For more information, see Editing your User Preferences.
•
Employees. Click this link to view a list of other employees in your organization. This list, maintained by the administrator, displays information such as name, title, phone number, department, and email address. Click a name to view detailed information about the employee. Every user is listed as an employee. However, every employee may not be a Sugar user. For more information, see Employees Module.
•
Admin. This link displays only if you login as the administrator. Click this link to access the Administration Home page to perform administrative tasks. For more information, see Administering Sugar.
•
Support. Click this link to view the Sugar Support page, which provides links to Sugar documentation, Knowledge Base, FAQs, and training courses to guide you through the process of learning the Sugar application.
•
Help. This is a context-aware link to the Application Guide. For example, if you click on the Help link in the Contacts module, you will be directed to the Contacts section of the Application Guide.
•
About. Click this link to learn more about SugarCRM and view version information. This link also provides credits and source code references.
•
Module menu. This menu lists options to perform actions such as creating and viewing records, and the last viewed record(s). Mouse-over a module tab to view the actions you can perform within the module.
•
Last Viewed. This list displays records that you last accessed within the module, as well as calls and meetings you recently scheduled. Place the cursor on a module tab to view this list. To access a record again, select the record link.

SugarCRM Modules - A Detailed Overview

The core Sugar modules are as follows:
•
Home. The Home module provides a quick view of your activities and assigned records in the form of Sugar Dashlets. If you access certain records frequently, you can mark them as favorites and add a My Favorite Records Dashlet. For more information on this module, see Home Module. For more information on Dashlets, see Managing Sugar Dashlets.
•
Accounts. Click this tab to view the Accounts module. Use this module to manage your customers. You can track information about an account, including website, address, number of employees and other data. You can link business subsidiaries to the parent organization to show relationships between accounts. For more information on creating accounts, see Accounts Module.
•
Contacts. Click this tab to view the Contacts module. Use this module to track people involved in doing business with your organization. You can track contact information such as title, email address, and phone number. Contacts are usually linked to an account. For more information, see Contacts Module.
•
Opportunities. Click this tab to view the Opportunities module. Use this module to track potential customers. Opportunities help you manage your selling process by tracking attributes such as sales stages, probability of close, deal amount, and other information. For more information, see Opportunities Module.
•
Calendar. Click this tab to view the Calendar module. Use this module to view scheduled activities (by day, week, month, or year) such as meetings, tasks, and calls. You can also share your calendar with your coworkers to coordinate your daily activities. For more information, see Calendar Module.
•
Calls.Click this tab to view the Calls module. Use this module to manage outbound and incoming phone calls between you and your customers. For more information, see Calls Module.
•
Meetings. Click this tab to view the Meetings module. Use this module to manage meetings, including both internal and external invitees, that you schedule or accept. For more information, see Meetings Module.
•
Emails. Click this tab to view the Emails module. Use this module to send and receive emails. You can also automate email management and create email templates for automated responses and email-based marketing campaigns. For more information, see Emails Module.
•
Tasks. Click this tab to view the Tasks module. Use this module to manage a list of actions that you need to complete by a specific date. For more information, see Tasks Module.
•
Notes. Click this tab to view the Notes module. Use this module to manage notes and file attachments. For more information, see Notes Module.
•
Reports. Click this tab to view the Reports module. Use this module to create custom reports for any module such as Accounts, Opportunities, or Cases. For more information, see Reports Module.
•
Documents. Click this tab to view the Documents module. Use this module to view a list of documents that you can download. You can also upload your own documents, assign publication and expiration dates, and specify the users who can access them. For more information, see Documents Module.
•
Leads. Click this tab to view the Leads module. Use this module to track individuals or companies that are potential customers. When you choose fields in the Web to Leads form in Sugar from the fields in the Leads module, Sugar generates the HTML code to display the form and the code to connect entered field values to the fields in the Leads module. For more information, see Leads Module.
•
Targets. Click this tab to view the Targets module. Use this module to track and manage targets. For more information see Targets Module.
•
Target Lists. Click this tab to view the Target Lists module. Use this module to create target lists and to track and manage mass marketing campaigns. For more information see Target Lists Module.
•
Campaigns. Click this tab to view the Campaigns module. Use this module to create and manage marketing campaigns. You can implement and track telemarketing, mail, or email-based marketing campaigns. For more information, see Campaigns Module.
•
Quotes. Click this tab to view the Quotes module. Use this module to quote a price for a specific quantity of a product to a customer. For more information, see Quotes Module.
•
Forecasts. Click this tab to view the Forecasts module. You can view the committed sales amounts of individual users as well as teams for a specific time period. For more information, see Forecasts Module.
•
Cases. Click this tab to view the Cases module. Use this module to help Customer Support manage product problems and inquiries by tracking information for each case such as its status and priority, the user assigned, as well as track related open and completed activities. For more information, see Cases Module.

