Custom software · Legacy data transition · Manufacturing
A new CRM.The customer relationships that matter, carried forward.
IMSKC helped an established equipment manufacturer transition to a custom CRM built around its sales workflows—with the relationships between customer records at the center of the project.
- Mapped for transition
- Legacy dataMapped for transition
- Built around sales
- Custom workflowsBuilt around sales
- Companies, locations & contacts
- Connected recordsCompanies, locations & contacts
The challenge
Moving the data without losing how the business works.
For this manufacturer, customer information is more than a list of names and phone numbers. Salespeople work with companies, their individual locations, the people associated with those locations, and the history of those relationships.
Billing, shipping, and purchasing relationships also need to remain distinct. A corporate contact serves a different purpose from a contact at an individual location. When records are consolidated or a location changes companies, those connections need to move with it.
Replacing the existing CRM therefore required careful attention to both the data and the way employees use it. The new platform needed to carry existing information into a cloud-accessible environment while supporting familiar sales workflows and more flexible account management.
The central requirement: keep customer information connected, understandable, and useful throughout the transition.
Project at a glance
- Client
- An established equipment manufacturer with an international distributor network
- Platform
- Custom sales CRM
- Data transition
- Customers, companies, locations, contacts, notes, and related records
- Workflow complexity
- Corporate contacts, company merging, and distinct Bill To, Ship To, and Sold To relationships
- Delivery approach
- Data mapping, prototyping, staged development, and production data validation
The client sells through an international distributor network, so its customer records reflect companies, locations, and people across many relationships.
Starting with the data foundation
Map. Prepare. Validate.
IMSKC began with extensive data mapping and working sessions with the client’s technical contact, focused on understanding the existing database and how its records should connect within the replacement platform.
- 01
Map
Records and their relationships
Identify where existing fields belong in the new system, including customers, companies, locations, contacts, notes, and related information.
This establishes the structure behind the screens: which records belong together, how users reach them, and what must remain linked when information changes.
- 02
Prepare
The new database
Define the tables, relationships, and indexes needed by the custom CRM. Adapt existing structures to the new design, normalize and transform information where needed, and resolve discrepancies that could affect functionality or reporting.
Prepare the import and validation processes alongside that work.
- 03
Validate
Production validation complete
The final import checked record counts, relationships, and critical business information. Quality assurance verified that the imported information is accessible and works correctly in the platform, with migration issues addressed before launch.
A matching record count is only part of the check. A contact also needs to appear under the correct location; that location needs to belong to the correct company; and the relevant information needs to be available in the workflow where the salesperson expects it.
Workflow capabilities
A custom platform shaped around real account relationships.
The design preserves the team’s customer-to-location-to-contact workflow while adding a master company structure as a shared source of company information. Company-level and customer-oriented views are intended to work from the same underlying information.
That approach gives the team a familiar way to navigate accounts while supporting the more complex changes that happen over time.
Business needConsolidate company records
Functionality developedMerge one company into another, transferring its locations and location-associated contacts.
Business needMaintain distinct account relationships
Functionality developedView, create, edit, delete, and transfer Bill To, Ship To, and Sold To locations.
Business needManage company-level contacts
Functionality developedMaintain corporate contacts directly within Company View.
Business needFind the right people in context
Functionality developedDisplay location-specific contacts and retain customer and location selections when switching contact views.
Business needKeep customer information current
Functionality developedEdit profiles, locations, contacts, notes, and marketing preferences.
Business needCatch incomplete or inconsistent entries
Functionality developedApply required-field, contact, and location-relationship checks with clear error messages.
These capabilities were reported as developed and validated; broader user testing remains part of the delivery process.
In practice
What that looks like in practice.
Consider a location that needs to move from one company to another. In this CRM, reassignment is an explicit workflow. Users can transfer the relevant location instead of treating it as a disconnected address entry.
Company consolidation has its own workflow too. When one company is merged into another, the developed merge functionality transfers the source company’s locations and their associated contacts to the destination company.
Testing must then confirm that those relationships remain correct and that the updated company information displays accurately. The platform must preserve relationships during the initial transition and support maintaining them afterward.
Illustrative workflow · Company merge
Source company
Company A
Location 1 · Ship To
- Contact 1
- Contact 2
Location 2 · Bill To
- Contact 3
Destination company
Company B
Location 3 · Sold To
- Contact 4
Before merge.
The sales experience
Familiar to the team. Built for their requirements.
The interface is designed around the sales team’s daily activities: finding accounts, moving between related records, maintaining contacts, and recording interactions.
The broader scope includes dynamic search and filtering across customers, companies, locations, and contacts; reusable saved searches; inline editing; and notes with follow-up dates, assigned salespeople, and priority levels. A single-screen layout and navigation between customer, location, and company views are intended to keep that work connected.
Delivery progress
Progress grounded in working software.
Developed functionality
Development included company merging, location transfers across all three relationship types, corporate contact management, and improved data-entry checks, alongside profile views, notes, contact navigation, permissions, and account settings.
- Company merging
- Location transfers across Bill To, Ship To, and Sold To
- Corporate contact management
- Improved data-entry checks
- Profile views, notes, and contact navigation
- Permissions and account settings
Testing completed
User acceptance testing gave the sales team an opportunity to work through real business tasks, identify gaps, and confirm that the platform supports the agreed workflows.
- Representative customer, company, location, and contact scenarios
- Structured testing preparation
- User acceptance testing with the sales team
Looking ahead
Built to evolve with the business.
These additional requests have been captured for evaluation beyond the initial build. Their scope depends on agreed business rules and available source data.
This creates a clear distinction between the core CRM the team needs first and the enhancements that can follow. The project’s value is in the combined approach: understanding the legacy data, preserving its business relationships, and building software around how the team actually works.
- Personalized sales call lists
- Reminders
- Sales or shipment visibility
Ready to move beyond your current CRM?
Your customer history and workflows should help shape what comes next. IMSKC can help you understand the data, plan the transition, and build a platform around the way your business operates.
Let’s talk about your CRM project