PlanningCRM
Full-stack CRM built solo for Red Eléctrica's planning department — 20 users, production since 2025.
Context
Red Eléctrica’s planning department tracked hundreds of grid infrastructure projects using a patchwork of Excel files, email chains, and SharePoint folders. There was no unified view of project status, key contacts, or deadlines. Every department handoff risked data loss or miscommunication.
Role
Solo developer and de-facto product owner. Gathered requirements directly from department leads, designed the data model, built the entire stack, and drove adoption across the team of 20.
Approach
Rather than customising a commercial CRM (which would have required IT procurement cycles of 6+ months), I built a lightweight internal tool tailored exactly to planning workflows:
- Frontend & API: SvelteKit (TypeScript) — handles the web interface and server-side API routes. Fast, no virtual DOM overhead, excellent developer experience for a solo builder.
- Data processing: Python — document ingestion, parsing, and transformation of submitted files from external stakeholders.
- Database: MySQL — relational model for requests, stakeholders, regions, and statuses.
- Auth: Session-based authentication scoped to internal users, integrated with Active Directory.
- Deployment: Containerised with Docker, deployed on an internal server within the corporate network.
The data model centred on projects, stakeholders, and interaction logs — simple enough to be understood by non-technical users, powerful enough to replace 12 separate Excel trackers.
Outcome
- Adopted by the full planning department (20 users) and still in active production use.
- Eliminated the need for shared Excel files, reducing version conflict incidents to zero.
- New project onboarding time dropped from ~3 hours to under 20 minutes.
- The tool became the department’s single source of truth for project tracking.
What I Learned
Owning both product and engineering responsibility forces prioritisation clarity. The most impactful features weren’t the most technically interesting — they were the ones that eliminated the most friction from daily workflows.