Additional SugarCRM Modules

In addition, Sugar provides the following modules, which your administrator can make available to you:
•
Projects. Click this tab to view the Projects module. Use this module to track and manage tasks for multiple projects. Tasks can be assigned to different users and assigned estimated hours of effort. You can update information as tasks progress or are completed. For more information, see Projects Module.
•
Products. Click this tab to view the Products module. Use this module to view and manage records that were sold to customers. For more information, see Products Module.
•
Bug Tracker. Click this tab to view the Bug Tracker module. Use this module to report and track bugs associated with a product. Customer support representatives can manage software-related support problems or inquiries to completion by tracking information for each bug such as its status and priority, resolution, assigned user, release of software involved, type (defect or feature) as well as track related activities. For more information, see Bug Tracker Module.
•
Contracts. Click this tab to view the Contracts module. Use this module to view, create, and manage contracts and related documents, quotes, contacts etc. For more information, see Contracts Module.
•
Knowledge Base. Click this tab to view the Knowledge Base module. Use this module to create, publish, and search for articles within Sugar. For more information, see Knowledge Base Module.

SugarCRM Grouped Modules

Users have the option to view modules as individual module tabs, or as sets of modules belonging to one of the following groups:
•
Sales – Home, Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, Leads, Contracts, Quotes, Products, and Forecasts
•
Marketing – Home, Accounts, Contacts, Leads, Campaigns, Targets, and Target Lists
•
Support – Home, Accounts, Contacts, Cases, Bug Tracker, and Knowledge Base
•
Activities – Home, Calendar, Calls, Meetings, Emails, Tasks, and Notes
•
Collaboration – Home, Emails, Documents, Projects, and Knowledge Base
•
Reports – Home, Reports, and Forecasts
To view grouped modules
1.
Mouse over the All drop-down list located at the far right on the Module navigation bar.
2.
Select the group of your choice to view tabs for only those module tabs that belong to the group.
To view all the module tabs, select All from the drop-down list.

For full instructions, click here.

SugarCRM Assessment

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Posted in SugarCRM, Training |

The Evolution of Mobile CRM

February 25th, 2012 by

Mobile CRM and Web 2.o

Customer relationship management (CRM) has evolved over the years with Web 2.0 to improve customer relationships with businesses. Communication with customers became more efficient by migrating from manual processes to computerized CRM tools. Today, mobile CRM has improved the productivity and efficiency of the business workforce by removing the walls of the office and allowing employees to solve problems from any location in the world. Mobile CRM is the latest component in the constant evolution of CRM solutions. Broadband Internet has made advancements in mobile CRM possible.

Smartphones and CRM

In the past, customer service only included the ability to solve problems and develop relationships with clients by Smartphone and face-to-face meetings. Sales people spent countless hours on the phone chasing leads and in the car chasing customers. Many leads could have been eliminated if more advanced technology had been used. The process was time-consuming and costly.

 

Mobile CRM - SugarCRM Mobile PlusSocial CRM accessed via Mobile CRM

When email was introduced, businesses became more efficient. Companies used emails as a part of their marketing strategy to decrease the amount of time required on the phone and increase the amount of time with strong business leads. Employees gained the ability to check their emails from their mobile phones and also manage their schedules.

(Picture Courtesy of Sean MacEntee)

Mobile Contact Management

Contact management solutions are also an important component of mobile CRM. These applications can help employees keep track of who an employee contacted, when they contacted the customer, what was discussed, any action taken as a result of the conversation and a reminder for follow up.

Mobile CRM Strategies

Contact management applications free the mental space of a business owner or employee and allow them to focus on strategy rather than remembering tasks. Alerts may be delivered to business owners or employees as task reminders. Thankfully, many businesses are migrating from the use of Excel spreadsheets to CRM software to handle this aspect of CRM.

CRM Collaboration – for Mobile Devices

Collaboration is essential to improving efficiency of an organization. When seamless communication occurs with all staff members, customers feel more confident in the ability of the business to handle their company’s issues. A business owner or employee can answer phone calls from concerned customers from any location in the world with mobile CRM.

Social CRM - SugarCRM - Microsoft CRM - Sage ACT CRM - Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Hoovers

(Courtesy of Gauravonomics)

If a key decision maker is out of town on business, he or she can still address a customer concern with CRM software. Most business people simply read the notes from previous interactions and address the customer’s needs as if they were informed about every step of the process. Customer loyalty improves when all team members are qualified to address a customer’s issues

CRM and Social Media

Social media made gathering sales leads, building brand image and managing customer relationships easier. From the mobile phone, businesses may use applications such as Facebook and Twitter to address customer complaints or respond to questions. While on the go, employees may receive alerts through CRM applications when comments or emails arrive. Immediately, the comments may be addressed. Prompt customer service improves brand image.

New mobile CRM solutions should integrate these new tools to improve productivity and efficiency within the business. Forty-eight percent of people surveyed in a recent UK study believe mobile CRM would enhance productivity. Mobile CRM can significantly improve a company’s competitive advantage. In fact, worldwide CRM expenditures are expected to exceed $12 billion by 2013.

CRM for iPad

Mobile CRM and iPad CRM has significantly changed the way business people operate. In the same UK survey, 80 percent of the people indicated they currently use CRM software applications or plan to make use of them in the near future. According to the survey, businesses using CRM software had better customer service and customer loyalty than those without a CRM solution. With this type of information, more businesses can expect the evolution of mobile CRM and broadband Internet to make significant strides in business productivity.

