gtmjosh

Interactive guide

Define What Your CRM Data Means

Your CRM can contain the right records and still give different teams different answers. CRM data governance starts by making the definitions underneath the system explicit: what each record represents, how people and companies move through a relationship, what evidence moves a deal, who owns a handoff, and which fields a report can trust.

You will build a Business Truth Map: one reviewable artifact connecting records, lifecycles, stages, handoffs, milestone dates, field meaning, and unresolved decisions. The lab saves your progress in your browser.

Your case

Follow Priya and Acme from first touch to renewal.

You are the operator responsible for making every record, report, and handoff answer the same business question. Each chapter adds one reviewable part of the map.

Business truth mapAcme workspace
Person record01

Priya Shah

Lifecycle
Engaged
Source
Walkthrough request
Account record02

Acme Manufacturing

Lifecycle
Prospect
Authority
CRM + governed rule
Opportunity record04

Acme — New business

Stage
Discovery in progress
Evidence
Solution review pending
Qualification work03

Sales review

Status
Awaiting acceptance
Owner
Morgan Lee
One business, four records, and the relationships that make the system reportable.

Start with a broken answer

One Business, Four Kinds of Records

Chapter 1 of 9 · 10 min

Start guide →

The learning path

One person and one company run through the whole guide. Priya Shah at Acme Manufacturing, followed from the form fill to the renewal, because a definition argument is far easier to settle against a record than in the abstract.

The records and how they move

  1. 01One Business, Four Kinds of RecordsMap people, companies, transactions, and qualification work without flattening them into one status.~10 min · exercise
  2. 02Define Leads and ContactsChoose the person-record model and preserve identity, matching, conversion, and reporting history.~12 min · exercise
  3. 03Build the Person LifecycleDefine relationship stages while keeping consent, fit, employment, work, and ownership separate.~15 min · exercise
  4. 04Define Opportunity StagesCreate a transaction and advance it only when the stage evidence exists.~12 min · exercise
  5. 05Build the Account LifecycleExercise: build an Account lifecycle for a worked example, choosing the evidence that moves a company between stages.~10 min · exercise

Ownership, fields, and disagreement

  1. 06Assign Owners and HandoffsBuild acceptance, rejection, overdue, and exception paths with one accountable owner.~12 min · exercise
  2. 07Define Important Fields and SourcesRepair a misleading report by choosing the field—and the business event—that answers its question.~12 min · exercise
  3. 08Resolve Conflicts and Open QuestionsTurn stakeholder disagreement into an approved decision or a safe temporary rule.~12 min · exercise
  4. 09Capstone: Publish the Business Truth MapRun a fresh end-to-end trace, inspect ten validation checks, and create the approval record.~15 min · exercise