About the company: Domestic and General is a Dublin-based facilities services company delivering building maintenance, landscaping, cleaning, industrial cleaning, furnishing, and flooring to hundreds of clients. With around 250 employees and roughly 800 recurring contracts every month, Domestic and General keeps sites running smoothly, pairing hands-on service with a growing commitment to smarter, more digital operations.

Domestic and General had a solid Salesforce foundation and a clear ambition: to use far more of the platform’s potential across the business. They wanted Salesforce to work brilliantly for their teams on site, bring more of their day-to-day work online, and give every job a complete digital record. To make that happen, they partnered with Cosimo Consulting. Together they set out to simplify the platform, automate time-heavy admin, and strengthen the foundations underneath it, so that every job, however routine, could be tracked, evidenced, and delivered with confidence, and so the whole team could get the most from Salesforce.

Pain Points

• Ready to Unlock More from Salesforce: Domestic and General had a strong base to build on and were ready to extend Salesforce far beyond quotes and invoicing, right across the business.
  
  
• Bringing More Work Online: Some processes, such as audits and proof of work, still lived on paper. The team wanted to capture them directly in Salesforce.
  
  
• Building Stronger Foundations: As the business grew, the team wanted clearer structure around their data, permissions, and documentation to keep everything running cleanly.
  

“We knew we were only scratching the surface of what Salesforce could do. We wanted it to work brilliantly for our teams on site, and that was exactly the opportunity we brought to Cosimo.”

-Nicoleta Istrate, Salesforce Manager, Domestic and General

The Opportunities Domestic and General Set Out to Tackle

As Domestic and General set out to get even more from Salesforce and make it effortless for every team to use, they identified a clear set of opportunities to simplify, automate, and strengthen the platform.

01, Getting More from Salesforce

• Salesforce was being used mainly for quotes and invoicing, with plenty of scope to extend it across the wider business.
• The team wanted the platform to be intuitive for operatives on site, so adoption would come naturally.
• The goal was for every work order to be completed in the app, giving a complete digital record of every job.

02, Bringing Manual Work Online

• Landscaping and cleaning audits were still done on paper, and the team wanted them captured directly in Salesforce.
• Operatives would benefit from seeing site maps and photos on their phones, making it easy to get up to speed on any site.
• Recording hours digitally would give a clearer, more reliable picture than paper records.

03, Streamlining Time-Heavy Admin

• Consumables invoicing followed a longer process than it needed to, and was ready for automation.
• Updating a staff member across a maintenance plan involved several manual steps that could be simplified.
• Maintenance-plan layouts held more detail than the team used day to day, and would benefit from a cleaner, more focused view.

04, Giving Field Teams More Clarity

• In the Field Service app, teams could see each job’s address, and wanted an easy way to identify the site at a glance too.
• Making site information clearer up front would help teams plan their day and prepare more efficiently.

05, Strengthening Data and Security Foundations

• As the business grew, the team wanted to tidy duplicate records and fields to keep everything running cleanly.
• They wanted a clear permissions structure, so the right people have the right access and sensitive data is well protected.
• Good documentation across the org would make the platform even easier to manage and build on

“As we grew, we wanted a better structure around our permissions, so the right people have the right access and our data is protected. Getting those foundations right was a big priority for us.”

– Nicoleta Istrate, Salesforce Manager, Domestic and General

 

The Solution

Cosimo Consulting worked hand in hand with Domestic and General to simplify, rebuild, and strengthen their Salesforce org, always favouring the simplest, most user-friendly solution, and making sure every change worked for the people actually using it on site.

01, Digitising Work and Proof of Service

• Cosimo built landscaping and cleaning audits directly in Salesforce, bringing checklists and photos into one place, and made site maps and photos visible on operatives’ phones so teams always know exactly where to go. On top of this they also built a visible “site name” field in the Field Service app, so teams can identify each job at a glance.
  

02, Automating Time-Heavy Admin

• Created a custom button and flow to generate consumables invoices automatically, streamlining the process end to end.
• Built a flow so changing one person on a maintenance plan updates all future work orders automatically, while leaving past records intact.
• Simplified the maintenance-plan layout into a cleaner, focused view that is faster to work with.

