Every implementation I’ve run has gone through the same five steps. The timing changes. The shape doesn’t.
What follows is the version I share with clients at the start of an engagement. What each step is, how long it takes, and where projects tend to stall.
Step 0: Proposal (1–2 months)
Before I write a proposal, I need to understand the project. Four inputs:
- Input data. Where does it live today? Excel files? An ERP nobody trusts? A CRM with sales-side fields that don’t match engineering’s spec sheets?
- Output channels. Where does the data need to land? Website is usually first. Then datasheet. Then catalogue, installation manual, brochure.
- Resources. Who’s the decision maker? Who’s the data entry team? Who holds the technical info engineering won’t write down?
- Variables. How many SKUs? How many languages? Is there a US-vs-international version of the same product? (For lighting, the answer is almost always yes.)
Then the proposal. The budget has three lines:
- Vendor fee. The annual PIM subscription, paid to the vendor.
- Coding fee. Paid to the development team that builds the integrations and the outputs (website, datasheet, anything else in Phase 1). If you have an internal coding team or a vendor you already trust, this goes to zero. They can still do the work. But a coding team without PIM experience can slow the project down. What matters is a PIM mindset. The shape of the work changes as the project moves. So it’s a dynamic process, not a standard website build where you set the scope and finish with one or two revisions.
- Consultancy fee. Mine. I run the project end to end, train the internal team alongside the work, and I’m responsible for the outcome. If someone on your side with a technical background can take the project manager role, my fee can go down, or even to zero. That hasn’t happened yet. If it does, I’d support that person without crowding them out.
I separate these on purpose. The client should see what’s paid to the vendor, what’s paid to the developers, and what’s paid to me. Bundling them hides where the work sits.
This step takes 1–2 months. The variance is on the client’s side, not mine. Clear inputs, fast proposal. Vague inputs, I keep asking.
Step 1: Discovery (1–2 months)
Once the proposal is signed, I work closely with the internal team to define the project in detail.
This is the base of the building. If the base is weak, everything after compounds in the wrong direction.
My rule for Phase 1: stay close to the bare minimum. Website plus datasheet is usually right. After that, the project grows: installation manuals, brochures, distributor portals. But Phase 1 needs to be small enough to ship.
The temptation here is always to widen the scope. “While we’re at it, can we also do…” No. Phase 1 ships, then we add. A widened Phase 1 is a Phase 1 that never launches.
This step also takes 1–2 months. Same dependency on client clarity.
Step 2: Data structure and briefs (1–2 months)
This is where I turn Step 1’s inputs into a data structure and the briefs that go to the coding team.
For a normal project, no more than a month. For a complex one, usually when the client’s product ordering system itself needs a rewrite, up to two.
Most lighting catalogues have an ordering logic that was designed decades ago and has inherited every product since. At some point the logic stops carrying the product range. That has to be fixed first. PIM can’t paper over a broken ordering structure.
Step 3: Coding and data entry (3–4 months)
Once Step 2 is locked, the briefs go to the coding team.
At this stage we only enter sample data. The coding team needs the structure, not the full catalogue. Logic first, content second.
While the coding team works, the internal team starts entering the full catalogue. This is the hardest part of the project. Not technically. Mentally. The team is used to spreadsheets, and PIM asks them to think in fields, inheritance, and products as records. I stay close during this stretch because the mindset shift is where projects quietly stall.
This step is 3–4 months. Sometimes longer if the catalogue is older or messier than anyone realised in Step 1.
Step 4: Launch
After Step 3, we’re ready to launch and close Phase 1. The first outputs go live. Usually the website and the datasheet.
It’s a proud moment. A lot of work goes into it. And this is when the client first sees the ROI. Not as a number on a slide. As a website that updates when they change one field.
Then something interesting happens. With Phase 1 done and the foundation strong, the client starts looking at the next manual process to fix. Then the next.
That’s where the culture starts to change.
If you’re a lighting manufacturer thinking about PIM, contact me for a 30-minute call. Or start here: