Hi there,
As I understand it, the current suitecrm not have this module. Hopefully in the future will be integrated into suitecrm.
Please let me know what management project module is integrated with the suite?
Thank!
Reference links:
http://news.thomasnet.com/companystory/SugarCRM-Introduces-Advanced-Project-Management-Integrated-with-CRM-513400
http://www.slideshare.net/salesagility/what-they-dont-tell-you-about-sugarcrm-community-edition
Look at Slide 4.
“What they say.” “No Project Management module.”
“The Reality.” “The same Project Management modules as Pro.”
But is this really true? I found that slide set really helpful when we first started looking at SugarCRM, but that one point always confused me. From what I can tell, while there is a project module in CE (and SuiteCRM), there is no way to:
- Add subtasks to a task (this seems pretty essential to me)
- View the “Projects Dashboard” from the Pro version
- Create/Use project templates
- Set project holidays to track when resources will not be available
- View the project as a Gantt chart
- Generate a resource report, showing your employees, who’s working on what projects, when they’re on vacation, etc.
Am I missing something? Are these things somehow there but just turned off?
Am I missing something? Are these things somehow there but just turned off?[/quote]
Its not true, CE has no where near the project management functionality of Sugar pro. They left the basic project management modules in CE but stripped out the Gantt chart and almost everything else that might be useful.
You can create tasks and sub-tasks but they are just records in the basic project module.
You cant use project templates, or set holidays.
You would have to create a report using one of the other reporting tools such as Kreporter.
On the plus side I am personally working on an upgraded project managment module for SugarCE and SuiteCRM. Right now it has the gantt chart and resource chart but not everything you mentioned. Your giving me idea’s tho 
This is my own personal project so not sure how much Ill be giving away for free, some of it will be in suiteCRM.
Thanks for giving me hope Andy! This is the only thing I feel I’m really missing from the Pro version of sugar. With (mostly) all of the project management projects in Sugar Forge being for older versions, I was beginning to worry that no one else saw the need for this. I look forward to seeing what you come up with!
Would be nice to bolt on a pre-existing full blown free open source project management app. Whatever it takes to equal, or better, exceed the Sugar Pro, Office 365, and Salesforce, project management functionality.
There is actually limited integration of SugarCRM into ]project-open[, but the integration isn’t very thorough, and while it has everything I could want in a project management application, I’ve found that anything that requires my users logging on to another website creates a huge barrier to implementation.
Interesting integration, however it only integrates Accounts (Companies) and Contacts information back and forth between SugarCRM/SuiteCRM and project-open.
At very least you could have Sugar and project-open use Active Directory / OpenLDAP. Same username and password per user for each app.
Next upgrade to the project-open integration would be a SugarCRM module/connector, to read the php data objects of project-open, and display them inside a new SugarCRM Project-Open module. Read-only to start with. Later add create/update/delete.
Take a look at this page, it offers a wider selection of project management apps to integrate with SugarCRM. https://zapier.com/zapbook/sugarcrm/#sort=popular&filter=project-management
Andy, if you’re looking for beta-testers or feature suggestions, please let me know. We’re just now implementing SuiteCRM (From nothing), and cancelled Wrike. I recognize the Project limitations after Sugar stripped the project module from CE, but I’m choosing to deal with them until SuiteCRM can catch-up.
Either your module, a better link to ProjectOpen, etc.
Thanks!
What you guys seem to be looking for is a complete project management solution inside Sugar CE and I dont think even sugar pro has that. And a full blown project management solution seems kind of beyond the scope of a CRM? Surly you would just use a dedicated project management solution for that?
