Case Studies / Custom ERP · Training centre
Case study · 01

From a collapsing Notion
to a custom ERP — running €500k a month.

A training centre with ~60 employees was running on Notion, one large Excel, and a stack of disconnected programs. Manual hand-offs everywhere; errors compounding. We shipped an MVP in 2 months — then turned it into a full ERP over the following year. Monthly revenue grew from €130k to €500k. The only new hires were sales agents.

project · metaG-2024-018
SECTORVocational training
SCALE~ 60 employees
ENGAGEMENT14 months · build + operate
TEAM2–4 senior
STATUS▸ live · year 2
case · headline metrics
verified · NDA-bound figures
K · 01 / Monthly revenue+285%
€130k €500k
+€370k / month · 12 months post-MVP
K · 02 / Sales agent throughput+300%
faster
per-agent throughput · before vs after Chrome extension
K · 03 / Non-sales hires added
0across admin, ops, finance
only sales agents added · 3.8× revenue absorbed by automation
K · 04 / Operating systems
8+ 1
Notion · Excel · disparate programs → single ERP
K · 05 / Time-to-impact
2mo · MVP·12mo · full ERP
stabilised in week 8 · feature-complete in month 12
Source · client finance + ERP audit logsComparison window · pre-MVP vs month 14
↳ Figures are real, NDA-bound. Sector and identifying detail anonymised throughout.
§ 01 / The problem

The operation was
collapsing under its own success.

Sixty employees, a working business, and a backbone made of one giant Excel and a Notion workspace that no one could fully read anymore. Every new contract touched 4–5 different programs, by hand.

stack · before▸ collapsing
Notion · ops wikiOne master ExcelGeneric CRMStandalone VOIPLocal accounting SWCarrier portals × 2Word · diplomas by handEmail-driven internships
↳ 8+ tools · no shared identity layer · zero source of truth · all human-bridged
P · 01

One Excel held everything together

The master spreadsheet was the de-facto database. Two people knew its structure. Anyone could break it.

P · 02

Manual hand-offs across 8+ tools

Sales would close a deal, then admin retyped it into accounting, shipping, and the diploma template. Each step a possible error.

P · 03

Compounding error rate

Misspelt names on diplomas. Wrong VAT on invoices. Missed internship deadlines. Reconciliation became a weekly fire-fight.

P · 04

Growth was capped by paperwork

Adding sales agents added admin work proportionally. The business couldn't grow without growing the back-office — until it could.

§ 02 / The solution

Two phases.
One ERP.
No big-bang.

We didn't propose a 12-month silent build with a single cutover. Instead, a working MVP at week 8 absorbing the most painful parts of the operation, then nine months of modules layered on top — each one adopted by one team before the next shipped. Operations never stopped.
Phase 01 / Stabilise

MVP — 2 months

▸ live · week 8

The MVP replaced the Excel and the most error-prone hand-offs first. Phase one wasn't about feature completeness — it was about stopping the daily bleeding.

01
Unified contact & contract layer — the master Excel retired.
02
Sales pipeline + custom CRM — designed around the training-centre offer ladder.
03
Document generation — quotes, contracts, invoices generated from data, not Word.
04
Role-based access — sales, admin, finance, training each saw their own surface.
OUTCOME → master Excel retired by week 8 · adoption: 100% of sales staff
Phase 02 / Scale

Full ERP — 12 months

▸ feature-complete · M12

On top of the MVP, nine modules over ten months. Each shipped behind a feature flag, rolled out to one team, refined, then opened to the rest.

Custom CRMVOIP integrationShipping managementAccountingIncentives engineDocument generationDiploma generationInternship managementLightweight LMS — integrated
OUTCOME → 8+ external tools retired · single ERP runs the operation end-to-end
↪ The 4× lever · sales acceleration

A custom Chrome extension tailored to the centre's product range — and the offers running this week.