This is a guest article by Ruben Corbo, a writer for the website Broadband Expert where you can find broadband internet providers in your area and compare prices on different deals for your mobile broadband needs.

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Posted in ACT by Sage, Microsoft CRM, Mobile, Social Media, SugarCRM |

How to Configure SugarCRM User Preferences

February 21st, 2012 by

This article discusses how to set up User Preferences within SugarCRM.

Prerequisites for Configuring Preferences

Ensure that you have the following installed and configured on your machine before using Sugar:
•
A web browser application on your computer. For information on the supported browsers, see Supported Platform Components for Sugar.
•
JavaScript support and cookie support enabled within the web browser used to access Sugar.
•
Network access to a server that is running the Sugar software.
Your system or network administrator can provide you with a web address (URL) from which the system can be accessed.
Note:
For detailed information on supported versions for all the Sugar components, see Downloading and installing Sugar.
Web browser window controls
Sugar dynamically generates the HTML pages that the web browser displays when you click certain buttons on a web page. Sugar may not display these pages if you use the browser’s Back and Forward buttons. It is recommended that you use the Actions menu on the module tab to navigate back and forth in the application.
Note:
Sugar is designed for a minimum 1024×768-pixel screen display resolution.

Configuring Sugar Preferences

Use a supported web browser to access the Sugar application. You will need a user account and login credentials to log into the application. The System Administrator must provide you with your user name and password. You can change your password after you log into Sugar.

SugarCRM Troubleshooting tips

Perform the tasks listed below if you cannot log into Sugar:
•
Verify that the username and password are correct, including any upper-case letters
•
Verify with your system administrator that you have the correct username and password
•
Contact your system administrator to ensure that your account has not been disabled
The Forgot Password? link displays in the Log In window if the Administrator has enabled this feature. Click this link if you cannot remember your password, enter your username and password in the relevant fields, and click Submit. Sugar will send you a link to the page where you can reset your password. Contact the administrator for a new password if this link is not available to you.

Available languages in SugarCRM

The default language in Sugar is US English. In addition, Sugar provides the following languages:
•
Czech
•
Bulgarian
•
Chinese
•
Danish
•
Dutch
•
English-UK
•
Estonian
•
French
•
German
•
Hebrew
•
Hungarian
•
Italian
•
Japanese
•
Lithuanian
•
Norwegian
•
Polish
•
Portuguese
•
Romanian
•
Russian
•
Spanish
•
Swedish
•
Turkish
Individual users can select a different language from the Language drop-down field in the Log In page. The administrator can change the default language for the entire organization.
Administrators can install additional languages, if necessary. Language packs are available at http://www.sugarforge.org.

Configuring User Preferences in SugarCRM

To access Sugar and configure your User Preferences
1.
Enter the Sugar URL in the address bar of your web browser.
This displays the Sugar Log In page with fields to enter your Sugar credentials. The Sugar Log In page also displays a Language drop-down field from which you can select the language that you want to display in Sugar.
For information on using the Admin Wizard that displays when you login as an administrator, see Configuring Settings in Sugar.
2.
Enter your username and password.
3.
Click Log In.
This displays the User Wizard if you are a regular user. The Sugar User Wizard guides you through the process of entering your Profile information and Locale settings in Sugar. You can change your profile information and locale settings in the Wizard if the administrator has already configured these settings for you. You can also change them from the User Preferences page after you log into Sugar.
The administrator also configures a default SMTP email server to send out email notifications and alerts. An Email Settings tab displays in the Wizard if the administrator has enabled users to use this email server for outgoing emails. Specify your username and password in the Email Settings tab to send out emails from that email server.
For information on user preferences, see Editing your User Preferences.
4.
Click Next to navigate from one page to the next; make the desired changes to your settings, and click Finish to exit the wizard.
This displays your Sugar Home page. You can now begin using the Sugar application. For information on using your Home page, see Home Module.
User session rules
Sugar has set the following rules for user sessions for security purposes:
•
You cannot log into a Sugar instance simultaneously using the same account from two different machines or browsers.
•
Two different users cannot log into a Sugar instance separately with two simultaneous sessions using the same username. When you are logged into a Sugar instance, if another person logs in using your credentials, you will be automatically logged out. Hence, to avoid conflict, it is recommended that you do not share your credentials with other users.
Sugar enables you to do the following:
•
Concurrently log into Sugar through the Sugar Plug-in for Outlook (or other plug-ins and extensions using Web Service APIs) when logged into Sugar through a browser
•
Open an unlimited number of pages of a Sugar instance within a single browser

Editing your User Preferences in SugarCRM

When you log into Sugar, your name displays on the top right corner of the page. You can click it to view and edit your default settings. You can also view the list of modules you are allowed to access and your access permissions, such as View, Edit, and Delete, for each module. You can edit some of these settings to suit your requirements, such as the Sugar modules that you want to view when you login. You cannot change your level of access to modules or view modules that you are not allowed to access.