03, Tracking Every Team Member

• Created a “service team” concept to track operatives, who worked where, when, and for how long even for contractors. 
• Gave HR a weekly report to check hours against payroll, plus a reliable record of who was on any site on any date.
• Implemented Salesforce’s archive product to give the team plenty of headroom on storage.

04, Strengthening Security and Data Foundations

• Tidied thousands of duplicate records, with matching and duplicate rules in place to keep data clean going forward.
• Introduced a clear permissions structure, so the right people have the right access and sensitive data is well protected.
• Created proper documentation across the org, and refined the Conga contract templates so information is accurate every time.

The Impact

• 5x Faster: Consumables invoicing now takes a day, not a week

• 10x Faster: Faster staff reassignment across maintenance plans

• 100% Completed: Work orders completed in-app, a company first

   

Working with Cosimo transformed how Domestic and General uses Salesforce, moving from a fraction of its capacity to something close to its full potential.

By simplifying layouts, automating manual admin, and strengthening the platform, Cosimo helped the team save days of work, protect sensitive data, and give teams clarity on every job. Clients now see greater transparency through consistent service reports, and Domestic and General has the confidence to keep growing.

01, Time Savings and Automation

• Consumables invoicing that once took a week now takes a single day.
• Reassigning staff on maintenance plans is up to 10 times faster, with one change updating every future work order.
• Simplified layouts make training and everyday work faster across around 800 recurring contracts a month.

“What used to take a person a whole week now takes a day. It really is that much faster.” Nicoleta Istrate, Salesforce Manager, Domestic and General

02, Clarity and Consistency on Site

• Operatives can see site maps and photos on their phones, so they always know where to go.
• A visible site-name field means teams instantly identify each of their jobs.
• For the first time ever, every work order was completed in the app.

“The clarity clearly improved, they know exactly what they have to do and exactly where to go.” Nicoleta Istrate, Salesforce Manager, Domestic and General

03, Stronger Tracking and Accountability

• A new “service team” setup tracks who worked where and when, without a licence for every operative.
• HR now checks hours against payroll each week, with an accurate, lasting record.
• If a query comes in, Domestic and General can see exactly who was on that site on that date.

04, Secure, Well-Structured Foundations

• Thousands of duplicates tidied, with rules in place to keep data clean.
• A clear permissions structure now protects sensitive data and gives the team real peace of mind.
• Proper documentation and improved contract templates mean accurate information every time.

“Now we’ve got a proper structure around our permissions, and our data is well protected. It gives us real peace of mind.” Nicoleta Istrate, Salesforce Manager, Domestic and General

05, Confidence and Capability

• Cosimo made sure Nicoleta understood everything they built, and how to change it herself.
• The team’s trust and encouragement gave her the confidence to grow.
• After the project, she earned her Salesforce certification for the first time.

“They gave me the confidence to go for my certification. I honestly owe them some of it.” Nicoleta Istrate, Salesforce Manager, Domestic and General

At Cosimo we believe the most successful Salesforce solutions require a combination of:

1. Consistent product development, ensuring stability and incremental value
2. Larger-scale projects to accelerate major advancements

Executing larger-scale implementations achieves significant benefits within a short timeframe.  

By leveraging industry best practices as well as our structured framework, we empower organisations to realise rapid transformation while maintaining stability and continuity.

Our approach consists of six key phases: Discovery, Design, Development, Deployment, Testing and Hypercare. 

From the outset and seamlessly integrated throughout our projects, we prioritise governance, business readiness, change management, data migration strategies, and go-live planning.

Let’s take a deeper look at our methodology!

1. Discovery: Foundation For Success

The Discovery phase is essential to understanding your organisation’s needs and setting a strategic direction for the project. During this phase, we work closely with your team to explore key business goals, challenges, and success metrics, which will guide every decision throughout the project.

Key activities and deliverables:

• Business Goals and Challenges: Identifying and understanding your primary objectives, challenges, and desired outcomes.
• Technology and Process Analysis: Analysing your existing technology landscape and business processes to define how Salesforce can best support your operations.
• Salesforce Architecture and Integration: Outlining the high-level architecture and integration requirements for Salesforce within your ecosystem.
• Project Scope and Delivery Plan: Defining the scope, deliverables, and overall project timeline, setting clear expectations.
• Team Definition: Identifying key stakeholders and project team members, ensuring the right expertise is in place.

By the end of the Discovery phase, we provide a comprehensive plan that defines the project scope, governance structure, and key resources, ensuring alignment for the next phase.

