SugarCRM released version 7.6 about three weeks ago, and it includes a lot of updates and new features! Sugar’s release notes (here are the links for the Professional and Enterprise versions) list all of the 7.6 changes, and there is certainly a lot to look forward to.

Sugar 7.6 refines the Calls & Meetings modules, features adjustability for column width on list and subpanel views, some new options for dashlets and filters, and support for Arabic language users —including a right-to-left view.

Organizations with Enterprise and Ultimate subscriptions will gain access to several new features with the 7.6 upgrade that will not be available with Professional subscriptions. Process Author adds process management capabilities to enable automation far beyond what’s possible with the workflow engine. Administrators can easily set up distinct views and dropdown options for different users with the new role-based views and role-based dropdowns functionality. Revenue Line Items are a lot easier to use, because you can create Opportunities and Revenue Line Items at the same time on a single screen (except during the lead conversion process). There is also a new administrator option to turn off Revenue Line Items for organizations that don’t want to use that functionality.

Sugar 7.6 expands version 7 availability for new installations using IIS, MYSQL, and DB2. Once upgrade support is added for these versions, presumably in version 7.7, Sugar 7 will truly be available to all customers.

Looking for more information about version 7.6? I’ll be publishing additional blog posts in the coming weeks about specific new features. If you don’t want to wait that long, or prefer listening to reading, Justin and I have also recorded a podcast episode all about 7.6. Finally, Sugar University has a free one-hour webinar about 7.6 on July 30 as part of its “Hot Topics” webinar series.