Managing the User Profile in SugarCRM

This tab displays your profile information such as your full name, your Sugar username, phone number, address, title, and email address. It also displays the teams that you belong to.
Employee Information
Employee Information is entered by the administrator and displays information such as your title, your supervisor’s name, and your contact information.
Email Settings
The Email Settings section displays your email address and email client. The system administrator has the ability to setup one or more email addresses and specify your primary email address for automated responses to emails. For information on editing this information, see To change your email settings.
You can send emails automatically if the administrator has setup an SMTP server and has enabled you to use the associated mail account to send emails. Fields for the SMTP username and password are displayed if the administrator has not enabled you to use the mail account. Enter the username and password for your mail account to send out emails using this SMTP server. For information on specifying another SMTP server from the Emails module see Configuring Email Settings.
Default Teams
Use this panel to view the teams to which the Systems Administrator has assigned you. You cannot edit your team memberships.
Password
Use the Password tab to change your password. For more information on changing your password, see Managing your password.
Themes
Use the Themes tab to change the theme of your Sugar interface. For more information on changing your theme, see Managing themesManaging themes.

Advanced Preferences in SugarCRM

The Advanced tab displays the following sections:
User Settings
In this section, you can change the default settings for the following:
 
Export Delimiter. This is the character that will be used to separate field values when you export data from Sugar. The default is a comma (,).
Import/Export Character Set. Select a character set from this drop-down list to export and import data and generate Vcards.
The administrator sets the default export settings such as the delimiter used to separate data in export files and the default character set used to import and export data from Sugar. You can override the administrator’s settings with your own. The default character set to export data is UTF-8. Specify the appropriate character encoding for your locale if your locale is not US or Western Europe. This ensures that the character set used by the Sugar system to create the exported file is mapped to the correct character set on your machine. For example, MS Windows uses SJIS in Japan. Users in this locale need to select SJIS as the default export character set instead of UTF-8. This character encoding setting is also used when importing data into Sugar. To generate Quote PDFs, ensure that you select the appropriate character set for the chosen language.
Show Full Names. Select this option to display your full name in My Activity Stream and in the Assigned to field in records.
Notify on Assignment. When you enable this option, you will receive an email notification when a record from any of the following modules is assigned to you:
  • Accounts
  • Contacts
  • Opportunities
  • Leads
  • Meetings
  • Calls
  • Tasks
  • Cases
  • Bugs
  • Quotas
  • Quotes
  • Knowledge Base
  • Campaigns
  • Projects
Reminders. Select a default time interval as a reminder for calls and meetings from the Reminders drop-down list.
Mail Merge. You can enable this option to merge data such as names and addresses from Sugar with form letter templates created in Word if you are using Sugar Plug-in for Word. This needs to be enabled by the System Administrator.
Default Teams. Click Select to choose a team as your primary team. You can be a member of multiple teams. Click Add to add a new field and then click Select to choose the team to specify a secondary team.
No Opportunities. Select this option if you are not involved in sales activities and do not need to be assigned opportunities.
You can also assign yourself to the role of a Group User through the User Management option on the Administration Home page if you are an administrator.

Layout Options in SugarCRM

You can change the default settings for the following in this section:
Grouped Modules. Select this checkbox to view module tabs in the navigation bar, based on pre-defined groups. All modules with appear in the navigation bar if this feature is not selected.
Edit Tabs. Enables you to hide modules that you do not require. Move the module from the Display Tabs list to the Hide Tabs list using the right arrow to hide the module. Use the left arrow to move a module name from the Hide Tabs list to the Display Tabs list to display the module. These settings can be applied globally by the administrator.
You can change the order in which module tabs display in Sugar. Select the module in the Display Tabs list and click the Up arrow to move up a module; click the Down arrow to move down the module.
Number of tabs. Enter a value to specify the maximum number of module tabs to display at the top of page before the overflow menu, indicated by a down arrow, appears.
Subpanel Tabs. Enable this option to group subpanels into tabs in the Detail View of records.

Locale Settings in SugarCRM

In this section, you can change the default settings for the following:
 
Date Format. Select a format for date stamps from this drop-down list. The default is mm/dd/yyyy.
Time Format. Select a format for time stamps from this drop-down list. The default is in hours.
Time Zone. Set your time zone.
Name Display Format. Specify display of names in records. The default is Salutation, First Name, and Last Name (sfl).
Sugar uses the specified Name Display Format in Quick Search to find related records when you enter a character in the Related to field within a record, such as a Call or a Meeting. When you type a character in the field, the system performs a quick search of possible values and presents a list of values starting with that character. If the Name Display Format specifies “s f l”(Salutation First Last), then Sugar displays a list of first names that start with the specified character. For example, if you enter “A”, the system displays first names starting with “A”. Similarly, if the Name display format specifies “s l f”, then the system displays last names starting with “A”.
User Wizard Prompt. This is available to users with administrator privileges only. Select this to enable new users to go through the New User Wizard during first login.
Currency. Select the currency to use in records from this drop-down list. The default is US Dollar.
Currency Significant Digits. Select the number of digits that display after a decimal from this drop-down list.
1000s separator. Enter the character used to separate thousands. The default is comma (,).
Decimal Symbol. Specify the decimal symbol to use. The default is a period (.).

