Food distribution · CRM + ERP transformation

Connecting operations for a growing food business

A connected operating model bringing customer work, ERP processes, lightweight apps, and reporting closer together.

Project story

The project was not about adding another application. It was about helping a growing food business see the same operation from import to delivery.

The setting

A Calgary-based food import, repackaging, and distribution business operated across distribution centers in Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto. The operation connected procurement, warehouses, sales, customer service, finance, and management across many SKUs, suppliers, channels, batches, and shelf-life constraints.

Why now

A third-party legacy ERP and a growing collection of Excel workbooks made it difficult to keep inventory, procurement, repackaging, sales, and reporting aligned across locations.

The tension

The business needed a more connected operating model without losing the practical detail of food operations: units of measure, expiry, batches, import costs, intercompany movement, and the exceptions that appear on a warehouse floor.

People in the system

Every project has more than one point of view.

Perspective

Procurement and import teams

A reliable view of what was ordered, where it was in transit, what it would cost, and when it could be received.

Perspective

Warehouse and quality teams

Control over batches, expiry, repackaging, damaged goods, stock movement, and what could safely be shipped.

Perspective

Sales and customer service

A current view of availability, customer commitments, deliveries, and the reason behind an exception.

Perspective

Finance and leadership

Numbers they could reconcile across inventory, cost, orders, and operational performance rather than rebuild in separate spreadsheets.

The journey

How the work moved from problem to practice.

01
Map the chain, not just the screens
The work followed the business chain from overseas purchase and goods in transit through receiving, batch control, repackaging, inventory, sales, delivery, and reporting.
02
Give each system a job
The solution brought Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations, customer operations, lightweight apps, and reporting closer together while keeping ownership of each record and decision visible.
03
Make exceptions part of the design
Near-expiry stock, damaged goods, unit conversion, late import charges, intercompany movement, and mismatched balances were treated as normal operating stories to be controlled, not edge cases to ignore.
04
Rehearse the operation with the people who run it
Validation and UAT connected process owners from procurement, warehouse, sales, customer service, finance, and management to the new way of working before release.

Decisions that shaped it

The turning points were business decisions as much as system decisions.

Decision

Use the operational system as the source of truth

Inventory, procurement, fulfillment, and financial movement needed a shared backbone. Reporting could explain the business, but it could not become a second unofficial inventory system.

Decision

Prefer traceability over manual correction

Batch, expiry, repackaging, and scrap decisions needed a visible chain from input to output so a person could explain what happened later.

Decision

Design for the exception queue

When data, cost, stock, or an order did not reconcile, the better answer was to show the exception, its owner, and its next action rather than hide the discrepancy in another spreadsheet.

Ways to read the work

The same project can reveal different kinds of value.

Business lens

One operating picture

The value was giving different teams a shared view of the business while respecting the realities of perishable products, multiple locations, and multiple channels.

Delivery lens

Translate handoffs into working journeys

The project moved through discovery, fit-gap, requirements, configuration, migration, testing, UAT, training, and cutover around the way work actually moved between teams.

Systems lens

Connect detail without losing control

The design connected CRM, ERP, apps, data, and reporting while keeping data ownership, reconciliation, traceability, and exception handling explicit.

What changed

Outcomes are easier to trust when the evidence is visible.

Operating scale

Three distribution centers, approximately 300 users, 2,000+ SKUs, roughly 800–1,000 suppliers, and approximately 2,000 daily orders created a real coordination problem rather than a single-department software exercise.

Process evidence

The story connects import, landed cost, inventory, batch and expiry, repackaging, order fulfillment, customer relationships, finance, and reporting.

Business outcome

Less manual entry, clearer stock visibility, faster forecasting, and more time for sales teams to focus on important grocery and hospitality relationships.

Reflection

A connected business system earns its place when a warehouse, a salesperson, and a finance manager can look at the same event and make a better next decision.

Project notes

Details behind the story.

I helped shape the future operating model across customer relationships, inventory, replenishment, and management visibility. The goal was not to add another tool, but to give sales, operations, and leadership a more shared view of the business.

Connecting operations for a growing food business

The project was not about adding another application. It was about helping a growing food business see the same operation from import to delivery.

Every project has more than one point of view.

Procurement and import teams

Warehouse and quality teams

Sales and customer service

Finance and leadership

How the work moved from problem to practice.

Map the chain, not just the screens

Give each system a job

Make exceptions part of the design

Rehearse the operation with the people who run it

The turning points were business decisions as much as system decisions.

Use the operational system as the source of truth

Prefer traceability over manual correction

Design for the exception queue

The same project can reveal different kinds of value.

One operating picture

Translate handoffs into working journeys

Connect detail without losing control

Outcomes are easier to trust when the evidence is visible.

Details behind the story.