Are there too many feature requests?

[apollo1]

Do you think people are submitting too many feature requests? I think it is useful to request new features and I do like some of the requests, but it sure seems like a lot are coming in. Sometimes it gets a little tiring viewing the new posts when all you see is mostly feature requests.

 

While we're on the topic, what are the chances of a future version of WHMCS allowing me to log into my bank account and pay my bills?!

[Gears]

While we're on the topic, what are the chances of a future version of WHMCS allowing me to log into my bank account and pay my bills?!

 

I voted Yes but I wish I could take it back. The amount of feature requests just shows how good this product is and how active the community is. I'm sure Matt has some sort of system to manage these feature requests, such as prioritizing the most commented feature requests. I believe the more feature requests the better! There is no promise to us that these feature requests will all be implemented, but I bet if we all really want a particular thing created then Matt would put it on top of the list.

[Zorro67]

No i don't think there are.

 

however, I've noticed (and have been guilty of myself) that there are a lot of feature requests for functionality that already exists, by users that are unaware of that functionality.

 

one possible cause of this is a gap in the level of documentation between info in the forum & the wiki - another is that many people either don't search, or don't get the answer they want within the forum search. Hence the large number of 'similar' posts.

 

So a better search functionality could help. (perhaps something like 'intelligent search' that is used in the actual product. )

 

I know I've made a number of FR, a couple of which have been accpeted, some not, but most - I have no idea whether they are even in the works. (yes I know about the dev tracker)

 

So perhaps create a child forum called "under consideration" that has good ideas moved into it - no posting of new threads, just comments on that FR. And no commitment to time, just that it is being considered.

That way, Matt et al can get a real picture of the value of an idea.

[AndrewMKP]

I have to concur with Zorro on this one, we all submit feature requests and I would say they all have relevance to some extent, the difference is that is the feature request for YOUR company or is it for the software as a whole? You need to ask yourself this question. If it is for your own business then you need a custom coder however if you truely believe it would benefit the WHMCS system for ALL users then post it up.

 

Zorro: Yeah I would like better visibilty of where feature requests are taken, yeah the Dev tracker is there but once it is there no one has any chance to make opinions on it or help throw ideas in, I think utilising the forums more with a child category would help the WHMCS team as the community can come up with the ideas rather than go on a 'yeah thats fine and set in stone' type approach that I feel is currently being taken, if the community had time to discuss and expand on some features people would not need to post so many feature requests as it would already be included. A good example of this is the Quote feature!

 

The only issue with creating a child forum is that you would need to properly administrate it but I would be willing to help out as I am sure many others would, many of us are advanced with vBulletin and probably more than willing to assist if it helps the product develop.

 

WHMCS Team: You have a excellent community here, I think once you have read the above statement utilising the community and their inputs more would benifit you guys when developing and you wouldn't have to release so many updates because all issues would be ironed out and ideas would not be missed, not to say you guys are bad, but we all overlook parts, its always the best option to have a fresh input and view on it rather than from simply a development point of view, this would save you having to come back and work on it again!!

 

All of my above points would basically reduce the feature requests and the ammount of them that are here. I think having a input on the 'soon to be implemented' features that are in the Dev tracker is a must, I mean come on, its only logical to save yourself work and brainstorming when you have hundreds of people here who will do it for free!!

 

(Wait did I just sell myself and others out? lol)

 

Either way I think it needs to be taken into account and re looked at, thanks for Zorro for inspiring my opinionated views on the matter all complaints please forward to him (kidding)

 

Cheers,

 

Andrew.

[openmind]

I answered no. As a developer of commercial software myself, about 80% of the new features in the last release were direct suggestions from users.

 

WHMCS is a very solid product and the best way to grow the functionality is based on what users actually want/need.