Flute Delivery Tracking CRM
Replaced manual spreadsheet tracking with an intelligent CRM pipeline handling orders, vendor routing, refunds, and payout reconciliation.
With automated order routing
In the pipeline workflow
Manual work replaced
Reconciliation sources
The Problem
A flute instruction business (FluteGandarvas, run by instructor Harsh Dave) sells physical flutes to students alongside their online courses. Orders come through their course platform, need routing to the correct vendor based on product type, tracking through fulfillment, and reconciliation for vendor payouts. All done manually in spreadsheets. Orders getting lost, vendor assignments inconsistent, no delivery status visibility.
Added complexity: different age groups need different flute types — children under 10 get D# flutes, everyone else gets A# flutes — and the business was growing faster than manual tracking could handle.
What We Built
Complete order management pipeline in a CRM platform:
- Automated form submission capture from the course platform via webhook automation
- Age-based routing logic that auto-assigns the correct flute type
- Vendor assignment pipeline with 4 vendors (Tushar, Kanti Bhai, Umesh, Mukund)
- Pipeline stages: Form Filled, Address Verified, Order Placed, Shipped, Delivered, plus Refund stages
- Vendor count dashboard showing orders in "Order Placed" stage per vendor
- Flute-type breakdown dashboard (Side A, Straight A, D sharp)
- Post-delivery payout dashboard with date filtering for vendor payments
- Duplicate submission detection with friendly auto-response
- Refund workflow with validation that customer actually paid
- Team email notifications for refund requests
- Payment gateway reconciliation via separate spreadsheet for daily cross-checks
- 3-month parallel run: kept existing Sheets alongside CRM for audit verification
System Architecture
Flute Purchased
Create Ticket
Confirm Address
Age < 10?
D# Flute (Child)
A# Flute (Adult)
Assign Vendor (4 vendors)
Track Shipment
Customer Notified
Delivered ✓
Trigger Payout
Customer Query (WhatsApp)
Auto-Reply
Escalate to Harsh
Refund? → Verify Payment
The Numbers
| Metric | Value | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Vendors automated | 4 | Each with mobile app access for on-the-go updates |
| Pipeline stages | 8+ | Including refund flow and delivery confirmation |
| Manual hours replaced | 15-20 hrs/week | Previously done by team manually in spreadsheets |
| Reconciliation channels | 3 | Course platform + payment gateway + CRM cross-checked daily |
| Parallel run period | 3 months | Sheets + CRM running simultaneously for data integrity |
Key Engineering Challenges
- Webhook Automation Silently Stopping: The webhook automation platform stopped receiving data from the course platform for 3 days (Jan 18-20) without showing any failure in logs. No error, no notification, just silent failure. Implemented monitoring checks and fallback detection to prevent data loss.
- Mobile-First Vendor Experience: Vendors (Kanti Bhai and others) use mobile phones, not laptops. Had to verify the entire CRM pipeline, opportunity cards, and status updates worked correctly on the CRM mobile app with different UI constraints than desktop.
- Parallel System Transition: Running two systems (Sheets + CRM) simultaneously for 3 months to build confidence in data integrity before cutting over. Required careful form link switching and monthly audits comparing both systems.
Want to build something like this? Let's talk.