Summary

The client company is a newly established 9-person consulting firm specializing in engineering consulting services, primarily for government contracts, with a focus on optimizing data systems for cost efficiency and performance. The firm is led by a Chief Technology Officer with extensive experience in the Air Force and a CEO handling HR, project management, and finance. They aim to expand their services into the commercial sector while leveraging their expertise in model-based system engineering and resource optimization. The action plan involves implementing a tailored Zoho setup to streamline operations, enhance client engagement, and support their growth ambitions.

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Zoho Action Plan

Support and Help Desk Management

• Customer support person will manage client tickets through multiple channels
  
  • Clients will submit tickets via email to support@nexusde.com
  • Clients will submit tickets through Zoho Desk portal
    
    • Brockbank Consulting will enable the Zoho Desk portal and send training form Zoho Desk masterclass to client team on how to use it
  • Zoho will automatically create tickets from email submissions
• Support person will route help desk tickets to Zoho Sprints backlog as action items
  
  • Brockbank Consulting will create workflow to automatically add Zoho Desk tickets to Zoho Sprints (the Zoho Desk ID must end up on both the Zoho Sprints task and Zoho Projects task for proper association and tracking) 
    
    • Brockbank Consulting will configure an integration where a completed task in Zoho Sprints should update the Zoho Desk ticket to close, and a “in progress” task in Zoho Prints should update the Zoho Desk ticket to in progress. Brockbank Consulting will also create a notification for the sprints epic owner to let them know a task has been added by their client
      
      • NOTE: Zoho Desk ticket updates shouldn’t need to update Zoho Sprints tasks
    • Brockbank Consulting should look to see if the Zoho One unified portal is going to work here for Zoho Desk, Books, Projects/Sprints, CRM
      
      • NOTE: this was just released, so by the time this action item is relevant, we should seek to consolidate for the client so they don’t have too many portals to log into, however Zoho Projects portal should be the primary portal until the unified Zoho One client portal  becomes a viable option
• Support person will maintain help center with methodology documentation
  
  • Support person will create self-service articles to reduce ticket volume
  • Brockbank Consulting will configure Zoho Desk AI answer bot for automated responses
• Brockbank Consulting will set up executive dashboard (old ZBlitz dashboard) for customer journey tracking

Training Delivery

• Training coordinator will deliver client training through LMS platform
  
  • Nexus will provide online training courses for custom methodology
  • Nexus will provide on-premise system access for hands-on learning
  • NOTES: Training must be delivered within 3 weeks (from action plan readout) for current UDRI contract
• Training coordinator will manage client access to training portal
  
  • Brockbank Consulting will help client evaluate  Zoho Trainer Central vs Teachable for external LMS
  • NOTE: Tom mentioned that they are going with Zoho Learn with external users as first attempt at providing training for client, later they will look into another solution if needed
• Training coordinator will track client training progress and certifications
  
  • Training coordinator will manage CUI (Controlled Unclassified Information) certification requirements
  • NOTES: Government contracts require specific training certifications for data handling

Tax Preparation and Bookkeeping

• Bookkeeper will access Zoho Books for tax preparation and reconciliation
  
  • Brockbank Consulting will provide bookkeeper access without additional licensing cost
    
    • Brockbank Consulting will send Zoho Books full tutorial (from YouTube) to client team
  • Bookkeeper will reconcile bank transactions for cash-based accounting
  • NOTES: High priority for upcoming tax season, using cash-based vs accrual accounting

Invoicing and Financial Management

• Accounting person will generate invoices from timesheet data
  
  • Brockbank Consulting will integrate Zoho Sprints timesheets with Zoho Projects for Zoho Books invoicing
    
    • Brockbank Consulting will create a training on how to do this and add it to Zoho Learn and send training to client team
  • Accounting person will invoice clients based on time and materials or fixed deliverables
• Accounting person will process client payments in Zoho Books
  
  • Zoho will automatically update invoice stages when payments are received
  • Accounting person will track income from multiple contract types