2. Design: Translating Requirements into a Clear Solution

Building on the insights from Discovery, the Design phase is where we translate business requirements into a detailed Salesforce solution that aligns with your strategic goals.

Key activities and deliverables:

• Stakeholder Workshops: Conducting detailed workshops to gather and refine business requirements, data migration approach and change management strategies.
• Solution Design: Creating a detailed design that follows industry and Salesforce best practices to ensure scalability and future-proofing.
• User Stories with Acceptance Criteria: Documenting business requirements as user stories, complete with clear acceptance criteria.
• Effort and Scope: Finalising the scope of the project and refining development estimates. 

The output of this phase is a comprehensive user story backlog, a detailed solution design document, and a clear project plan, all ensuring a smooth transition to development.

3. Development: Building a Robust, Scalable Solution

In the Development phase, we begin bringing the Salesforce solution to life, focusing on building a scalable and robust system that meets your business needs. We work in Agile sprints to ensure iterative progress and flexibility.

Key activities and deliverables:

• Agile Development Sprints: We break the development into sprints to ensure continuous improvement and feedback.
• Daily Stand-Ups and Sprint Planning: Regular check-ins and sprint planning sessions to ensure continued alignment.
• Show & Tells: Conducting show-and-tell sessions to gather stakeholder feedback and make adjustments early in the process.
• Collaboration with Business Users: Ensuring close collaboration between development teams and business users, maintaining a focus on the end-user experience.

By the end of this phase, we will have a functional Salesforce solution ready for comprehensive testing and user acceptance.

4. Testing: Ensuring Quality and User Satisfaction (QA & UAT)

Testing is a crucial step to verify that the solution works as expected and meets the requirements defined during the Design phase. This includes both quality assurance (QA) testing to ensure the solution’s functionality and user acceptance testing (UAT) to ensure it aligns with business needs.

Key activities and deliverables:

• End-to-End Testing: Running comprehensive tests to ensure that all features and integrations function as expected across the entire system.
• User Acceptance Testing (UAT): Engaging business users to test the solution in real-world scenarios to validate whether it meets their needs.
• Bug Fixes and Enhancements: Addressing any issues or areas for improvement discovered during testing.

The goal is to ensure the solution is fully tested, stable, and ready for deployment.

5. Deployment: Transitioning to Business as Usual

The Deployment phase marks the official go-live of your Salesforce solution. During this phase, we transition the solution from the development environment to production and ensure that the business is ready to adopt the new system.

Key activities and deliverables:

• Data Migration and System Integrations: Moving your data into the Salesforce platform and ensuring proper integration with other systems.
• User Training and Change Management: Providing comprehensive training to end users and supporting them through the change management process.
• Production Deployment: Deploying the solution to the production environment, making it accessible for daily business operations.

At the end of the Deployment phase, the solution is fully live, and users are equipped to begin leveraging the system for their day-to-day activities.

6. Hypercare: Ensuring Continued Success Post-Launch

The Hypercare phase ensures that your team has the support they need as they transition to using the solution in their daily operations. This phase is designed to address any issues that arise after deployment and provide ongoing support as needed.

Key activities and deliverables:

• Post-Go-Live Support: Providing immediate support to address any issues that arise after the solution goes live.
• Monitoring and Optimisation: Closely monitoring system performance and making adjustments as needed to ensure optimal performance.
• Knowledge Transfer and Documentation: Providing training and documentation to help your team manage and optimise the solution moving forward.

Hypercare is a critical phase to ensure that the solution continues to meet business needs and is optimized for long-term success.

Wait there’s more!

Project governance

Our strong governance framework ensures that we maintain clear communication, quality control, and risk management. 

We track progress against milestones, keep stakeholders informed, and make adjustments as needed to ensure the project stays on track, within scope, and aligned with your business goals.

By following this structured approach, we help ensure a smooth, successful Salesforce implementation that drives business value and supports long-term growth.

Change Management

Change Management is a dedicated work stream within our Salesforce implementation approach, focusing on ensuring that your organisation successfully adopts the new solution and transitions smoothly to its everyday use. 

This work stream focuses on minimising disruption, fostering engagement, and building confidence in the new system, ensuring that your team fully embraces the Salesforce solution and drives its ongoing success.