PDF Settings in SugarCRM

You can change the default font settings to print PDFs of reports, quotes, and projects in this section.
Font for Header and Body. Select a font for the header and body of PDF documents from this drop-down list.
Main Font Size. Enter a number to specify the font size in the PDF header.
Font for Footer. Select a font for the footer in PDF documents from this drop-down list.
Data Font Size. Enter a number to change the default font size of the PDF body.

Calendar Options in SugarCRM

Publish Key. Enter a key number to publish available/busy information from an external calendar application, such as Microsoft Outlook. Provide this key to users of other calendar applications if they want to view your calendar. Sugar allows access to your calendar to individuals who can provide this key.

Managing External Accounts in SugarCRM

The following Connectors are available in Sugar:

•
Google Docs — Upload to and access documents in Google Docs within Sugar
•
Cisco WebEx meetings — Attend and manage online meetings with Cisco WebEx within Sugar
•
GoToMeeting meetings — Attend and manage online meetings with GoToMeeting within Sugar
•
IBM LotusLive — Access IBM LotusLive meetings and documents within Sugar
•
Twitter — Receive constant updates on client status, product comments and customers’ tweets within Sugar
•
Facebook — View Facebook feeds within My Activity Stream Dashlet in Sugar
•
LinkedIn — View your LinkedIn contacts at a specific company (Sugar matches the company name in a Sugar field)
•
InsideView — View key sales intelligence directly in Lead, Account, Contact and Opportunity records, and get relevant company information, contacts, news, and social media insights within Sugar
You can access the above external applications within Sugar if you have an existing account with the application. For all Connectors except LinkedIn and InsideView, this feature is available out of the box but needs to be enabled by the administrator.
Note:
You do not need to have an InsideView account. InsideView identifies user accounts by their email addresses. If you have an existing account with InsideView, you are immediately connected to the their service. You can use their free trial version if you do not have an account with InsideView. For more information, see Accessing InsideView.
Also, unlike the other Connectors, LinkedIn and InsideView are enabled by default in all upgrades and new installs. Request your administrator to disable InsideView, if your organization does not want to use it.
You also need to enable the following applications before you can access them in Sugar: Google Docs, Cisco WebEx, and GoToMeeting.
Follow the steps listed below to enable Google Docs, Cisco WebEx, or GoToMeeting in Sugar:
1.
Click your username on the upper right hand corner of any Sugar page.
This opens the Edit User page.
2.
Click the External Accounts tab in the Edit User page and click Create.
3.
Select the required application from the Application drop-down list, populate all other mandatory fields indicated by a red asterisk, and click Save.
To verify that your external account has been successfully added to your Sugar profile, navigate to your User page and click the External Accounts tab. You should be able to see the external account among the listed applications.
For IBM LotusLive, the login expires after 10 hours. You need to re-enter your login information to access the application from Sugar.
For Google, GoToMeeting, IBM LotusLive, and WebEx, you can have only one account of the application with each Sugar instance. For example, if you try to create an additional Google account in the External Accounts section, Sugar deletes the previous account and adds the new account with the following message:
An account for this application already exists. We have reinstated the existing account.

Data Access - in SugarCRM

This tab displays the module access permissions that the administrator has granted you to perform specific actions such as editing and deleting records. The administrator can enable or disable access to any Sugar module. You cannot edit these settings.
Roles
Scroll down the Access page to view roles that the system administrator has assigned to you. You cannot edit your roles.

Managing Downloads in SugarCRM

This tab displays links to Sugar Plugins for Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Excel. Click the appropriate link to download a plug-in to your local machine. You can then install it on your machine.
Click Reset User Preferences and OK to revert to your default settings after saving any changes that you made.
Similarly, you can restore the default settings by clicking the Reset Homepage after customizing your Home Page.

Editing Email Settings in SugarCRM

You can view and edit your default email address. The default SMTP email server is used to send emails from Sugar if this has been enabled by the administrator.
To change your email settings
1.
Click your name on the top right corner of the Sugar page.
This displays the Users module.
2.
Scroll down to the Email Settings sub-panel on the User Profile tab.
3.
Overwrite existing email address with new email address and click Save to change an existing email address.
Click the plus (+) sign, populate new field, and click Save to add another email address.
 
You can add multiple email addresses. The first email address that you enter is selected as the primary email address by default. Click the Primary button corresponding to the email address that you want to specify as the new primary address to select a different email address as the primary address.
Select the Reply-to radio button corresponding to the email address that you want to specify as the new reply-to address to specify a different email address for automated responses to emails.
4.
Select the email client of your choice from the Email Client drop-down list. Select Sugar Email Client to send emails using the default email client that the administrator has configured, or External Email Client to use an external email client such as Microsoft Outlook.
5.
Email Provider. This field displays the email server address if you selected External Email Client.
6.
Enter the SMTP user name and password for your email account if you selected Sugar Email Client. (You will be using the administrator-configured SMTP server to send out emails).
7.
Click Send Test Email to send out a test email to ensure that the settings are correct.
8.
Click Save to save your settings; click Cancel to exit the page without saving your changes.

