Case Study 3: GlobalTrade Logistics - Scenario Paper

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Case Study Prompt

This page is the prompt side of a full-board practice package. Read it first, build your own architecture, and return to the worked assets only after your timed attempt.

Case Study Snapshot

Field	Detail
Start here	This scenario paper
Difficulty	Advanced
Industry	Logistics
Primary pressure areas	System Architecture, Data, Integration, and Governance
Recommended prep window	180 minutes preparation + 45 minutes presentation + 45 minutes Q&A
Coverage available	Case Study Overview, Worked Solution, Presentation Notes, Q&A Preparation
Study flow	Attempt this case study paper first, then review the worked solution, presentation notes, and Q&A preparation after your own attempt.

Recommended Approach

Print this case study. Read it twice using the Two-Pass Reading Method once for the narrative and once for implicit requirements. Then build all nine core artifacts inside the full prep window before you open the support pages.

Project Overview

GlobalTrade Logistics (GTL) is an international freight forwarding and logistics company headquartered in Chicago. Founded in 1998, GTL provides end-to-end supply chain services including ocean, air, and ground freight, warehousing, customs brokerage, and, through a recent acquisition, cold-chain logistics for temperature-sensitive goods.

Company profile:

Attribute	Detail
Industry	Supply Chain / Logistics / Freight Forwarding
Employees	5,800 across 18 countries
Regional presence	NA, Europe (UK, DE, NL, FR), APAC (SG, AU, JP, CN, KR)
Corporate client accounts	35,000
Annual shipments	2.8 million (15-20 tracking events each)
Annual revenue	$6.2 billion (15% growth, primarily acquisitions)
Recent acquisition	FrostLine Cold Logistics (400 employees, $280M revenue)

The CEO has authorized a 24-month, $14.5M program to consolidate three regional Salesforce instances into a single global org, integrate FrostLine, and build a unified customer experience platform.

COO (David Okafor): “We cannot afford shipment visibility gaps during consolidation. Our clients track shipments in real-time and any interruption sends them to competitors.”

CISO (Anja Muller): “We operate in 18 countries with different data residency requirements. EU must comply with GDPR, and we have data sovereignty obligations in Singapore, Japan, and Australia.”

CIO (Rajesh Patel): “We spend $4.2 million per year maintaining three separate orgs with three admin teams and no shared standards. Consolidation must eliminate that.”

Current State - Three Regional Salesforce Orgs

North America Org (NA-ORG) - 8 years old

• 2,400 users; Sales Cloud + Service Cloud
• 180 custom objects, 3,200 custom fields, 95 Apex triggers, 420 Process Builders
• Heavily customized Shipment object (180+ fields); custom VF quoting tool (18 pages, 12 controllers)
• SAP S/4HANA integration via custom SOAP (6 years old); 14M Shipment records, 210M Tracking Events
• Page load for shipment records: 8.2 seconds (degrading quarterly); storage: 92% used
• 22 report types, 340 reports, 85 dashboards; 25 carrier integrations via Apex callouts

Europe Org (EU-ORG) - 5 years old

• 1,800 users; Sales Cloud only; Zendesk for service (1.2M historical tickets)
• 85 custom objects, 1,600 custom fields, 40 Apex triggers, 180 Flows
• Different Shipment schema (120 fields) than NA; multi-language (EN, DE, NL, FR)
• SAP ECC 6.0 integration (legacy, different version than NA); GDPR compliance built in (consent tracking, right-to-delete, data processing records)
• EU data stored in Salesforce Frankfurt data center; 8M Shipments, 120M Tracking Events; storage: 78%
• 12 carrier integrations via Apex callouts

Asia-Pacific Org (APAC-ORG) - 3 years old

• 1,200 users; Sales Cloud only; service via email (no case management)
• 45 custom objects, 800 custom fields, 15 Apex triggers, 90 Flows; minimal Shipment customization (60 fields)
• Multi-language (EN, JA, ZH, KO); freight booking via daily CSV file transfers
• Japan APPI and Singapore PDPA compliance requirements
• 4M Shipments, 65M Tracking Events; storage: 45%; 8 carrier integrations via CSV

Note: NA’s 420 Process Builders are significant technical debt - Process Builder is being retired by Salesforce and these must be converted to Flows during or after consolidation.

FrostLine Cold Logistics - Recent Acquisition

400 employees across 6 countries (US, UK, NL, JP, AU, SG). Specializes in temperature-controlled freight for pharmaceuticals, fresh food, and chemicals.

System	Purpose	Key Details
FileMaker Pro CRM	Client management, quoting	3,500 accounts, no API, CSV export only
FrostGuard	Temperature monitoring IoT	12,000 sensors, readings every 60 sec, 180-day retention
Temperature Compliance DB	Regulatory records	PostgreSQL - excursion records, compliance certs, audit logs (FDA/MHRA/TGA)
Manual spreadsheets	Operations	45 Excel workbooks for routing, containers, pricing

FrostLine MD (James Whitfield): “Our temperature monitoring is our competitive advantage. We cannot lose this during integration. Salesforce must surface alerts to our service team.”

VP M&A (Lisa Zhang): “FrostLine’s clients overlap with 2,800 of our existing accounts. We need to merge without losing relationship history on either side.”