HR and Employee Management

• HR person will manage employee information in Zoho People
  
  • Brockbank Consulting will connect Zoho People with Zoho Projects for resource allocation
  • Brockbank Consulting will create a training for client team on how to run payroll from Zoho People based on Zoho Projects timesheets
  • Employees will submit leave requests through Zoho People portal
  • NOTES: Current team includes 2 founders, 2 part-time intern children, 3 full-time employees, 2 part-time employees

Payroll and Time Tracking

• Payroll administrator will process employee compensation from timesheet data
  
  • Brockbank Consulting will integrate Zoho Projects  timesheets with Zoho People and then Zoho People with Zoho  Payroll (There is no direct sync from Projects/Sprints and Zoho Payroll)

• • Employees will log time in Zoho Sprints for both client billing and payroll
  • NOTES: This is the highest priority requirement for immediate implementation

Lead Generation and Initial Contact

• Tom  will generate leads through tech conferences and events (primary channel)
  
  • Brockbank Consulting will set up Zoho CRM to capture leads from conferences
  • Nexus will submit papers to conferences like INCOSE (Japan) and SYSCON for speaking opportunities
  • Nexus will rent booth space at conferences as alternative lead generation method
  • Nexus will use published papers and journals to establish credibility and attract prospects
• Sales person will add conference leads directly into Zoho CRM mobile app during events
  
  • Brockbank Consulting will provide training for client team on  Zoho CRM mobile app for easy lead entry at conferences
• Sales person  will send assessment form to leads for data collection before initial discovery
  
  • Brockbank Consulting will create assessment form to qualify leads and prepare for consultation (example questions below (client can feel free to  modify)) 
    
    • Company name
    • Primary contact name
    • Primary contact role/title
    • Primary contact email
    • Organization size (number of employees)
    • Industry
    • Brief description of your products/services
    • Describe your current data system / data center environment
    • Are you primarily on‑prem, cloud, or hybrid?
    • Which cloud provider(s) do you use (AWS, Azure, GCP, other)?
    • Do you own any on‑prem data centers or major hardware? Briefly describe
    • What prompted you to look for outside help right now?
    • What are your top three objectives for this engagement? (cost, performance, reliability, scalability, security/compliance, other)
    • How are cost overruns or performance issues currently affecting your business?
    • Is this engagement for a new system, optimization of an existing system, or a migration/re‑architecture?
    • Briefly describe the systems/applications in scope (names, functions, criticality)
    • What is your expected timeline for making decisions/starting work?
    • Approximate data volume today and growth rate (if known)
    • Main workload types (transactional, analytics, AI/ML, streaming, etc.)
    • Any special regulatory or security requirements (e.g., DoD, CUI, GDPR)?
    • How are you currently tracking cloud and/or data center costs?
    • What monitoring/observability tools do you use today (if any)?
    • Do you have existing models or documentation of your current architecture?
  • Brockbank Consulting  will configure Zoho to send  an assessment form via email  from a lead record
    
    • NOTE: we will need to integrate the assessment form with the lead modules (bottom left corner) then integrate the lead id with that form so that the submission updates the correct modules
      
      • We should also include a lead notification upon submission to the lead owner

Initial Consultation and Discovery

• Sales person will conduct 1-hour free consultation with qualified leads
  
  • Nexus will determine if prospect has new system requirements or existing system optimization needs
  • Nexus will identify prospect’s primary objectives (cost savings, performance, security, compliance)
  • Nexus will assess whether prospect is on-premise, cloud, or hybrid infrastructure and more
• Sales person will create discovery notes in Granola and add it to a Zoho CRM field after each consultation
  
  • Brockbank Consulting can create a training video on where to sign up for Granola, and how to use it for consultations
• Sales person will determine appropriate engagement model during consultation
  
  • NOTES: Multiple engagement models available - time and materials, fixed deliverables, performance-based (percentage of savings), or white-label partnership
• Sales person will convert the lead to a deal if the prospect is qualified after the initial consultation. 
  