Managing your password in SugarCRM

You will be provided with a temporary password when the administrator initially grants you access to Sugar. Change this password after you log into Sugar. Ensure that you choose a password that is easy for you to remember, but difficult for others to guess. You can change your password at any time. For security reasons, it is recommended that you change your password periodically.
To change the password
1.
Log into Sugar and click your name on the top right corner of any Sugar page.
This displays the Edit User page.
2.
Click the Password tab.
If there are password rules, they will display in this section. Your new password must adhere to these rules. Each rule will be marked with a red cross. When you enter your password, as each rule is met, the cross will be replaced with a green checkmark. You can save your new password only after all the rules have checkmarks.
3.
Input current and new passwords in the relevant fields and click Save.
Resetting a forgotten password
The Forgot Password? link displays in the Log In window if the administrator has enabled the Forgotten Password feature.
Follow the steps listed below to request for a new password if you have forgotten your existing one:
1.
Click the Forgot Password? link in the Sugar Log In window.
2.
Input relevant information in the User Name and Email Address fields and click Submit.
This displays a message confirming that your request has been submitted. You will also receive an email with a link to access the Password Reset page. Populate fields with required information and click Save.
Contact your system administrator for a temporary password if you do not see the Forgot Password? link in the Log In window. Log into Sugar with the temporary password and change it.

Managing themes in SugarCRM

Themes enabled by the administrator are displayed in the Themes tab of your Edit user page. Follow the steps listed below to change your Sugar theme.
1.
Log into Sugar and click your name on the top right corner of any Sugar page.
This displays the Edit User page.
2.
Click the Themes tab.
This displays the list of themes enabled by the administrator.
3.
Click a theme name to preview it in the right pane.
4.
Select the desired theme by clicking on the theme name.
5.
Click Save.

SugarCRM Security timeout

For security reasons, the system automatically logs you out if you do not perform any tasks for a specified period of time. This timeout period is determined by two factors:
•
The lifetime of the PHP Session Cookie (PHPSESSID). The default lifetime is until the browser is closed.
•
The PHP session timeout period. The default value is 1440 seconds (24 minutes).
If you do not perform any tasks for a certain time period, the system logs you out either because the browser session or the PHP session timed out.
Click any button on the page when you are ready to resume working. This automatically directs you to the Log In page. You can also close the web browser and navigate to the Log In page in a new browser window.

For full instructions, click here.

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  2. Favorites and Favorites Dashlet
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How to Convert SugarCRM Editions

February 14th, 2012 by

This article discusses how the Wizard enables you to convert from one Sugar edition to another.

How to Convert Various Sugar Editions

The Upgrade Wizard enables you to convert from one Sugar edition to another. Obtain the Sugar license key from your sales representative for the Sugar edition you want.
You will need to obtain the Sugar license key from your sales representative for the Sugar edition you want.
Conversions are a two-step process. First you must upgrade your existing Sugar application from the current version to 6.3.0. You can then convert to the desired Sugar edition using the appropriate conversion zip file.
 
For example, to move from Sugar Community Edition 6.2.3 to Sugar Professional 6.3.0, you must first convert to Community Edition 6.3.0 using the 6.2.x-to-6.3.0.zip file. You can then convert from Community Edition 6.3.0 to Professional 6.3.0 using the SugarCE-to-SugarPro-Conversion-6.3.0.zip file.

How to Use the Sugar Silent Upgrader 

The Silent Upgrader enables you to avoid some of the limitations that the web application environment may have that prevents the Upgrade Wizard from completing the upgrade. The upload size limit (by PHP and sometimes even by web server), the CGI (or equivalent) timeout limit, and the MySQL (or equivalent) session timeout limit are some of the challenges people run into when upgrading Sugar. The Silent Upgrader either avoids the limitations or better controls the settings in its stand-alone execution environment.
Note:
The silentUpgrade.php script creates new files for the user. For example, for the root user it create files as user/group root. Since Apache cannot read this, you must ensure that the web server user has the permissions to read and write the script.
Follow the steps listed below to ensure a smooth upgrade, if you are using an Oracle database:
1.
Ensure that the Sugar Database User has permissions to create and execute procedures in the Oracle database.
2.
Increase the PHP memory limit to 1 GB if you have a large data set, and you are not using PHP 5.3 with the gc_enable parameter enabled for circular reference garbage collection. You can change the PHP memory limit back to its previous value after completing the upgrade. For more information on circular reference garbage collection refer to www.php.net.
To upgrade Sugar using the Silent Upgrader
1.
Execute the silentupgrade.php script from the command line on the server where the Sugar instance is installed:
php.exe -f silentUpgrade.php [upgradeZipFile] [logFile] [pathToSugarInstance] [adminUser]
where:
upgradeZipFile is the full path to the upgrade zip file. For example, SugarCE-Upgrade-6.1.0-to-6.3.0.zip
logFile is the full path to the log file.
pathToSugarInstance is the full path to the instance being upgraded.
adminUser is a valid admin user name.
2.
Log into the Sugar application as the administrator and rebuild relationships and extensions using the Repair option in the Systems sub-panel after upgrading.

How to Uninstall an Instance of SugarCRM

Follow the steps listed below to uninstall your Sugar instance:
1.
Navigate to the location where Sugar is installed on your machine and delete the Sugar root directory.
2.
Delete the Sugar database schema from the MySQL, MS SQL server database.

For full instructions, click here.

