Today marks the third beta release of CiviCRM 4.4. Congratulations to the CiviCRM community of developers; many people worked tirelessly to make this happen. If you haven't yet pitched in to help test this new version of your CRM, now is a great time.
Haven't Tried it Yet? It's Easy!
Excited to try the new features in this release? Please do! Great software requires great testers, and you can help. You don't need to be super technical, but your participation will make a huge difference.
- Download it and either do a fresh install or (better yet) upgrade a test copy of your existing database. Note that this is beta software and should not be used on production servers.
- Try to break it! Do all the things you normally do with CiviCRM, try out as much as you can think of.
- If anything doesn't seem right, please let us know on the Release Testing Forum.
What's New In CiviCRM 4.4
- Faster searching - a real timesaver when working with searches and smart groups, especially with large databases.
- Soft credits - improve soft credit tracking and include soft credit data in key contribution reports
- Flexible event name badges - design and print cool name badges for event participants including logos, custom data, QR and bar codes
- Visual selection of "credit card type" on contribute/event forms - improves the user experience when giving to your organization
- ShortCode Support for Petitions - a great new feature for CiviPetition users on Wordpress
- Better campaign tracking - campaign column and filters added to membership, participant and addtional contribution reports
» View the full list of improvements for 4.4
New Extensions for 4.4
Not all the good stuff in CiviCRM comes in the main package. There are also many extensions you can install. Here are some exciting new and updated extensions for CiviCRM 4.4. (Note that some of these extensions are not yet published on the extensions directory but will be available as part of the stable 4.4 release.)
- CiviHR - A fully-featured Human-Resources management application for charities and non-profits.
- CiviVolunteer - Recruit and manage a variety of volunteers for your events.
- Webform Payments - The popular Webform Integration module now integrates with CiviContribute, CiviMember, and paid CiviEvents.
- SEPA Direct Debit Payments - Allows CiviCRM users to setup an SDD compliant payment process for recurring and one-off direct debits.
- CiviBooking - Now organisations can manage a group of resources (i.e. rooms, equipment, etc.) offering these to constituents for a fee.
CiviCRM is free, open source software made possible through contributions from people like you. If your organization benefits from using CiviCRM and from the great new features in this release, please consider making a recurring contribution to support the project.
Compatibility
CiviCRM 4.4 is compatible with:
- Drupal 7
- Drupal 6 (community supported)
- Joomla 2.5 & 3.0
- Wordpress 3.4 and higher
New Installations
If you are installing CiviCRM 4.4 from scratch, please use the corresponding automated installer instructions:
Upgrading to 4.4
If your site is highly customized with special code or theming for CiviCRM you will want to upgrade a test copy first and test your customizations. For everyone else, follow these simple steps to get yourself up and running with 4.4.
Contributors
Community support and engagement is the force that sustains and drives CiviCRM forward. This release would not have been possible without the incredible contributions of these people and organizations:
AGH Strategies - Andrew Hunt; Backoffice Thinking; Chris Burgess; Circle Interactive - Andrew Walker, Dave Moreton; CiviDesk - Nicolas Ganivet; CiviHosting - Hershel Robinson; Community Builders; Compucorp - Jamie Novick, Erawat Chamanont; Confluence - Frank Gomez, Michael Daryabeygi; Dave D; CiviCoop - Erik Hommel; Drupal Association - Neil Drumm; Electronic Frontier Foundation - Micah Lee, Kellie Brownell; Emphanos - Allen Shaw; Fuzion NZ - Eileen McNaughton, Peter Davis, Torrance Hodgeson; Giant Rabbit- Anna Heath; Jim Meehan; JMA Consulting - Joe Murray; Keith Morgan; Ken West; Korlon - Stuart Gaston; Koumbit - Samuel Vanhove; Lighthouse Consulting and Design - Brian Shaughnessy; Mathieu Lutfy; National Democratic Institute - Chris Doten; New York State Senate - Ken Zalewski; NfP Services (MTL Software Group) - Jag Kandasamy, Rajesh Sundararajan; Niro Solutions; Noah Miller; Orgis - Hans Idink; Palante Technology Cooperative - Jon Goldberg; Progressive Tech Project - Alice Aguilar, Jamie McClelland; Paul Delbar; Registered Nurses Association of Ontario; San Francisco Baykeeper - Eliet Henderson; Tadpole - Dana Skall; Tallyfox; Tech to the People - Xavier Dutoit; Third Sector Design; Veda Consulting - Parvez Saleh; Web Access - Pradeep Nayak; Wikimedia Foundation - Adam Wight; Zing - Simon West, Andrew Tombs.