  • Brockbank Consulting team can send client team a video on how to do the conversion properly and add this as an SOP to Zoho Learn

Proposal Development and Contract Signing

• Sales person will create proposals based on discovery findings
  
  • Nexus will offer fixed-price deliverables for most engagements
  • Nexus will offer time and materials billing for complex or undefined scope projects
  • Nexus will offer performance-based pricing taking percentage of client’s cost savings
• Administrative person will send contracts and proposals through Zoho CRM/Zoho Sign
  
  • Brockbank Consulting will set up a document templates in Zoho CRM mail merge
    
    • NOTE: this should come from old Zblitz, its should also  include Zoho Sign fields, we should also send their team a video going over the zoho crm deal to mail merge to Zoho sign flow
  • Brockbank Consulting will integrate Zoho CRM deals with Zoho Books so invoices can be created from the deals module easily
    
    • Brockbank Consulting will create a video on how to do this correctly and add it as an SOP

Project Delivery and Management

• Project manager will convert deliverables into work breakdown structure
  
  • Project manager will create epics, stories, and tasks in Zoho Sprints backlog
    
    • Brockbank Consulting will integrate Zoho Projects with Zoho CRM (keep in mind Tom has already integrate Zoho Projects and Sprints, so they just need to click this checkbox in order to create the Project from the deal in both projects/sprints)
      
      • NOTE: make a video on how to do this properly and add the SOP to Zoho Learn

• • Project manager will set up Gantt charts in Zoho Projects for timeline visibility for Clients
• Project manager will provide client access to unified client portal
  
  • Brockbank Consulting will integrate Zoho Projects with Zoho Books to enable billing from Zoho Projects/Sprints
    
    • Hour logs should sync into Zoho Projects
      
      • https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/zoho-sprints/marketplace/zoho-apps/articles/zoho-projects-integration-zs#Log_hours_sync
    • Brockbank Consulting will create a training video on how to bill hours from Zoho Projects to Zoho Books and send this to Tom (critical action item) 
  • Brockbank Consulting will provide training on how to send clients invites to the Zoho Projects/Sprints client portal
  • Client will view project progress through Zoho Projects portal
  • Client will access timesheets and status updates in real-time
    
    • Brockbank Consulting will create a training video on how to configure client user permissions so they can see what’s relevant to their role
  • NOTES: Unified portal includes Books, Expense, Social, Inventory, and Billing apps
• Project manager will conduct weekly client meetings for iterative feedback
  
  • Project manager will update project status based on client feedback
  • Team members will log time in Zoho Sprints for accurate billing

• Dashboard
  

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CRM Stage Configuration

Lead Stages

• Marketing Ready: New lead added to the system
• Sales Ready: Scheduled: 1-hour free consultation booked
  
  • Convert
• Rejected: Junk Lead
• Recycled: Not qualified, receive marketing drip campaigns (we can prioritize this later)

Deal Stages

• Discovery Phase: Stakeholder requirements gathering in progress
• Proposal: Creating Proposal
• Closed Won: Proposal Signed
  
  • NOTE: Onboarding -  Create deal/sprint from Zoho CRM deal
• Closed Lost: Deal Lost

Additional Requirements

Expense Management

• Administrative person will manage expense reporting and reimbursements
  
  • Employees will submit expenses through Zoho Books with receipt attachments
  • Manager will approve expense reports with two-person approval workflow
  • Zoho will integrate approved expenses with Zoho Books for financial reporting
  • NOTES: Credit cards and bank accounts already connected to Zoho Books

Internal Training and Knowledge Management

• Training administrator will manage internal SOPs in Zoho Learn
  
  • Training administrator will maintain CUI certification training courses
  • Training administrator will create user manuals and system documentation
  • Training administrator will implement “How to Create SOP” standard operating procedure
  • Brockbank Consulting will provide SOP creation template and training methodology
  • NOTES: Currently storing Linux server setup procedures and backup processes

Future Recruiting Capabilities

• HR person will manage recruiting pipeline when growth requires new hires
  
  • Brockbank Consulting will set up Zoho Recruit integration with Zoho People when needed
  • NOTES: Not current priority but expected within next year as contracts increase

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