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Sugar CRM 6 - Free CRM Assessment PDFClick here to download our Free Sugar CRM 6 Evaluation PDF.

With this, you will be able to identify the key enhancements within Sugar CRM.

Topics include:

  1. Calculated Fields
  2. Favorites and Favorites Dashlet
  3. Twitter and Social Media integration
  4. Reporting (filtering, scheduling)
  5. User interface improvements (there are many!)
  6. Sugar Mobile 1.0 details
  7. and much more.

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Comparison includes:

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  2. Pricing (Licensing, etc..)
  3. Available Modules (e.g. SFA, Marketing, Service, etc)
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Posted in SugarCRM, Training |

How to Upgrade Your Version of SugarCRM

February 7th, 2012 by

This article discusses the details of upgrading SugarCRM. It also goes through the SugarCRM Upgrade Wizard.

Upgrading your Edition of SugarCRM

For Sugar Ultimate, Sugar Enterprise, Sugar Corporate, and Sugar Professional, download the Upgrade zip file from the Sugar Support Portal at
https://www.sugarcrm.com/crm/support into your local machine. .
Log into the Sugar application to use the Upgrade Wizard. Run a PHP script from the command line on the server where the Sugar instance is installed to use the Silent Upgrader.
CAUTION:
It is strongly recommended that you run the upgrade process on a copy of your production system.

Upgrading SugarCRM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prerequisites for Upgrading SugarCRM

•
Backup your current Sugar directory and database before beginning the upgrade process.
•
Disable op-code caching before upgrading your Sugar installation if op-code caching is enabled in the PHP configuration file. You can enable it after the upgrade process is complete.
•
Increase the default value of the parameters listed below before you begin the upgrade process if you are using Zend Core 2.0:
¢
Navigate to C:\Program Files\Zend\Core\etc\fastcgi.conf and increase the default value for ConnectionTimeout to 3000 seconds and RequestTimeout to 6000 seconds.
¢
Navigate to the php.ini file and increase the default value of max_execution_time to 6000 seconds.
•
Perform the following for the large size of the upgrade files:
¢
Modify and save the value of Maximum upload size to 21000000 (20MB) in the Advanced section of the System Settings page of your current Sugar installation.
¢
Navigate to the php.ini file on your web server and configure the parameters listed below in the Advanced section of the System Settings page of your current Sugar installation:
l
Set post_max_size to at least 60MB
l
Set upload_max_filesize settings to at least 60MB
l
Set max_input_time to a large number
l
Set memory_limit to 256MB
Restart the web server and begin the upgrade process.
•
Ensure that LimitRequestBody is set to a large number or use the default value of 2GB if you are using an Apache web server and LimitRequestBody is set in the httpd.conf file. Restart Apache and begin the upgrade process.
•
Ensure that the webserver user has write permissions to the Sugar database. The upgrade to Sugar 6.3 will add and replace files in several locations including the Sugar root directory. The webserver user must have write permissions for the root folder and all sub-directories during the upgrade process.
•
The process of upgrading can take up to 30 minutes. Set the CGI script timeout to more than the default 300 seconds to ensure that the CGI application does not time out if you are using the IIS web server.
•
Save PHP files for customized modules (for example, accounts.php) in the Customs directory and not within the main module. Existing customizations may be overridden by changes in Sugar 6.3 during upgrade.

Things to Consider when upgrading SugarCRM

The Dynamic Teams feature requires some database schema changes across all modules as part of the upgrade process. For larger databases, this operation can take some time to complete. Follow the steps listed below to ensure a smooth upgrade process:
1.
Test your upgrade on a development instance instead of the production instance.
2.
Use the Silent Upgrade method through the command line interface to conduct the upgrade instead of the Upgrade Wizard inside the application if your database contains more than 10000 records per table.
3.
Log into the application as an Administrator and use the Repair option to repair and rebuild the database after the upgrade is complete.

How to use the SugarCRM Upgrade Wizard

The Sugar Upgrade Wizard provides a quick way to upgrade to the latest version of the Sugar application. It includes critical upgrade logic as well as the SQL commands needed to upgrade the application.
Ensure that the config.php file for your installation, located in the Sugar root directory, is writable, before using the Upgrade Wizard.
 
Important:
Manual upgrades by file replacements and running the upgrade SQL are not supported.

Upgrading Sugar by using the Upgrade Wizard

The Upgrade Wizard provides a quick way to upgrade to the latest version of the Sugar application. It includes critical upgrade logic as well as the SQL commands needed to upgrade the application.
Ensure that the config.php file for your installation, located in the Sugar root directory, is writable, before using the Upgrade Wizard.
Note:
Manual upgrades by file replacements and running the upgrade SQL are not supported.
 
