Score the operating loop
| Workflow | Minimum evidence | Failure signal |
|---|---|---|
| Client and traveler records | Relationships, preferences, documents, consent, and duplicate handling | Important context lives in notes or separate sheets |
| Inquiry to booking | Stage, owner, next action, proposal, and authorization | The system tracks contacts but not the trip decision |
| Booking to commission | Supplier, booking value, expected and received commission | Sales reporting stops before reconciliation |
| Automation | Visible triggers, exceptions, logs, and easy pause | Messages fire without context or audit trail |
| Exit | Usable export of contacts, trips, activities, and financial fields | Only a flat contact list can leave |
Write requirements as records and transitions
List the records you need—person, household, trip, supplier, booking, payment milestone, commission, task, message, and consent. Then list the transitions that move each record forward.
This exposes the difference between a generic CRM with custom fields, an advisor platform centered on trips and itineraries, and an agency back office centered on reporting and reconciliation.
Build a shortlist by operating model
Tern, TravelJoy, Travefy, and ClientBase describe different combinations of client management, trips, forms, itinerary, reporting, and agency workflows. Treat vendor pages as statements of current capability, then verify every critical workflow in a trial or live demo.
A solo hosted advisor, a multi-advisor leisure agency, and a tour operator should not share one unweighted scorecard.
Test exit before migration
Create sample records containing relationships, multiple trips, a canceled booking, partial commission, tags, tasks, and communication history. Export them and check whether another person could reconstruct the account.
Document field ownership, backups, access removal, duplicate strategy, retention, and the cutover date. A successful import count is not a successful migration.
Your action plan
- Map records and lifecycle stages.
- Run one identical scenario in every shortlisted product.
- Weight requirements by your operating model.
- Export rich sample data before signing an annual contract.
- Plan duplicate, permission, retention, and cutover rules.