As far as I know there is no resource chart or the ability to mark holidays etc in sugar pro. (Edit there is but the holidays are just related records they dont actually show up in the Gantt chart or anything) In fact how do you envision those to work? For example my resource chart allows you to enter a date range for which you want to check who is working on tasks it then takes all users associated with a project and displays a calendar style layout with the days for each user greyed out if they are busy that day. You can hover over the greyed out days for more info to pop-up etc. The only way I could see adding holidays would be to mark them as a type holiday task on those dates.
mikebruns99: Yes looking for feature suggestions
Describe how you think these things should work, point to examples if possible and ill see if I can incorporate them. However dont expect this to function like a professional project management suite right off the bat. This is bedroom coding going on here :woohoo:
Found this video overview of sugar pro’s project management functionality: http://vimeo.com/37757281
Actually pretty poor imo.
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As they say in the video, project management starts in SugarCRM Pro, and when they get more complex than Sugar can handle, users export to a dedicated project management solution such as Microsoft Project.
It would be brilliant to come up with a new fork of the Projects module, that would pull in PM data and screens from project-open or OpenERP, and let users do all their work inside SuiteCRM.
Here’s a 400 line 3-layer MVC javascript client app that runs in the browser and lets you edit project-open notes from outside of project-open.
http://www.project-open.org/en/tutorial_building_sencha_touch_applications
In SugarCRM Pro 7.1.6, the Projects module is unsupported, and disabled by default.
“The Projects module is not supported in Sugar 7 but can be enabled by following the instructions in this article.”
There are probably 2 separate classes of project management users out there:
-
Users who are managing large projects and programs, hundreds or thousands of tasks, complex dependences, resources, detailed financial analysis, etc.
-
Users who need relatively simple project or task management with simple, repeatable processes.
For #1, I agree that the CRM system is not the appropriate place to manage the project. Integration between CRM and a more advanced system [Project Open] would be very helpful.
For #2, a CRM system with simple project/task management capabilities would be a perfect fit.
As an example, suppose we’re reviewing the project needs of a Roofing Company. While I don’t know their detailed processes, here’s what I think they could be after the opportunity turns into a sale:
2 weeks before installation:
- Confirm Insurance Information & Approval
- Finalize roof details with customer (type, style, gutters, etc.)
- Schedule Installation Crew #5 for the job.
- Order materials to be delivered the day before installation.
1 week before installation
- Pull governmental work permit
- Schedule rubbish-removal dumpster/bin
1 day before the installation
- Salesman visits the customer to verify materials on site, confirm the materials with the customer, and answer customer questions
- Schedule temporary day laborers to the project
- Verify rubbish-bin is on site.
- Confirm job details with Installation Crew #5
Installation Day
*Installation Crew #5 and laborers start the roof install
Installation Day+1
- Installation Crew #5 and laborers complete the roof
- Salesman visits customer to ensure satisfaction with the job
- Rubbish-bin is removed
- Send the customer an invoice
1 Week after Installation
- Salesman follow-up with customer to ensure satisfaction with the job and ask to put a sign in the yard
1 Month after Installation
- Salesman follow-up with customer to ensure satisfaction with the job and remove the sign
There is a lot of communication and documentation, SuiteCRM would be a great tool to help manage the project and store the documentation.
Important features:
- Easy to use templates. While there will always be exceptions (apartment complexes, commercial buildings), most projects should be similar or identical.
- Task tracking and reporting. If the installation is in 2 days, and the “Pull governmental work permit” isn’t complete, we have a problem that someone needs to address quickly.
- Light scheduling – Installation Crew #5 can only be at one site at a time, and can’t be double-booked. A lightning-storm may delay the schedule.
- Simple charts (Gantt, pert) would be nice, especially in a more complex project
- Customer calls 6 months later with a warranty issue, it’s just a Case within SuiteCRM. All of the project details are there, including who worked on the project, what materials were used, etc.
Nice to have features:
- Company calendar, so everyone at the company knows what is going on, when. A place for a member of Installation Crew #4 to find out where they need to be tomorrow.
- Hours and costs stored in the CRM system, to allow for high-level project costing and budget vs. actuals. Reviewing this data would allow better cost estimates in the future.
