Hello, I would like to get in contact with people using Saleslogix 7.2 or 7.5 web in their daily business - or with consultants who established that product. What are your experiences? - Is it that good as it is promoted? Best regards, Reginald

Hi,

    From my experience the main down fall is its slow....

Regards, Adam Travers

This is the web version of 7.5 (did you mean?) or 7.2 ?
Whereabout is it slow - what kind of tasks etc.

Thx
Mike

 

v7.5 Web and its generally when moving around the entire system, it could be down to the environment but I’m not convinced

.

 

I'm upgrading our in-house system today and also our demo kit - so, will let you know !! You can also try it on their for comparison (which would remove the environment issue).

Also, be aware that IE v7.0 is very slow with SLX Web. IE 8 is much better but Google Chrome is by far the fastest (FF coming a close 2nd).

I must admit - I was surprised about that too - but did test it and could see it for myself - it's quite significant !

Mike

 

We run Sage CRM on the same server and this difference in performance is huge (not a Sage CRM fan and we all know SalesLogix has a lot more functionality, maybe that’s why?)

We had Sage demonstrate web v7.5 at our customer day and it was embarrassing watching the egg timer on several occasions, but we just put that down to vmware settings.

Thanks for the web browser advise, I will definitely look in to that 

Hi Adam

I've just completed the upgrade and have recorded some realtime video for you - the performance difference between browsers is enormous !

All of these were recorded off same server/database, just using different browsers.

Here is SLX 7.5 using IE7 - you can see it repaint the screen and, overall, the appearance is slow.
Here is SLX 7.5 using IE8 - much much better - still see the screen paints though but certainly less.
Here is SLX 7.5 using Google Chrome - performance is blazing !! No repaints, just instant access !!

Remember, these are realtime videos (apologies for size!) - just the browser changed !! You can try this on our demo at http://demo.empath-e.com/SlxClient

Regards
Mike

Hi Mike,

             Im glad it was'nt just me and it is an issue with the product/IE7!

 Many thanks for the videos, I will download them tomorrow when im in the office.

 Regards, Adam

 

well, it's more of an issue with IE7. I forgot to put sizes. IE7 is 1Mb, IE8 is 9.6Mb and Chrome is 8.6Mb. Probably quicker to download from home !

I see what you mean,  this backs up my moaning internally too 

Let’s hope IE8 is released soon and supported, I’m guessing Google Chrome isn’t supported going by Sages compatibility guide.

Regards, Adam

Correct, Chrome not supported (as it's not released but, judging by Google's release schedule - not sure it ever will be ! GoogleMail is still in beta and has been for years !!).

IE8 will definitely be out soon - been running it for ages and seems fine - get the odd issue with pages not loading (when they should have, an F5 fixes it) and, obviously, sites not compatible like banking sites - but you can switch to compatibility mode easily at least.
Mike

Thanks for the videos. Your demo really communicates how the web client responds, more real world than the presentation we received from Sage.

I'm working along the lines of what I think Reginald was asking. Perhaps someone who has already got through the process would be able to comment on the following. Our group is currently using 7.0.1.

 

1. What was the impact to your operation when changing to use of a web client?
1. Did you have to re-write mods in order to have them work with the web client?
2. Was additional equipment required such as additional servers, etc.
3. Did you or your IT have to be retrained on how to manage, modify and use SLX?

                                                               i.      Are you still able to use the Architect.

                                                             ii.      Are there changes in the way mods are made in SLX?

1. Did 7.2 or 7.5 change the way users interact with SalesLogix thereby requiring you to spend time on additional training for your users. Did you gain a greater use of SalesLogix for users on the road? (remote use)
2. Are there (are you aware?) of any functions from SalesLogix which are being phased out in 7.2 or 7.5? If so and you were making use of those functions how did you adjust for them? Were the necessary functions available out of the box in the newer version or did they require additional mods?
1. If your operation stuck with use of the local client instead of the web client…
1. What benefits did you gain from moving to 7.2 or 7.5?
2. Are there any changes to the Local Client in 7.2 of 7.5?

Any thoughts from your experience are welcome!

Hi, you're welcome - glad everyone got use from them ! It does go to underline that, sometimes, it's perception rather than the actual product. I know that Chrome has been shown to be significantly faster than IE and I hope IE8 will catchup - simply because it's going to be installed by default and Chrome doesn't yet support ActiveX (which you need for M/Merge/Email etc)

Whilst I can't answer all you points some are:

1.1 Yes, you will definitely have to re-write - either from LAN or old/legacy web
1.2 Should run fine on existing but, of course, this is very much dependent on what you have !
1.3 A new Application Architect comes with web version and this is based upon a VS IDE so should be fairly easy to manage. Note: Admin etc. still exists today and is still required to administer users etc.
1.3.i - see above
1.3.ii - most definitely - AA requires a lot of experience and is new technology - totally brand new but, fairly easy to us. For example, you can install web and have it deployed in around 25 mins.
1.3.1 (?) Being a web app - it's fairly intuitive and reacts quite similarly to LAN but, also, brings in nice new features too (mashups and spark-lines, timeline etc as well as new group features)
1.3.2 Not that I'm aware of
1 - 7.2/7.5 LAN does not change significantly at all - you do, however, get attachments for activities (phone call, meetings etc) which is a great new feature
1 -2 See above

So, I guess I did really answer most of them !
Regards
Mike

 

 

Adam Travers:

I’m guessing Google Chrome isn’t supported going by Sages compatibility guide.

I just wanted to point out that it was announced at Sage Summit that Firefox will be officially supported in SLX 7.5 SP1. This is fabulous news as it means some very important things:

1. (Obviously) There will be official support for Firefox. Firefox *is* a much faster browser than IE (this is a proven fact, not just opinion). This is mainly due to is Javascript engine. For a SLX user, using Firefox will without question result in a faster and better user experience than using IE (whether IE7 or IE8 - Current version of Firefox has tested faster than beta builds of IE8, the next version of Firefox, which is not even in beta yet, has tested at almost twice as fast as current Firefox). So, the users will be much happier and they'll be using an officially supported browser (which is a better browser IMO than IE anyway)
2. The main thing keeping Firefox from being officially supported in the current SLX 7.2-7.5 versions is that the web client uses ActiveX for mail merge and e-mail integration capabilities. Firefox does not support ActiveX and never will, so SLX cannot officially support Firefox while ActiveX is in the picture in SLX. This ActiveX component is old and clunky - it is actually a remnant of the legacy (pre-7.2) web client. So, what this means, if Firefox is officially supported that we can only assume that this ActiveX requirement in SLX will be changing too to something more up to date.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know that official support is on the way for non-IE browsers allowing you to get past the slower javascript processing in IE, making a better experience in SLX web.

Hi Ryan

Sorry, can you just clarify what you said - you said Firefox will be supported in 7.5 SP1 but then go onto say that it can never be supported

Thx
Mike

Hi Mike,

In point #2 I was mentioning that it is the ActiveX requirement that is the main thing keeping Firefox from being officially supported in the current released versions (v7.2 and v7.5). It was announced at Summit that Firefox *will* be officially supported, including mail merge and e-mail integration (this was specifically stated). This could only mean that the ActiveX requirement will be done away with in SLX 7.5 SP1 since Firefox does not support ActiveX. This is awesome news since we will finally be done with the probelatic legacy component we use now for mail merge and mail integration.

-Ryan

Ah right, yes - totally agreed ! Will be a good thing.