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Sterling Machinery

An industrial machinery catalog moved from custom PHP to Magento 1 and then Magento 2, with a master/child data model, nine custom product entities, lead-capture pipelines and quoting.

Business
Industrial machinery dealer, USA
Platform
Magento 2 Open Source, from custom PHP via Magento 1
Scope
Catalog architecture, leads, quoting, admin theme
My role
System architecture and migration
Magento 2 Open SourceData architectureCart2QuoteLead captureCustom admin theme
custom product data entities
9
lead-capture pipelines
5
platforms: custom PHP → M1 → M2
3
HIGHLIGHTS

Five things that set this build apart.

  • Master/child data model

    Designed for machinery product management.

  • Nine product entities

    Job costing, accessories, specs, capacity ratings and repair history.

  • Lead capture

    Five buy/sell/wanted pipelines plus liquidation and shipping requests.

  • RFQ & quoting

    Built on Cart2Quote, with four admin reporting screens.

  • Custom admin theme

    The only project where the admin panel itself was re-skinned.

ARCHITECTURE OVERVIEW

A catalog built around how machinery is sold.

Buyers, sellers and auction partners feed the platform; every lead and request lands in an admin grid and an e-mail.

ChannelsPlatformBusiness systemsBuyers & sellersAuction partnersForms & Web APIsMagento 2Open SourceMaster/child catalog9 product entitiesBrand & landing pagesCart2Quote RFQsNotificationsAdmin gridsleads, quotes, reportsE-mail notificationsevery lead and requestVideo/data APIintegrationBuy · sell · wanted formsJob costing · specs · repairs4 reporting screens
What makes it different

The only engagement in the portfolio where the admin panel itself was re-skinned, alongside the storefront theme.

WHAT THE PLATFORM DOES

What the platform does.

  • Catalog architecture

    A master/child data model for machinery products.

  • Product data

    Nine custom entities — job-cost accounting, equipped-with accessories, specifications, capacity ratings, repair history — attached to the product form.

  • Lead capture

    Five parallel form-to-database-to-admin-grid-to-e-mail systems for buy, sell and wanted machinery, plus liquidation and shipping-info requests.

  • Quoting

    A full RFQ system — quote cart, admin follow-up tracking and quote e-mail templates — alongside Cart2Quote.

  • Reporting

    Four admin report screens: general, job-cost, publication and reconciliation.

  • CRM

    Contact, repair-contact and salesperson entities, and a customised Contact Us page.

  • Admin tools

    A custom dashboard tab, product-grid thumbnails, a product-copier override, a custom shipping-rule engine and a deletion audit log.

  • Brands & landing pages

    A brand CMS entity with brochure uploads and multiple directory/landing-page modules.

  • APIs

    A video/data integration API and a separate Web API surface for auction feeds.

  • Themes

    A custom storefront theme and a custom admin (adminhtml) theme.

  • Specifications

    Ajax-driven product specification logic.

HOW A LEAD IS CAPTURED

Form to inbox, every time.

Each lead type runs through the same four-step pipeline.

  1. STEP 1

    Submit

    A buyer or seller fills in a buy, sell or wanted form.

  2. STEP 2

    Store

    The lead is saved to its own database table.

  3. STEP 3

    Review

    Staff work it from a dedicated admin grid.

  4. STEP 4

    Notify

    An e-mail notification goes out for every lead.

KEY TECHNICAL CHALLENGES

Data that doesn’t fit standard products.

Machinery is sold, valued and serviced differently from retail goods.

  1. Rich machinery data

    Machinery needs job costing, accessories, specs, capacity ratings and repair history.

    Solution

    Nine custom data entities attached to the product form, on a master/child model.

  2. A platform that started as custom PHP

    The business ran on a custom PHP application.

    Solution

    Migrated to Magento 1, then to Magento 2 Open Source.

  3. Many kinds of request

    Buying, selling, wanted, liquidation and shipping requests each needed their own intake.

    Solution

    Five parallel form-to-admin-to-e-mail pipelines plus liquidation and shipping-info flows.

Three platform generationsFrom custom code to Magento 2.
CustomPHPMagento 1Magento 2
The lead pipelineFive of these run in parallel.
FormDatabaseAdmingridE-mail
TECHNOLOGIES & INTEGRATIONS

The stack behind it.

Platforms
Custom PHPMagento 1Magento 2 Open SourceMySQL
Extensions
Cart2Quote
Frontend
Custom storefront themeCustom admin themeAjax
Integration
Web API (auction feeds)Video/data API
Skills shown
Data modellingPlatform migrationLead managementAdmin UX
FULL BUILD LOG

The work, piece by piece.

  1. Designed the machinery product architecture, including the master/child data model.

  2. Migrated the platform from custom PHP to Magento 1, then to Magento 2 Open Source.

  3. Buy/sell/wanted lead-capture pipeline: five parallel form-to-admin-grid-to-email systems, plus liquidation and shipping-info requests.

  4. Nine custom product data entities (job-cost accounting, accessories, specifications, capacity ratings, repair history) on the product form.

  5. Brand CMS entity with brochure uploads and multiple directory/landing-page modules.

  6. RFQ/quoting on top of Cart2Quote, plus four admin reporting screens.

  7. A custom adminhtml theme alongside the storefront theme.

  8. Video/data integration API and a separate Web API for auction feeds.

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