Salesforce CRM & Netsuite OpenAir Integration

Before stepping into my first official Salesforce Administrator role, I had the unique experience of contributing to a cross-platform project that connected Salesforce and NetSuite OpenAir for project management and services tracking. At the time, I was working as both a Salesforce user on the Project Coordination team and a NetSuite OpenAir administrator, which gave me a rare dual perspective into how these systems could be shaped to serve both operational and reporting needs.

The Challenge: Project Visibility Across Systems

The company’s services organization needed better visibility into project delivery data—specifically how professional services projects tied to Opportunities in Salesforce were performing. Customers often purchased multiple software products as part of a single sale, but each implementation had distinct service requirements, timelines, and effort levels.

We needed a solution that would:

• Track multiple product implementations per Opportunity

• Show estimated hours, worked hours, and final actual hours for each project as timelines progressed and milestones were hit

• Make Salesforce the source of truth for services reporting and revenue recognition

• Seamlessly integrate project records from OpenAir into Salesforce for unified visibility

The Solution: A Salesforce + OpenAir Integration

The project leveraged:

• Salesforce Custom Object Design:
  A new custom object was created in Salesforce, related to Opportunities, to capture project-level data such as implementation type, estimated hours, worked hours, and final hours. This object supported the reality that one Opportunity could spawn multiple distinct service projects.

• NetSuite OpenAir Integration:
  Data flowed into Salesforce using OpenAir’s standard integration tools, enhanced by custom JavaScript solutions delivered by an OpenAir consultant. This integration extracted project records—including time tracking data—from OpenAir and synced them to the new Salesforce object.

• OpenAir Project Templates and Custom Fields:
  On the OpenAir side, the project relied on custom fields and templated project structures to ensure consistent data output into Salesforce, reducing manual intervention and ensuring reporting accuracy.

This combined approach provided real-time visibility to sales, project, and leadership teams—enabling them to see service delivery performance alongside pipeline data directly in Salesforce.

My Role

Though I was not yet a formal Salesforce Administrator, this project was a pivotal moment in my career growth:

• As an OpenAir administrator, I configured the NetSuite environment—adding necessary custom fields and maintaining template consistency to support clean data transfer.

• As a Salesforce power user on the Project Coordination team, I instinctively understood how Salesforce objects, fields, and automation worked together, allowing me to translate operational needs into platform design language.

• I collaborated closely with developers, consultants, and business stakeholders to align technical execution with real-world project management needs.

This hands-on, cross-system involvement is what led to my promotion into my first official Salesforce Administrator role.

Key Lessons & Takeaways

🌸 The importance of clean, consistent data models across integrated systems

🌸 How to use Salesforce custom objects and relationships to reflect complex business processes like multi-product service delivery

🌸 Leveraging platform-native integrations and custom scripting for tailored cross-system solutions

🌸 The value of having system administrators who understand both the operational process and the underlying platform logic