- Time-Entry to feed payroll directly.
For me, the key is to enable to the CRM to manage simple, repeatable projects.
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Andy, I’m doing some “bedroom hacking” of my own. Simple things like adding light Project-Costing functionality. Could I run my php changes by you? I’m not a professional-programmer by any means, just an ex-techie making changes to fit my business’s needs.
Can’t you use the package they link to in that notification?
http://support.sugarcrm.com/04_Find_Answers/02KB/02Administration/100Install/Reinstating_the_Projects_Module/Activate_Projects_Module_v1.2.zip
That’s not actually the projects module, it’s more of a pseudo-module intended to just “un-hide” the projects module in the pro version because Sugar decided to start disabling it by default in newer (7.0+) versions. It’s not applicable since SuiteCRM is based of of SugarCRM v6.5, and the Projects module in the CE version isn’t the same as the project module in the Pro version anyway.
That module from SugarCRM simply “unhides” the Projects and Project Tasks modules in SugarCRM Community, Pro, Enterprise, or Ultimate.
SuiteCRM already has these Projects and Project Tasks modules unhidden.
The question in this thread, is… How to enhance these SugarCRM/SuiteCRM Project Management features - or how to build a connector to pull in the data from the app of your choice- Microsoft Project, project-open, or from the 43 most popular Software-As-A-Service Project Management apps based on Alexa rankings:
Basecamp – simple to use and very popular. One of many popular products that fly under the 37 Signals banner.
Zoho Projects – a wide range of applications available on top of project management including CRM, calendar, chat and a wiki. Over 3 million users.
Freshbooks – a very popular invoicing application that includes time tracking, task and project management. Over 2 million users.
Central Desktop – 425,000 users, includes real time integration between Microsoft office and the central workspace.
Manymoon – A project management tool focused on integration with Google Apps, recently purchased by Salesforce.
Deskaway – includes timesheets, calendar, contacts and a micro-blogging status update feature.
Smartsheet – project management, CRM and other features based around using online spreadsheets.
5pm – very colorful interface, and lots of features including time tracking, contacts and an iPhone app.
Teamworkpm – includes time tracking, contacts and calendar.
activeCollab – includes invoicing, time tracking and email reports.
Ace Project – some HR and expense management features.
Teambox – includes a twitter style updates feature.
Feng office – includes time tracking, calendar and contacts.
Huddle – integrates with Microsoft office so you can save Microsoft files directly to a shared workspace.
Comindwork – includes Gantt charts, and a business wiki.
Nozbe – project management based around the David Allen “Getting Things Done” methodology.
Harvest – focused on invoicing and time tracking, a competitor to Freshbooks.
Wrike – some unique features such as the ability to create and update tasks via email and timeline view of project plans.
Goplan – includes a twitter like activity stream.
EGroupware – Consists of multiple installable applications and includes a calendar app, address book, eMail, project management, timesheet and others.
Clarizen – many features including budgeting, billing, Gantt charts.
Hyperoffice – has a hosted email service and contact management.
LiquidPlanner – project scheduling, time tracking and lots of graphs and analysis.
Severa – includes CRM and invoicing.
Xtrant – is a cloud-based project platform that lets you share files, tasks and conversations in one secure online space to reduce email noise, increase accountability, and keep everyone on the same page.
A few more hopefuls SAAS project management apps:
TeamWork Live, Nirvana, Intervals, ProWorkflow, Teamly, Glasscubes, Copper, Workspace, Tenrox, Journyx, Clientspot, Vertabase, Celoxis, 24sevenoffice, PlanDone, Teameffect, Attask, Workzone and Proofhub.
ah, OK my bad.
I thought I’d seen somewhere that Sugar was releasing the project module as open source to the community since decision to not include in v7.
In regards to gantt feature, I assume you all have seen the following?
http://www.sugarforge.org/projects/pgc
Seen it and used it. Far too basic for me. My gantt chart is already far better than that