Customers expect richer engagement, personalisation, and seamless service while employees demand more from their tools.

Today, it’s not enough to simply implement a Salesforce solution – you need a strategic vision and a diverse skill set to manage, maintain, and evolve your platforms. 

This is essential for maximising return on investment, staying competitive and driving innovation. 

As a result, organisations are seeking more flexible, adaptive, and long-term strategies to optimise their technology platforms. 

At Cosimo, we are excited to offer a fresh approach to Salesforce consulting through our Product Management Service. 

What is Product Management and Why Does It Matter?

Traditional project approaches often end at delivery and focus on delivering a fixed scope within a set timeline. While this methodology has its place, relying solely on it may limit your ability to keep pace with the rapid changes modern businesses require. 

Product Management is all about long-term partnership. It facilitates a consistent and sustainable process involving strategic visioning,  iterative development cycles, continuous feedback loops, and a focus on change management to ensure smooth feature transition into business as usual. 

The framework makes it possible to adjust and optimise your Salesforce platform over time, ensuring that the technology is moving forward with the business.

This model delivers higher ROI, less risk and disruption to operations, faster time to market, and ultimately better results for your employees and customers. 

We believe you need a combination of the two. Consistent product development ensures stability and incremental value, while one-off projects embedded within your product management framework accelerate major advancements.

Cosimo’s Product Management Service

Our mission at Cosimo is to be a true strategic partner for our customers, becoming an extension of your internal teams empowering you to own your solution. 

We start by understanding your business, goals, and challenges through collaboration with key stakeholders. This phase includes analysing your technology landscape, identifying optimisation opportunities, and defining value propositions. From there, we develop a tailored roadmap with clear milestones, priorities, and timelines. 

Based on your roadmap, we determine the skill sets you need and their commitment on a monthly basis. From Architects, Developers, Consultants, Business Analysts and Change Management experts we provide the skilled professionals you need at the capacity required. 

Using Agile methodologies, we deliver features in increments for faster releases and early feedback. Each sprint focuses on high-priority items.

Through our defined governance framework your dedicated Product Owner collaborates with your internal technical and operational teams to continually update your Salesforce roadmap and plan your resourcing requirements ensuring alignment with your business objectives and budget.

For major developments we assemble a team, who become embedded into the Product Management framework, to deliver a standalone project. See our Implementation approach.   

If you’re ready to experience the benefits of continuous, agile product development with Salesforce, get in touch with us today to learn more about how our Product Management service can help you achieve your goals.

At Cosimo Consulting, we know that successful Salesforce transformations require more than just technical expertise, they require strategy, teamwork, efficiency, quality and consistency.

These are the very values that drive our consulting approach, inspired by our founder, Jessica Oliver’s, double world record breaking Atlantic and Pacific Ocean Rows.

On January 26th 2022 Team Wild Waves made up of Jessica Oliver and Charlotte Harris set a new World Record for the fastest female pair to row 3,000-miles across the Atlantic Ocean in 45 days.

On June 8th 2024 the team set off from Monterey Bay, California to row 2800 miles across the mid Pacific Ocean. 37 days later they arrived in Hawaii having won the female class and breaking both the Men and Women World Records by 2 and 9 days respectively.

Wild Waves are the first team in history to complete both Worlds Toughtest Ocean Rows. Across the challenges they raised £130,000 for Shelter and Women’s Aid.

Cosimo Consulting is named after the teams Ocean Rowing Boat ….. Cosimo!

There are so many parallels between what makes a successful endurance challenge and a successful salesforce transformation.

Cosimo first a foremost means Teamwork. it’s about people coming together with a common purpose.

We work as partners with our customers, sharing knowledge, expertise and being an extension of each other teams.

Cosimo represents Strategy, having clear goals and mission statements. Reminding yourself of the why to keep you focused on your outcomes.

Our approach is to break down programs of work into a structured roadmap to deliver Consistent incremental value. Thats when you exceed expectations long term.

You can be more Efficient, you can focus on Quality, you can be more adaptable and importantly celebrate the wins along the way.

We are a people first consultancy. Our guiding principles of teamwork, quality, efficiency and consistency shapes everything we do for our customers and how we have developed our service offerings.

This mindset fuels our approach to customer success and sets us apart from the rest.

Cosimo means embracing challenges, pushing  boundaries, and achieving the impossible.