Tweet
Hello EspoCRM Community,
I am reaching out to request professional support for a significant structural migration within our EspoCRM instance. I would like to explain our current situation in detail and ask whether anyone would be able to assist us with this project.
BACKGROUND & CURRENT SITUATION
When we initially set up our EspoCRM instance, we made the decision — which we now recognize as a mistake — to not use the standard CRM entities (Account, Contact, Lead, Opportunity). Instead, we created fully custom entities to represent our customers and projects.
Over time, this decision has caused increasing limitations. Several built-in EspoCRM features — such as native sales dashlets, standard reporting, Lead conversion workflows, B2C/B2B mode toggles, and integrations — either do not work as intended or are not available to us at all, simply because our data does not reside in the standard entity types.
OUR CURRENT SETUP
EspoCRM Version: 9.2.5
Installed Extensions: Advanced Pack, Sales Pack, Outlook Integration
We are currently running in B2C mode
We have created custom entities to replace: Account, Contact, Lead, and Opportunity
These custom entities contain custom fields, and are deeply integrated into our instance through:
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING TO ACHIEVE
We would like to migrate our data and configuration from the custom entities into the corresponding standard EspoCRM entities:
Custom "Customer (private)" entity → Contact
Custom "Customer (company)" entity (same as private) → Account + Contact
Custom "Project/Deal" entity → Opportunity
As part of this migration, we would also like to:
Update EspoCRM to the latest stable version
Disable B2C mode, as we serve a mixed customer base — predominantly private individuals (B2C), but also business clients (B2B). We want to handle private customers as Contacts without an Account, and business customers as Account + Contact combinations.
Preserve all existing custom fields by recreating them on the standard entities
Ensure that all Workflows, BPM Processes, and Flowcharts are adapted to reference the new standard entities, so that our instance behaves exactly as it does today — just built on the correct foundation
Maintain all existing relationships, data integrity, and user-facing functionality throughout the migration
Maintain all custom PDF templates/Layouts as well as E-Mail templates/layouts
OUR QUESTIONS TO YOU
Is anyone able to support through hands-on implementation support?
What would your recommended approach be for a migration of this complexity, given the deep integration of workflows and BPM processes?
What information or access would you need from us to scope this project properly?
We are aware that this is a non-trivial undertaking and we are fully prepared to invest the necessary time and resources to do it correctly. Our primary goal is to end up with a clean, standard-compliant EspoCRM setup that gives us full access to all native features going forward.
We would greatly appreciate your support and look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Philippe
I am reaching out to request professional support for a significant structural migration within our EspoCRM instance. I would like to explain our current situation in detail and ask whether anyone would be able to assist us with this project.
BACKGROUND & CURRENT SITUATION
When we initially set up our EspoCRM instance, we made the decision — which we now recognize as a mistake — to not use the standard CRM entities (Account, Contact, Lead, Opportunity). Instead, we created fully custom entities to represent our customers and projects.
Over time, this decision has caused increasing limitations. Several built-in EspoCRM features — such as native sales dashlets, standard reporting, Lead conversion workflows, B2C/B2B mode toggles, and integrations — either do not work as intended or are not available to us at all, simply because our data does not reside in the standard entity types.
OUR CURRENT SETUP
EspoCRM Version: 9.2.5
Installed Extensions: Advanced Pack, Sales Pack, Outlook Integration
We are currently running in B2C mode
We have created custom entities to replace: Account, Contact, Lead, and Opportunity
These custom entities contain custom fields, and are deeply integrated into our instance through:
- Workflows
- BPM Processes and Flowcharts
- Relationships between entities
- PDF templates and layouts
- Reports and dashboards
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING TO ACHIEVE
We would like to migrate our data and configuration from the custom entities into the corresponding standard EspoCRM entities:
Custom "Customer (private)" entity → Contact
Custom "Customer (company)" entity (same as private) → Account + Contact
Custom "Project/Deal" entity → Opportunity
As part of this migration, we would also like to:
Update EspoCRM to the latest stable version
Disable B2C mode, as we serve a mixed customer base — predominantly private individuals (B2C), but also business clients (B2B). We want to handle private customers as Contacts without an Account, and business customers as Account + Contact combinations.
Preserve all existing custom fields by recreating them on the standard entities
Ensure that all Workflows, BPM Processes, and Flowcharts are adapted to reference the new standard entities, so that our instance behaves exactly as it does today — just built on the correct foundation
Maintain all existing relationships, data integrity, and user-facing functionality throughout the migration
Maintain all custom PDF templates/Layouts as well as E-Mail templates/layouts
OUR QUESTIONS TO YOU
Is anyone able to support through hands-on implementation support?
What would your recommended approach be for a migration of this complexity, given the deep integration of workflows and BPM processes?
What information or access would you need from us to scope this project properly?
We are aware that this is a non-trivial undertaking and we are fully prepared to invest the necessary time and resources to do it correctly. Our primary goal is to end up with a clean, standard-compliant EspoCRM setup that gives us full access to all native features going forward.
We would greatly appreciate your support and look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Philippe
Comment