1.
Download the appropriate Sugar Upgrade zip file from the Sugar website to your local machine. For example, download the SugarPro-Upgrade-6.2.x-to-6.3.0.zip file to upgrade Sugar Professional from version 6.2.x to 6.3.0. Download the appropriate conversion file to convert to Sugar Professional or Sugar Enterprise.
2.
Log into your existing Sugar application as the administrator and click admin on the right-hand corner of the page.
3.
Click Upgrade Wizard in the Systems panel of the Administration Home page.
This displays the Upgrade Wizard page.
4.
Click Next.
This displays the System Checks page. and Sugar begins the system check process. The Systems Check page indicates that there were no issues if the system check process completes successfully. Issues with file permissions, database, and server settings are listed on the page if the system check process encountered any problems.
5.
Click Next if the system check is successful.
This displays the Upload an Upgrade page.
6.
Click Browse, and navigate to the location of the upgrade zip file and select it.
The path to the file displays in the Upload an upgrade field.
7.
Click Upload Upgrade to upload the package to the Sugar application.
The system uploads the package and displays it on the page. Use the Delete Package button to remove the package if necessary.
8.
Click Next.
This displays the Preflight Check page.
Click Show Schema Change Script to view differences in the Sugar databases schema between your current and new Sugar versions.
By default, the Upgrade Wizard Runs SQL option is selected as the database update method. Select Manual SQL Queries from the Database Update Method drop-down list and select the Check when SQL has been manually run box, if you ran the SQL queries manually.
9.
Click Recheck to rerun Preflight Check. Click Next to skip this step.
This displays the Commit Upgrade page.
You can also click Show to see a list of files that were copied and the rebuilt results. You can also view skipped queries.
10.
Click Next.
During the upgrade process, Sugar performs a three-way merge between the customized instance on old version, default instance on old version, and default instance on new version. This three-way merge adds any fields that have been added to the default module layouts in the new version to the corresponding module layouts in the existing version, if the module layouts in the old version were not customized through Studio (or in the appropriate upgrade-safe way) prior to the upgrade. The three-way merge also changes the placement of fields in non-Studio-customized module layouts to match the placement in the default module layouts.
Sugar displays the Confirm Layouts page as Step 5 of the upgrade process if the existing module layouts have been customized, and there are changes to the default fields and field placement in the new module layouts.
The Confirm Layouts page lists the module layouts that have changed in the new version. The administrator has the option of applying the changes to the existing module layouts. By default, all of the listed module layouts are selected to be merged during the upgrade.
For example, in 6.1.0, Sugar added the Assigned To fields to the default Detail View and Edit View layouts for Notes and for Email Templates. If the instance being upgraded has a customized EditView layout for Notes, but no customized layouts for Email Templates, the following will occur during the upgrade:
a.
The Confirm Layouts page appears as Step 5 in the Upgrade Wizard
b.
The Confirm Layouts page displays the Notes module with the EditView and DetailView layouts. The Email Templates layouts do not display on the Confirm Layouts page because the existing layouts were not customized.
c.
The Administrator has the option of choosing to merge the changes in the Notes module with the existing customized EditView layout.
11.
Uncheck the module if you do not want to add the new fields to a module.
12.
Click Next.
This displays a message confirming that the layouts were successfully merged (if you chose to update your modules).
13.
Click Next.
14.
The Debrief page confirms the upgrade installation. Complete the steps for manual merging of files or running SQL queries now.
15.
Click Done.
This displays the Home page indicating that the upgrade is complete.
16.
Click Repair and select the Rebuild Relationships and Rebuild Extensions options in the Systems panel of the Administration Home page.
For more information, see Repair.
17.
Manually merge the files by extracting the skipped file from the patch zip file if you unchecked any files to prevent the Upgrade Wizard from overwriting them. Merge the file installed in the Sugar application directory.
Note:
Check the upgradeWizard.log file in the Sugar folder for information on unsuccessful Sugar upgrades.

Locking Down the SugarCRM Upgrade Wizard

You can lock down the Upgrade Wizard to ensure that no user with administrative privileges can upgrade any of them, if you are managing multiple instances of the Sugar application and you want to maintain complete control over the Sugar instances. Follow the steps listed below to lock down functions on the Administration page:
1.
Navigate to the config.php file in the Sugar root directory.
2.
Set the following parameter to true as below:
$sugar_config['admin_access_control']=true
3.
Save the file.

For full instructions, click here.

SugarCRM Assessment

Sugar CRM 6 - Free CRM Assessment PDFClick here to download our Free Sugar CRM 6 Evaluation PDF.

With this, you will be able to identify the key enhancements within Sugar CRM.

Topics include:

  1. Calculated Fields
  2. Favorites and Favorites Dashlet
  3. Twitter and Social Media integration
  4. Reporting (filtering, scheduling)
  5. User interface improvements (there are many!)
  6. Sugar Mobile 1.0 details
  7. and much more.

Free Tool for Comapring mulitple CRM Vendors

Free Excel CRM Comparison Tool - Comparing 10 of the Top CRM SolutionsClick here to access our Free Comparison Tool.

With this tool, you will be able to identify the key similarilites and differences between 9 of the top CRM systems, including Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Sage SalesLogix, GoldMine, Sage ACT!, Pivotal and more.

Comparison includes:

  1. Key CRM Features
  2. Pricing (Licensing, etc..)
  3. Available Modules (e.g. SFA, Marketing, Service, etc)
  4. Feature Details (Sync, Call Center, Quoting, E-commerce, Lead Management, Security, Workflow, and much more.
  5. Hardware and Network support (Microsoft, Linux, etc…)
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