Customising Sugar.... again

[Deland02]

Customising Sugar

What are peoples thoughts on this one then. I set sugar up & customised it for our sales team who then started to use Sugar. Since then they have said they need more customisations completing. I have a ridiculous deadline to meet and have no testing system or site clone to try the changes out on first. Would it be better to

1
Export everything from Sugar, wipe the sql database, make the changes & import the data again.

Or

2
Just make the changes with all the data in there?

I guess what I need to know is Sugar dynamic and pick the new changes up and apply them to each module / pages. Or will the existing data / pages be missing the new changes?

I can probably guess what the answer will be but thought id throw this to the more experienced Sugar guru’s



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[IsOxfordDavid]

I have experienced the same thing.

Really your best option is to make a clone of the system perform your customisation on this clone system (to make sure you dont break anything) and then perform the same customisations on the live system.

Sugar can add new fields etc. dynamically and up only need to use the Studio to get all of this information up and running.

-----
One thing I wish I had done differently was the data import.

My initial planning was
1. Design the spec according to the departments requirements
2. Have the different departments test Sugar and redefine the spec until everyone was happy
3. Based on testing decide what fields / data to import and then go live with little fear due to extensive testing

However what happened was
1. Designed the spec
2. Departments were too busy for testing
3. Management decided that the best thing to do was to make the system live and fix problem / customise on the fly...

In following the later option I realise that if I had imported ALL the fields and data from the old system, and just "reveal" what was required it would be much easier. Now as some data has been added and some is missing I need to write custom import programs to manipulate the data and import old data correctly... (it is made even harder by the old system not being Y2K compatible so the dates require a lot of manipulation...) The only way for this to be possible is to have a test clone sysem to update first to make sure no mistakes are made.

[Deland02]

Your situation sounds almost identical to mine, rather than a planned thought out roll out, its all just ended up a bungled mess leaving me to mop it up. The problem I had which in the last hour I recon I’ve come up with a solution to was this.

1. We used to use a system called ACT, this was our contact / sales management system.
2. This was replaced by sugar.
3. I customised sugar as per everyone’s needs.
4. I had to export all the data from ACT into sugar.
5. Sugar went live with all the data in there.
6. People started using sugar.
7. People then stopped using sugar and went back to ACT as they thought it didn’t work – this was due to a
lack of training on sugar
8. More customisations are needed on sugar.

So I’m at the point now where we have data in sugar & data in ACT that is needed. I’ve been told if we re-import ACT data into Sugar it will only add to it and not over write things. This will mean I’m going to have to trawl through the data & weed out anything we already have in sugar. Then import this data into Sugar and then export all the sugar data. This should leave me with just the current up-to date data. Then clear the sugar database tables completely. Make the customisation changes & then import all the data again.

What do you think, does this sound ok or can you see any flaws in my ideas?


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[donna]

Hi Deland02

In general, we recommend that you build training into your roll out plan to avoid your situation.

For your current situation, here's what I recommend: check out Sugar University Learning Sessions for End User, Power User and Administrator training. Attending these learning sessions will help your users to fully understand and be effective with Sugar, and ensure a successful Sugar implementation!

We just finished delivering our Winter 2007 Schedule, so please check next week for our Spring 2007 schedule, which will be posted shortly.

80% of our learning sessions are available at no charge.

In addition, check out the Sugar University Online Library for self paced learning guides and videos.

You can also have personalized learning sessions for your organization. Please send an email to university@sugarcrm.com if you would like to explore that path.

Good luck!

Donna

[susiewilliams]

I'll add on to what Donna suggested... a successful launch of any CRM system (not just SugarCRM) involves a number of activities beyond the coding and data steps people typically take. In particular, here are some activites you should consider when rolling out the software:

• Identifying and using an Executive Sponsor (usually the VP of Sales) to generate awareness of the tool and to mandate its use

• Creating newsletters with "tips and tricks" from power users, as well as "success stories" that highlight how users saved time, or money, or closed deals faster, or identified an upsell opportunity using the tool
• Creating an intranet page where people can go for internal support, account sign-up, tips and tricks, etc.

• Training training training! Both an initial course, and a refresher after a few weeks of use, when people presumably have used the product for a bit and have some follow-on questions

SugarCRM is in the process of building an Adoption Program, complete with sample collateral (handouts, executive sponsor letter, checklists for implementation folks to follow, etc). Stay tuned for more information on this topic, or send me a private note if you're interested now.

-Susie