We have spent the past couple months evaluating the future of Active Cases and how it fits with our future development plans. Our initial plan was to replace Active Cases with Active CRM. After reviewing the other help desk, project management and task tracking modules, we concluded that there is a demand for a module that can perform these tasks in a stable, flexible and easy-to-use manner. Over the past year we have tried to push the limits of AJAX and browser capabilities. Active CRM was our first product to really showcase some of our new features and has one of the most robust user interfaces that you will find in a browser based application. However, Active CRM uses third-party components to handle main navigation and all AJAX callbacks. Packaging third-party components with a DotNetNuke module is problematic, plus I really don't like some of the controls we are using.
Long story short, we have created our own set of controls that are lighter and faster than any other third-party control we have used. Active Forums was one of the first large modules to support multiple views and provide an very organized control panel. As a matter of fact, I know of two modules that copied our control panel. We have always received compliments on the user interface aspects of Active Forums. Now it's time for us to push the limits and surprise everyone again. Active Purchase and Active Cases will be our first modules to leverage our new controls and module framework.
Active Cases 3.0 is scheduled to be released the first week of November. We have reviewed all of the feedback we have received over the past 2 years, positive and negative. We have looked at all the support issues for Active Cases and determined common problems. We have evaluated the user interface, including setup and administration. Active Cases 3.0 will be a completely new module that can handle much more than basic help desk operations. Did I mention it will also integrate with Active Purchase for paid support agreements?
John will be keeping you up-to-date on the progress and final feature set.