This is a common question I hear from my clients when a new version or release comes out. Let me answer with a couple additional questions.

Does the new Fishbowl release have a feature you “have to have”?

If it does, then it may be a good idea. Let’s check it out. The following is a list of my favorite features taken from Fishbowl’s release notes page:

https://www.fishbowlinventory.com/wiki/Release_Notes#Considerations_Before_Updating_-_2017.1

  1. MySQL database – No more firebird. This a move long awaited by many developers, report writers, and the largest companies. It’s faster and more stable. Something to seriously consider.
  2. Carton based shipping can now be marked up – This is like saying, “You can use carton based shipping now!” Who doesn’t want to automatically mark up their shipping costs …even just a little?
  3. Improvements to Sales Order and Purchase Order imports – A few releases ago Fishbowl added the ability to pull open POs and SOs from Quickbooks. Really cool. But I always hesitate with the first release of a new feature. I like to wait until it has matured and debugged little. This tells me it could really be good.
  4. 2 big Fishbowl Go improvements –
    1. Assign picks to a Fishbowl Go user – Yo! This is HUGE, especially for large volume eCommerce users picking hundreds of orders a day. Before this feature, warehouses with multiple pickers had to really coordinate or they ended up picking the same order.
    2. iOS version of Fishbowl Go! – Already, you can run it on an android. This covers the other half of the population!
  5. Multi-select and issue MOs in mass – Fishbowl’s auto MO feature can auto-create dozens or hundreds of MOs at a time. Which means you can now issue large numbers of MO’s simultaneously.. We seriously looked into developing a 3rd party software to do just this, but the API wouldn’t allow it. Very excited about this new feature.

Will it fix a nasty, painful bug?

Not all bugs are a big deal. If you’re having mounds of trouble with your current version, then check out the lists of bugs the next version is going to fix. Your bug may or may not be on the list. Don’t just update and cross your fingers. Take a careful look at this list:

https://www.fishbowlinventory.com/wiki/Release_Notes#Fixes_-_2017.1

Are you prepared to fix your custom report(s) or 3rd party software?

This version will most likely break every custom report and custom software you have connected to Fishbowl. Your developer will be able to fix it. You need to budget your time and expenses accordingly. Your programmer may want to run the new version in a sandbox environment in console mode to see detailed logging of codes and errors.

Go ahead?

If you answered “yes” to the questions above, then I would say, “Go ahead”. If you answered “no” to any of them, you may want to sit tight. If your current version is stable and there are not game changing features coming out then what’s the harm in riding it out? Generally, the most stable versions are released in the fall. Generally, the least stable versions are released in the winter.

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Do you need help testing reports and updating your Fishbowl software? Do you want help deciding when to update?

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