The Forums on slxdeveloper.com are now retired. The forum archive will remain available for the time being. Thank you for your participation on slxdeveloper.com!
|
|
v6.2.6 Upgrade??
Posted: 06 May 08 7:44 AM
|
My company is currently running Saleslogix version 6.2.6. I have been reading that Sage will be retiring that version in Feb. 2009. This is all still very new to me and I know this is probably a silly question but is it necessary that we upgrade to v 7.0 or better? What is the impact of not updgrading?
Thanks,
Renee |
|
|
|
Re: v6.2.6 Upgrade??
Posted: 06 May 08 8:38 AM
|
Renee,
Upgrading can be subjective but I think one of the main reasons is to not fall behind the technology. Microsoft will continue to push Office forward and thus the compatibility with SalesLogix will always be in flux. However they'll only support older versions to a point, then you are stuck. Additionally I believe that only 7.X+ versions are compatible with Vista. While your company may not be considering Vista, it's highly likely that the next version of Windows will have similar compatibility issues.
Depending on your 6.2.x customizations, the upgrade isn't terrible. There are some code/form changes that need to be considered but I find that it's easier to customize 7.X due to the improvements that have been made.
Personally I don't like to be on the cutting edge, but still on the blade. I've seen all too often what happens when companies hold on to old technology because of the adversity to change. One day the change will be inevitable and then the amount of work to upgrade is much greater than if incremental upgrades were done.
Finally if you are paying for maintenance you should use it. That's a lot of money to not take advantage of the option. |
|
|
|
Re: v6.2.6 Upgrade??
Posted: 06 May 08 8:54 AM
|
Marc,
Thank you for your reply. I was not involved with it but I know that when we first implemented Saleslogix there was a lot of customization done in the forms and with the adding of additional tabs. Also there were many new tables added to the system. Will that make upgrading more complex? Will those customizations have to be redone??
I don't think our company has any plans on going to Vista in the near future, but I know that they have talked about upgrading Windows. I will have to talk to our infrastructure/network manager to find out more.
I think that this is something I will need to get with my BP about and see what kind of help they can give me.
Thanks! |
|
|
|
Re: v6.2.6 Upgrade??
Posted: 06 May 08 9:02 AM
|
Renee,
Definitely talk to your BP. Customizations can make things more complex because the customizations have to be tested and maybe modified, but you shouldn't have to rewrite them.
I found that there were 'out of the box' forms in 7.X that I liked better than what we had so I re-added our customizations to those new forms. That's something you'd have to evaluate as a company. |
|
|
|
Re: v6.2.6 Upgrade??
Posted: 06 May 08 9:13 AM
|
Marc,
I know that I am probably asking a lot of silly questions, but I have one more. How do I see what the new 7.x stuff looks like? Do I have to load it on a test environment or is there some way to see the new forms before I upgrade?
Thanks so much for your patience with me!!
Renee |
|
|
|
Re: v6.2.6 Upgrade??
Posted: 06 May 08 9:52 AM
|
Renee,
No problem at all. I figure I owe the forum a few answers after all my questions. 
What I had to do is have IT set me up a test server and then I installed the client on a Virtual PC, because the 7.X stuff is not compatible with the 6.2.x code. You could also setup a single box with it all on there. I just wanted a bit more of a real world environment and an excuse to play with VirtualPC.
Marc |
|
|
|
Re: v6.2.6 Upgrade??
Posted: 07 May 08 8:10 AM
|
Renee,
Marc made some very good points. I found that when i preformed the upgrade on my previous companies environment, the company invested about a day worth of work with their business partner to fix various customizations. It was not alot of work and the overall process went very smoothly. I too used the excuse of using VMWare to test our environment in a new 7.2 environment and I was able to identify potential areas of problems, assess the charge to fix them which was minimal and decide whether or not to upgrade. Your business partner can do an assessment for you for a fee, advising you of potential issues and the costs to fix them as well as the cost to upgrade with their help.
Since I also started on 6.2.3 as a newbie, there was significant development which made it worth it to upgrade for me. I would consult your BP on the areas you are using to see what's changed in out of box functionality which could be applicable to your business. I typically use that as the reason to upgrade first over trying to "stay current". Most of the time, executives are very open to hearing that first. At the end of the day, you might be in an environment where its not worth it to upgrade and new technology issues won't be a factor atleast not for awhile. Hopefully that's not the case since I've always found some value in the newer versions.
|
|
|
|
Re: v6.2.6 Upgrade??
Posted: 07 May 08 8:50 AM
|
Originally posted by Renee Bender
My company is currently running Saleslogix version 6.2.6. I have been reading that Sage will be retiring that version in Feb. 2009. This is all still very new to me and I know this is probably a silly question but is it necessary that we upgrade to v 7.0 or better? What is the impact of not updgrading?
Thanks,
Renee |
|
FYI - Impacts of "retirement" of a SalesLogix version:
A - once "officially" announced (and it has been at an On-line event for all SalesLogix BP's - so they ALL "should" know - typically ther will (immediately) no more HF's/SP's, etc..
B - At "retirement time" (in 9 months from now) mantenance halts. If you have a support contract.. support basically stops.
v6.2.x will not ever have Vista capability, or server2008 support.. or SQL2008 support. These are all "new" capabilities that will only happen on the 7.x platform.
I'd not waste any time on 7.0.x. It becomes low man on the pole. Except for the last sp (SP2 for 7.0), don't expect to see much happening here.
v7.2.2 (w/hot fixes) is currently the latest released version - this is where you want to be.
--
RJLedger - rjlSystems |
|
|
|
Re: v6.2.6 Upgrade??
Posted: 08 May 08 3:44 PM
|
Originally posted by Renee Bender
Marc,
I know that I am probably asking a lot of silly questions, but I have one more. How do I see what the new 7.x stuff looks like? Do I have to load it on a test environment or is there some way to see the new forms before I upgrade?
Thanks so much for your patience with me!!
Renee |
|
Your BP should be more than willing (and capable) to demo the 7.2.x system. They can also request a "futures/roadmap" briefing for you (under NDA) from Sage as well. If they are not capable or willing, call Sage SalesLogix yourself and ask them to. Then will help you.
--
RJLedger - rjlSystems |
|
|
|
Re: v6.2.6 Upgrade??
Posted: 17 May 08 11:58 AM
|
Just to add..
Fresh back from Insights2008 -
Sage CRM Solutions has Announced the "2010 Strategy" (many of us knew about this but because of partner NDA could not talk about it)...
Contact your BP and ask about it.
--
RJLedger - rjlSystems
"...Customer First..." |
|
|
|