Migrate from Shark Byte CRM to Mailchimp

Shark Byte Customer records map to Mailchimp Members as the primary migration object. The Customer record's company name maps to the Member's company field, primary address maps to the address merge fields, and the primary contact's email maps to the email address used as the Member identifier. We extract the full service history field as a text merge field for reference. Customer is created before any linked Contact import so that relationship context is preserved.

Shark Byte Contact records (individual points of contact at each Customer site) map to Mailchimp Members. Name, email, phone, and role fields map to standard Member fields and merge fields. We resolve the parent Customer reference to tag the Member with the associated company name for segmentation in Mailchimp. Duplicate email detection runs before insert to catch Contacts that share an email address with the parent Customer record.

Shark Byte custom fields on Customer records (such as equipment specifications, contract classification codes, or industry-specific data) map to Mailchimp merge fields. We pre-create merge field definitions in Mailchimp before migration using the Mailchimp Marketing API (type string, number, date, or phone based on the source field type) and populate them during Member import. Merge field labels preserve the Shark Byte field name for admin reference.

Shark Byte custom fields on Contact records map to Mailchimp merge fields using the same type-mapping logic as Customer-level custom properties. Text-based custom properties with a finite set of values (such as role classification or territory assignment) also receive a corresponding Mailchimp Tag so that audience segmentation can use both merge field values and tag-based filters.

Shark Byte file attachments stored on Customer or Contact records (such as signed agreements, scope documents, or photos) are extracted at original resolution where the file format is accessible. We upload files to Mailchimp's content storage and store the content URL in a merge field on the associated Member. Images from mobile surveys may be compressed or missing EXIF metadata depending on the device used in the original capture; we note any format inconsistencies in the attachment inventory delivered to the customer.

Shark Byte Estimates are the core product object in the platform and are built using a contract-term calibration engine (1-3 year, 3-5 year, 10+ year buckets) that is specific to the customer's historical data. Mailchimp has no schema for estimating, pricing, or contract-term data. We flag every Estimate record during scoping and include the full Estimate inventory in the written migration handoff document. The customer uses this inventory to determine whether a dedicated CRM (Jobber, BuildOps, or ServiceTitan) or an estimating tool (Acculynx, Simpro) should replace Shark Byte for operational workflows.

Shark Byte Proposals are generated from Estimates and include pricing, scope, and terms for customer review. Mailchimp's data model has no equivalent for proposals, quotes, or pricing documents. We include the full Proposal inventory in the migration handoff document and flag any Proposal records with a signed status so the customer can assess whether signed proposals should be stored in a separate document management system (Google Drive, Dropbox, SharePoint) or imported as content files linked to the corresponding Member.

Shark Byte Work Orders track individual jobs dispatched to field technicians, including status, assigned technician, line items, and photos from mobile building surveys. Mailchimp has no schema for work order management, technician assignment, or job tracking. We include Work Order records in the written inventory delivered to the customer with a recommendation to evaluate a field service management platform (Jobber, BuildOps, ServiceTitan) if ongoing work order management is required.

Shark Byte Service Agreements represent recurring maintenance contracts tied to the service-term calibration engine. These records contain contract values, term lengths (1-3yr, 3-5yr, 10+yr), and customer commitments that have no equivalent in Mailchimp's contact-centric model. We extract the customer contact information embedded in Service Agreement records as a supplemental contact source and flag the full Service Agreement inventory in the migration handoff document for evaluation against dedicated contract management tools.