Customization Boundaries

[jertothejig]

Hello I am working with another programmer right now who has raised the question about how far we can go with customizations in sugar.
Is there a limit. For example, can we create a our own customer portal when sugar already offers one?
It seems to me that if a program is open source than this is perfectly fine especially when we are creating something to the specs of our client that do not match what sugar currently offers. Looking forward to the input thanks.

Thanks
J.

[sugarcane]

Hello,

the SugarCRM code is open source, so as long as you know how to customize/modify the code, you may do so. You are not obligated to use the Sugar portal if it does not meet you needs, and can create or integrate your own portal for your instance.

[Angel]

In addition to Sugarcane's comments, the one thing that you do always have to bear in mind is that there are multiple ways of accomplishing the same thing from a customization stand point and some methods are upgrade safe and others aren't.

Upgrade safe customizations would be the preferred method regardless of what you are doing because it simplifies upgrades. i.e. Were you to upgrade Sugar at some point, the upgrade files won't overwrite your modifications.

If you don't do it that way, you will need to merge in your code changes by hand whenever you upgrade Sugar, which, depending on the extent of your changes, could be rather laborious and tedious.

[jertothejig]

Thanks for the input. Can you point me to where I can find a programmer who speaks english and is in the U.S. Our company moves at a rate that requires quick communication. I have had a hard time finding a programmer who will take on smaller jobs programming sugar for us. smaller = $1000 or less. What is a good hourly rate for a U.S. programmer so I know how to compensate fairly? These jobs are on a regular basis as well. I am reluctant to take on more work due to this issue.
I appreciate you sugar experts. Please help this green horn.


J.

[Angel]

There are several folks on the boards, including myself, that would be able to assist. Eggsurplus (Jason) is one name that comes to mind right away and he is US based.

You could try putting an ad in the classifieds section as well, but I would forewarn you that people responding to ads there have a habit of ignoring the part about "U.S. based" etc., so don't be surprised if 95% of your replies aren't from U.S. based folks.

As for the compensation, you've only really defined one facet of "small." If you were to ask me to define it, I would define it as a job that that would take 2 - 3 hours to code with some additional time budgeted in for testing/debugging/implementation. Point being, your definition does not define the scope of work. If we are talking about something that will take 3 - 4 days to complete, it is unlikely you'll get much interest from a U.S. based source for that amount.

[jertothejig]

Thanks,
I guess that is the issue. I do not know how long things should take to code nor what large or small is apparently. Shoot! Hmm. I personally cannot afford to waste money due to my ignorance. Is there a going hourly rate in the U.S. for sugar coding? An average maybe? And can you tell me what is small for the US in regards to a project as a whole? What is the minimum that let's say you would do a project for? If you point me to a place where I can read this I am more than willing. Thank you for your knowledge and patience.
And if there is a forum for this please by all means let me know that as well.

J.

[Angel]

I am not sure I can properly address all of your questions, but hopefully this will help..

First, I should mention that I am a CRM consultant, not exclusively a programmer, whereas you seem to be more interested in someone that codes exclusively, thus my answers may or may not help.

Anyone you work with should be able to give you an estimate on the amount of time it should take to perform the work. If you feel that time is inaccurate, get estimates from other folks as well and compare them.

It goes without saying that things that sound simple aren't always simple to execute. Equally important is the need for detailed parameters/requirements. If things are left to interpretation, a one hour job could easily escalate to an all day project to handle the myriad of issues/questions that aren't addressed in the requirements.

For example, I've had people ask me for estimates on integrating Sugar with system X, but not been provided any detail beyond that. Unfortunately, in a scenario like that, it is nearly impossible for anyone to make an accurate assessment of the scope of work because the parameters of how it should work aren't defined.

The latter is probably the biggest reason why things take longer than estimated, although, changes to the scope and unexpected technical issues shouldn't be eliminated either.

Rates will vary greatly and again, if you are looking for a coder vs. a consultant, the numbers will again vary some more, so it is hard to comment.

We don't have a bottom limit for jobs that we tackle. Again, this may differ from others as we are consultants, not just programmers, so we have a breadth of items that we work on. For example, in the last couple of days, we did a coding project for someone that took a little under an hour of work but simultaneously were working on other projects of longer length, including some end user training and general implementaion help.

[jertothejig]

You raise another idea I had not been able to articulate. I think I am looking for someone who is not just a coder. I have a coder. I may also be looking for someone to advise me. I want to be able to tell someone what I want and they tell me how much and how long it will take. But I want them to be in the U.S. and be able to communicate effectively. You for example have been great Angel. As a consultant we pay you to tell us what to do and then who does it? Do you? I am thinking I will just post this job on the classified you mentioned.


Thanks I really appreciate your time.

J.

[Angel]

We don't outsource our work. Any work we take on we do it ourselves, either myself or one of my colleagues, depending on the task. Then there is also scenarios where we are brought on strictly as consultants and the client does the work themselves or hires someone else to do it.

Send me a private message if you are interested in learning more about us.