The extension lives next to the agent's call window. It surfaces the right course, the right discount, the right add-on for the prospect on the line — pre-filled, one-click into the ERP. It's the single biggest reason sales agents now work 4× faster.

extension · sales pane
▸ live
CALLER+34 612 ··· lead #4 821
SEGMENThealthcare · entry-level
SUGGESTEDCFGS · €1,890 · −15% Q3
UPSELLInternship add-on · +€240
One-click → contract + invoice in ERP
§ 03 / The results

Revenue almost 4×.
Back-office unchanged.

Adding sales agents to the front line was the only headcount change. Admin, ops, finance, and training stayed at their original size — the ERP absorbed the growth.

R · 01

Monthly revenue · €130k → €500k

3.8× growth in twelve months. Same offer, same sector — different operating leverage.

+285%
R · 02

Sales agent throughput · 4×

Driven by the Chrome extension and one-click contract → invoice flow. Agents stopped switching tools mid-call.

4×
R · 03

Non-sales hires · 0 added

Admin, ops, finance, training — all unchanged. 3.8× revenue absorbed entirely by the ERP.

0
R · 04

Manual error rate · ↓ ~ 92%

Diplomas, invoices, and internship paperwork flow from one source of truth. Reconciliation is a 15-min weekly review.

−92%
R · 05

Operating stack · 8+ → 1

Notion, Excel, generic CRM, VOIP, accounting, carrier portals, Word templates — all retired into one ERP.

1 ERP
"We had two choices: hire three more administrators, or stop selling.
Giroteam gave us a third one — and we didn't have to think about systems again for a year."
Founder & Managing Director
vocational training centre · NDA-bound
§ 04 / What we shipped

The full systems
inventory.

Each module is a first-class part of the ERP — sharing one identity model, one audit trail, one deployment pipeline. Nothing here is glued together with webhooks.

T · 01
ERP core
custom
Identity, contracts, billing, audit. The spine every module hangs off.
T · 02
Custom CRM
custom
Designed around the centre's offer ladder — courses, diplomas, internships, upsells.
T · 03
VOIP integration
integrated
Click-to-call, recorded calls indexed against contacts, lead routing by queue.
T · 04
Shipping management
integrated
Carriers behind a single adapter. Label printing & tracking inline with orders.
T · 05
Accounting
custom
Invoices generated from contracts. Payment reconciliation, tax, and audit trails native.
T · 06
Incentives engine
custom
Sales commission rules — versioned, auditable, agent-visible in real time.
T · 07
Document generation
custom
Quotes, contracts, invoices rendered from data into the centre's templates.
T · 08
Diploma generation
custom
Auto-issued on course completion. Signed PDF, registry entry, student email.
T · 09
Internship management
custom
Partner companies, student matching, evaluations, regulatory paperwork.
T · 10
Lightweight LMS
custom
Course delivery, progress tracking, attestations — tied to enrolment in the ERP.
T · 11
Sales Chrome extension
custom · accelerator
Live offer surfacing, prospect context, one-click into ERP. The 4× lever.

↪ Eleven modules, one codebase, one deployment. Replacing it tomorrow would mean replacing the operation.

§ 05 / The arc

14 months,
end to end.

M · 00–02

Diagnose & build MVP

Two-week audit. Build kicks off week 3. MVP live by week 8 — Excel retired.

M · 03–05

CRM, VOIP, accounting

Generic CRM and accounting tool retired. Click-to-call inside the ERP.

M · 06–08

Shipping & incentives

Carrier integration. Commission engine ships with full audit trail.

M · 09–11

LMS, diplomas, internships

Education-side modules. Diploma issuance fully automated.

M · 12–14

Chrome extension & tuning

The 4× sales lever ships. Hand-off, runbooks, internal training.

Currently accepting Q3 engagements

Scaling without
scaling the back-office?

If your operation is growing on Notion, Excel, and willpower — there's a more durable shape it could take. We design and build custom ERPs for businesses ready to consolidate without losing velocity.