Even if vtiger 6.0 is still in beta and we are a few months away from seeing a stable release, the developer version has been out for a while now and it’s time to show what’s coming in the next big release of this CRM.
vTiger Team primary goals with Vtiger 6 were to make Vtiger easier to use (User Interface), and make it easier to develop. So don’t expect a lot of new features in this upcoming version besides a complete new and rebuilt user interface and code level improvements.
The summary view
After installing vTiger 6, one of the major improvements is the new Summary views that offer useful information at a quick glance in Leads, Contacts, Opportunities, Projects and more modules. This is what I think is one of the mayor improvements in this upcoming version. With the new summary view you get a complete update situation of your customers. What usually took you three to four clicks in the previous versions, has now been reduced to one.
Improved Related Search
Another great improvement is the new auto suggest competition in related module fields. Instead of clicking the old looking plus button and searching inside a pop up for the related record, now you just need to type a few letters to find the related Account, product, etc.
Another major improvement in user usability area, is that you can create a new record directly from the record we are seeing.
The Related lists are easier to find
Another great enhancement is the new related list on the right side, replacing the “More Information” tabs. It would be even greater if this new related list showed the quantity of related records for example: Quotes (2) or hide the tabs that do not have any related records at all. It doesn’t make too much sense to navigate to the quotes, just to see there isn’t anything there but a Add Quote button.
New Google like calendar
This new vtiger version will bring a complete new google like calendar with the ability to filter the event types directly in calendar view and to create an entry clicking in the calendar:
One really nice-to-have feature would be the possibility to drag and drop the events which hasn’t been included in the development version I’m using for this post.
New Menus, Homepage and Views
In this up coming version of vtiger you will find a brand new black menu in the top of the screen that will show the tabs that you usually use. This new menu has been introduced in vTiger 5.4 and in this new version the change is for the better. By moving the menu to the top of the screen, you will get much more room to what really matters: Your Customers, task, etc.
The home page has also been through some redesign. It now includes a new activity widget and what looks like a sale funnel. But since it is summing up the quantity and not the amount, it doesn’t seem to be really useful. What I would really like to see is the amount in each sales’ stage, not the quantity.
Listview and Detailview have also been updated to a brand new look, making the font bigger and with an update design.
Even if they look really good with my monitor resolutions I wasn’t able to see a complete record without scrolling. It would be nice to have and small space between fields, so that we were able to see the complete record on the screen, epecially in Quotes, Invoices and Sales Orders.
Conclusion
Even though the version I used to write this post is an earlier access version, there are some cool new features and designs in the upcoming release that will improve vtiger for the better. I really look forward to the final version, that will be ready in the next few months.
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