flexing sugar platform: session 8: change the world using the sugar platform

Change the World Using the Sugar Platform

Flexing Sugar Platform

Steve Johnson

Consultant#mojocode www.mojocode.com

04/11/2023 ©2012 SugarCRM Inc. All rights reserved. 2

Tweet: #SCON1204/11/2023 ©2012 SugarCRM Inc. All rights reserved. 3

Introduction

Steve Johnson: software developer & consultant

You can change the world using Sugar as your development platform!

Two case studies Along the way, we’ll talk about

My experience developing with SugarA little about building our modules and some specific customizations we’ve doneThe setup we use


Who’s here?

Developers?Users?Management?Others?


Two case studies

Praxis: flexible manufacturing, contract packager

WarehouseProduction ControlHR & TimekeepingOrdersShipping

ReadAsia: International non-profitData collectionProject dataField dataField reports


Why is Sugar a great development platform?

Choice:open source or hosted/cloud servicefree or fee

The guts of a great multi-user web platform are there (you get to focus on the business problem)

Security; users, roles, loginMVC; Model, View, ControllerViews; ListView, DisplayView, EditViewFunctional; Search, Export, Import, Timezone support, table/field driven, data change log


Why is Sugar a great development platform?

Flexibility:Module Builder (user/developer)Customization (user)Custom code (developer)LAMP/WAMP/XAMP (software runs anywhere)

Help from the Sugar community; SugarForge, SugarExchange


Gotchas?

Data gets a little mixed with code (pull downs) Not as version control friendly as it could be As you extend things past normal limits, the

defaults need tweaking (2,000,000 pallets as the default search result? Sorted on a non-indexed field? Yuck.)

Stay out of the core, if you can… stay upgrade safe!


Benefits of using Sugar?

Rapid Design Rapid Prototyping Rapid Deployment Rapid Customization Rapid Re-deployment “Easy quality” Consistent UI with built-in patterns Support a lot of active users out-of-the-box All the usual benefits of web-based

applications


Which just means…

“Solve the problem, not the

plumbing.”


The Setup: Development, Test, Production

Development platform:Hardware: Laptop with Windows 7 running XAMP etc.IDE: EclipseVersion control: SVNSugarCRM: pick a releaseTest data: snapshot of latest system backupOther: cygwin, dual backup (cloud and image), phpmyadmin

Test platform:Hardware: virtual server (VMWARE ESXi)VM: Ubuntu LinuxSugarCRM: same releaseTest data: snapshot of latest system backup



Production Praxis:

Hardware: 4 cores, 2 gb memory, 100 gb disk raid5O/S: Ubuntu LTSSugarCRM: Version 4.5.xUsers: ~100 (24 x 7 operations)Other: warm backup server, daily snapshots (H->V), daily backups

ReadAsia:Hardware: Rackspace Cloud Server @ $170/monthO/S: Ubuntu LTSSugarCRM: Version 6.xUsers: ~40 (10 hours US, 10 hours India)Other: daily snapshots, daily backups, offsite & cloud backups



Project Management:Projects are managed with http://www.trello.com (manage lists of lists)Bugs are managed with Mantis (open source bug tracker)Documentation built with mediawikiProcess flow documented with visoNo other diagramming or database design tools

http://www.trello.com/


PraxisPackaging.com


Praxis Fast Facts

Contract packaging Flexible

manufacturing Three plants; 130k

sq ft, 30k, mobile Customer inventory Certified: FDA, DEA,

Dept of Ag, Kosher, HACCP, SQF Level III

Clean Room 350 full-time

employees ~20 different

runs/day 350 full-time

employees

24 x 7 operations (SugarCRM running ~99.999% uptime since Feb 2008 [15 minutes to move the server to another rack in 2009])


Praxis’ Systems

Barcoded pallet tags Handheld laser scanners

(50’) running a browser Badge scanners


Praxis’ Systems

PCs; desktops, laptops

Tablets (iPad) Handheld (iPhone) Touchscreen

Production PCs IE7+ w/Scriptx


Praxis’ Systems

Status displaysLine statusEmployee statusEfficienciesLarge LCDiPhone


Praxis Modules

Pallets Locations Parts Orders Materials Order Parts Order Materials Employees Timecards (export to Paychex) Produces all the paperwork needed by

customers and government bodies including controlled forms


Why customize for Praxis?

