Salesforce Admin & Automation Roadmap — 2026-04-05

Meeting: Quarra / Asymmetric Salesforce working session
Attendees: Lincoln Durham (Quarra), Mark Hope, Karly Oykhman, Avokerie Onorimuo (Asymmetric)
Source: Fathom recording

Overview

Working session covering three areas: (1) billing and contract housekeeping, (2) user management blockers, and (3) planning the sales process automation roadmap. Several immediate blockers were resolved live on the call; the automation work was scoped and assigned for the next session.

Key Decisions

Decision	Detail
Accept $1,350 contract uplift as value-add	Rather than absorbing a mandatory price increase at renewal (May), reallocate it to 10,000 additional marketing contacts. Current usage is ~80% of capacity, so this provides headroom at no incremental cost.
Opportunity vetting enforced at Spec Validation	The opportunity qualifier (scoring ideal client + ideal project criteria) must be completed before an opportunity can advance past the Spec Validation stage.
Owner changes restricted to admins only	Dimitri to fix the permission set so only admins can change the opportunity owner field.
Defer quadrant visualization	The Excel qualifier's quadrant matrix will not be replicated in Salesforce; a numeric score total is sufficient.
Company-wide training in ~1–2 months	Once the flow and integrations are in place, run a combined session: onboarding for Quarra Italia + refresher for the full team.

Admin Blockers Resolved

PM Seats — Closed Won Workflow Blocker

The "Closed Won" workflow requires assigning a Project Manager, but Josh Trum and Brian Adams lacked active Salesforce seats, blocking progression.

Resolution (completed on call): Both users were found as deactivated (not absent) and reactivated. Passwords reset and emailed. Remaining available licenses: 4 (a 5th will free up when Asymmetric's temporary contractor Raphael finishes email creation work).

Opportunity Owner — Permission Set Block

Neither Lincoln (full admin) nor Karly could change the opportunity owner field on existing opportunities.

Resolution (pending): Karly to email Dimitri with a clear request — enable admins to edit the opportunity owner field; no other roles should have this permission.

Immediate need: reassign opportunities currently owned by Jennifer Besson (departed).

Automation Roadmap

1. Opportunity Vetting / Qualifier

Lauren's Excel-based qualifier scores opportunities across two dimensions — Ideal Client and Ideal Project — producing a numeric score. A schedule risk assessment section is being added before the qualifier is finalized (Lincoln meeting with his coach the following Tuesday).

Salesforce implementation plan:
- Build qualifier criteria as fields on the Opportunity object
- Make fields required when the opportunity attempts to advance past Spec Validation
- Trigger an approval request to Lauren to review the score before the stage flip is permitted
- Salesperson fills out the qualifier → score calculated automatically → Lauren approves/rejects progression

"I want them to score it, then I want to have the opportunity to review that and say, okay, that score is good… I don't want them to be able to move forward until we've made that decision." — Lincoln Durham

2. Process Mapping (Sales-to-Manufacturing Framework)

Lincoln shared a 2022 "sales to manufacturing" flowchart (pre-Salesforce). Karly will remap this into a Salesforce process flow, identifying automation touchpoints and flagging conflicts or gaps. This will be the primary agenda item for the next call.

3. Microsoft / Outlook Email Integration

No email correspondence is currently being logged in Salesforce — users are not manually copying it in. Connecting Outlook will auto-populate activity history on opportunities and contacts.

Benefits cited:
- Eliminates manual data entry, improving adoption
- Makes correspondence visible to PMs when a project is greenlit
- Reduces the burden of keeping opportunity stages current

Karly to send Lincoln information on the Salesforce Inbox / Outlook integration and propose a setup approach.

4. Opportunity Stage Review

Lincoln flagged that the current stage names (particularly "Capacity Validation") may not reflect how the team actually works. He will review the stage guidance document Karly sends and propose any name changes or structural updates.

Billing & Contract Items

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Renewal

Situation: Mandatory $1,350 price uplift applies at May renewal regardless.
Decision: Accept the uplift allocated as 10,000 additional marketing contacts (value-add).
Action: Lincoln to confirm with Abby (Salesforce rep).

Quarra Italia Overdue Payment

Situation: First payment from Quarra Italia went through on the new card; second payment has not been attempted.
Complication: Quarra's controller (Carson Smith) asked Asymmetric about invoicing Quarra Italia directly for Salesforce — this was a misunderstanding. The intent is to keep one shared Salesforce instance (not split it out).
Actions: Lincoln to email Carson Smith to clarify; Lincoln to email Valentina (Quarra Italia) to process the second payment.

Action Items

Lincoln Durham (Quarra)

[ ] Confirm $1,350 value-add (10k contacts) with Abby at Salesforce
[ ] Email Carson Smith — clarify Salesforce invoicing (Asymmetric invoices Quarra, not Quarra Italia separately)
[ ] Email Valentina — complete second payment to Asymmetric
[ ] Send Karly/Mark refined Lead Source list (Leads + Opportunities)
[ ] Send Karly/Mark expanded Task list
[ ] Send Karly/Mark updated Sales-to-Manufacturing framework flowchart
[ ] Finalize Opportunity Qualifier (add schedule risk section; review with coach Tuesday)
[ ] Send Karly updated Opportunity Qualifier
[ ] Review opportunity stage guidance; propose stage name changes

Karly Oykhman (Asymmetric)

[ ] Email Dimitri — enable admins to change Opportunity Owner; restrict to admins only
[ ] Send Lincoln info on Outlook/Salesforce Inbox integration; propose setup
[ ] Remap Sales-to-Manufacturing framework into Salesforce process flow
[ ] Send Lincoln current opportunity stages + guidance document
[ ] Prep automation flow for review on next call

Next Call Agenda (Preview)

Review remapped Sales-to-Manufacturing → Salesforce process flow
Define specific automations at each stage
Discuss Outlook integration setup
Finalize opportunity stage names and guidance

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