{"id":598,"slug":"bj-fuel-distributor-data-model-illustration","title":"Illustration: what \"modeling the actual business\" means for Boucher & Jones fuel distribution (in-development, NOT delivered)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","claude-code","candid-team"],"topics":["agency-methodology","data-infrastructure","crm-systems"],"reference_body":"**⚠️ Frame carefully in any public writing: Boucher & Jones CRM is in development as of May 2026, NOT delivered. No outcome claims.**\n\n**The illustration:** Generic CRMs (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive) model \"a customer is a company with contacts and opportunities.\" That's wrong for fuel distribution. The actual model:\n\n- A customer **owns or leases tanks** (assets with serial numbers, capacities, install dates, inspection histories — and ownership chain matters)\n- A customer **has sites** (often multi-site commercial accounts where each site has its own delivery cadence)\n- A customer **has fuel-type contracts** (heating oil, diesel, propane — each with its own pricing logic, regulatory regime, seasonality)\n- A customer **has delivery modes** — will-call vs automatic (degree-day-driven) vs emergency, operationally distinct with different routing, pricing, customer expectations\n- A customer **has payment terms** that are often customer-specific (Net 15 with one industrial account, COD with a price-sensitive residential customer)\n\nA generic CRM forces this model into Account/Contact/Opportunity/Deal — **losing the entire structure that makes the business *the business*.** The B&J CRM is being built to model these directly. The point is not to praise the build; it's to illustrate **\"modeling the actual business\" versus \"bending the business to the software.\"**\n\n**Why custom rather than vertical fuel SaaS** (Manage Petro, PDI, RR Fuel, DRM, Cargas Energy, etc.)? The B&J build-vs-buy decision is itself worth interrogating. Vertical fuel ERPs are full ERPs with multi-year deployments and high lock-in; B&J's scale and operational specifics may justify the custom layer. **Most operators in B&J's position default to one of the vertical ERPs** — that's the safer call and shouldn't be undersold.\n\n**For Candid public writing about this:** use as ONE paragraph of illustration of the concept. **Do not present as a delivered case study with outcomes.**","rationale_body":"Captured per the brief's explicit framing instruction — illustration only, in-development, no outcome claims. This entry exists so future Candid writing has a clear \"use this much, no more\" reference point.","metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"industry-data-map-5-verticals","title":"Reference: operational data map by industry — what gets generated, stranded, and unlockable for 5 service verticals","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"data-maturity-curve-5-stage","title":"Reference: the 5-stage Data Maturity Curve — from stranded data to data as product","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"rule-dont-bend-business-to-generic-crm","title":"RULE: Don't bend the client's business model to a generic CRM. Either find vertical SaaS that fits, or add a custom data layer on top.","kind":"rule","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"research-brief-dataset-is-the-product","title":"Research brief: The Dataset is the Product — when a service business should own its data (piece 12 of 15)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-05-22T20:37:13.285Z","updated_at":"2026-05-22T20:37:13.285Z"}