Extremely vertical without industry solutions Custom solution offers a competitive

advantage Special specs:

We receive product before we know what the customer wants us to do with it and we have to track it anyway (how do you find something when you don’t know what it is?).We don’t own the inventory, the customer does.Parts are per unit (each), but really processed by pallet.Custom production tracking statistics.A single line may reconfigure 4+ times in a shift.Must meet all governmental regulations and agencies’ needs.


Praxis “Wow”?

45 man-days from concept, to spec, to system, to go-live (inventory tracking)

Ongoing changes added weekly We don’t stop anything to make changes; a

little like changing tires on a moving car, sometimes

~99.999% uptime, even with ongoing changes, since Feb 2008 (1065 days of uptime)

The more we do, the more requests come in for new functionality

The system is so impressive to customers, it is used in promotional/sales materials


Benefits that changed the world?

Shift costs from inventory management to production: 10 mule pullers ($80/hour cost) are now doing production work ($x/hour profit).

Better planning, production, and staffing. Received 1st 100% on a customer inventory

audit 60 days after system implemented (the audits that took 4 days now take 2 hours).

Reduced paperwork allows more time for supervision and training by Line Techs (25% more productive).

Praxis was able to increase production resulting in more business with more full-time jobs and greater profitability.


ReadAsia.org


ReadAsia Fast Facts

Non-profit Project-based fund raising Literacy taught in 22

languages Formerly paper-based

system $30 per person to go from

illiterate to 5th grade education in 52 weeks


ReadAsia’s Systems

Paper forms Digital cameras used for

volunteer photos, reports, and site visits

Scan paper to PDF PDF and photos attached to a

skeleton project Data entry from PDF (editing

and correction) in India Rackspace cloudserver in Chicago Field data accessed by international and US

staff 24x7 Field data used for sponsorship marketing and

donor reporting Chrome browser (as PDF viewer, too)


ReadAsia Modules

Projects Project Managers Teachers Pictures Documents Project Reports Field Related Info Photo embedding Workflow


Why customize for ReadAsia?

Custom forms (direct paper replacement) Custom workflow (original document, data

entry, approvals, acceptance, changes) Rapid development schedule (7 months from

concept to deployment) Feeds a custom Filemaker Pro marketing

database Support future development:

Tablet-based field capture (store and forward) photos, projects, visits, and reportsProject’s field progress workflowInternational back-of-office


ReadAsia “Wow”?

~3 months from concept to design ~4 months from design to reality Previous attempted project to do this took

years and never delivered (client-server, .net) Forms and processes were being changed as

we developed Did it with one part-time project manager and

one mostly full-time software developer Ongoing development is supporting users

across timezones Better data security and transmitted

electronically


Benefits that changed the world?

More $ raised by offering sponsorships in clear terms to donors by showing the actual people doing the work and where it is being done. This changes the conversation from just a concept to real people.

Reduced costs associated with information transfer frees up funds for projects.

The lives of thousands of illiterates are changed daily.

“Each one teach one” at the end of the 52 week program extends the results to the community and acts as a multiplier.


Advice

Set up a full development environment with sandbox, test box, and production box.

Use version control, but don’t worry about “releases”—go, go, go!

You can do the basics with the module builder, but you’ll need someone that can dig into the code to pull off the extra mojo.

Keep your “first launch” straightforward and clean—get the users using it, then build more (change is easier than other technologies you’re used to).

Build something users won’t let you take away.


Summary

SugarCRM is a platform Extend it quickly and easily with custom

modules and upgrade-safe customizations Build better systems with fewer resources Keep building and extending them Make a difference! Q & A


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#SCON12

flexing sugar platform: session 8: change the world using the sugar platform

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