External Systems and Integration Volumes

System	Function	Protocol	Daily Volume
BluJay TMS	Shipment booking, routing, carrier selection	REST API	8,000 bookings
Manhattan WMS	Warehouse inventory, pick/pack/ship	REST + events	15,000 events
Descartes CustomsInfo	Tariff, denied-party screening, export compliance	SOAP	4,000 screenings
CargoSmart	Ocean vessel tracking	REST webhook	Real-time updates
Project44	Multi-modal shipment visibility	REST webhook + polling	42,000 events
SAP S/4HANA (NA)	Finance, accounting, invoicing	RFC + OData	12,000 transactions
SAP ECC 6.0 (EU)	Finance (legacy)	BAPI/RFC	8,000 transactions
APAC local ERPs	Finance (varies by country)	CSV/SOAP/REST	5,000 transactions
Microsoft Entra ID	Identity provider	SAML 2.0 / SCIM	5,800 users
Twilio	SMS delivery notifications	REST	35,000 SMS
FrostGuard	Temperature sensors	MQTT + REST	720,000 readings
40+ Carrier APIs	Rates, bookings, tracking	REST (varied formats/auth)	65,000 calls
Total			~920,000 events/day

GTL also manages trade compliance documents (bills of lading, air waybills, commercial invoices, customs declarations, certificates of origin, dangerous goods declarations, temperature compliance certs, proof of delivery). Combined ~6M documents/year across multiple systems. Clients frequently request complete document bundles per shipment.

GTL operates 12 warehouses globally (Chicago, Long Beach, Newark, Rotterdam, Hamburg, London, Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney, Shanghai, Miami cold-chain, Amsterdam cold-chain). 800 warehouse workers and 200 transport drivers operate from these facilities. Port terminals and some warehouses have intermittent connectivity. Drivers use personal devices (BYOD) with company data plans.

Business Requirements

Org Consolidation (Req 1-7)

1. Unify three regional orgs + FrostLine into a single platform for 5,800 users
2. Merge duplicate client accounts across orgs preserving all relationship history and open opportunities
3. Harmonize regional shipment processes into a common lifecycle with regional variations via configuration
4. Preserve EU compliance capabilities and extend jurisdictional controls to all regions
5. Zero downtime for customer-facing shipment tracking during transition
6. Licensing model must cover 5,800 employees (Sales, Service, Field Service), 800 warehouse workers, 200 drivers, and 35,000 portal accounts with role-based access tiers
7. Support 7 languages (EN, DE, NL, FR, JA, ZH, KO) across all user interfaces, portal content, email templates, and system-generated documents

Shipment Tracking (Req 8-14)

8. Handle 42-56M new tracking events/year with sub-3-second shipment page loads
9. Complete chronological shipment timeline on single screen (tracking, carrier, customs, exceptions)
10. Client self-service portal with real-time status, ETAs, and document access
11. Proactive exception management: auto-detect late shipments, routing deviations, customs holds, temperature excursions with automated case creation and client notification
12. Exception escalation paths with configurable SLAs per exception type and client tier
13. 5 years of historical shipment data searchable and reportable
14. Archival strategy for tracking events beyond 5 years meeting regulatory retention requirements across jurisdictions

Cold-Chain (Req 15-19)

15. Temperature data accessible alongside shipment status for service agents
16. Temperature excursion alerts trigger immediate escalation (client notification, carrier contact, incident documentation)
17. Regulatory compliance records (FDA/MHRA/TGA) with audit trails and on-demand reporting
18. Merge FrostLine’s 3,500 accounts with GTL’s 35,000, handling 2,800 overlaps
19. Cold-chain shipment certification workflow: auto-generate compliance certificates upon delivery confirmation with temperature log attachment

Customer Portal (Req 20-26)

20. Role-based portal for 35,000 accounts with three distinct roles: admin (manage users, view all account data), operations (track shipments, upload documents), finance (view quotes, invoices, payment status)
21. Self-service quoting replacing Excel-based process with carrier rate comparison, transit time estimates, and cold-chain surcharge calculation
22. Trade compliance document upload with file type validation and virus scanning
23. Document download as single files or bundled ZIP per shipment
24. Handle 8,000 concurrent users during peak hours with sub-5-second page loads
25. Portal data isolation: each client sees only their own account’s shipments, documents, and financial data with no cross-account visibility
26. Portal branding: support client-specific logos and color schemes for top-tier enterprise accounts

Field Operations (Req 27-33)

27. Mobile app for 800 warehouse workers across 12 facilities with offline capability for pick/pack/ship, inventory counts, and receiving inspection
28. Offline data scope per warehouse worker must cover assigned facility’s open work orders and shipment staging records
29. Mobile app for 200 drivers: delivery confirmation, proof of delivery (photo + digital signature capture), offline sync
30. BYOD device management for drivers with container-level data protection and remote wipe capability
31. Conflict resolution strategy for offline edits syncing from multiple field workers updating the same shipment
32. Real-time supervisor visibility into warehouse throughput, driver locations, delivery rates
33. Mobile session timeout and re-authentication policy for field devices

Reporting and Analytics (Req 34-40)

34. Global ops dashboard: volumes by region/mode, on-time rates, exception rates, revenue per shipment (4-hour refresh maximum)
35. Finance: quote-through-invoice visibility with cross-system reconciliation between Salesforce and SAP
36. Regional compliance dashboards: GDPR processing logs, trade screening logs, temperature compliance per jurisdiction
37. Cross-region executive dashboard: consolidate KPIs across NA, EU, APAC, and cold-chain into a single view with drill-down by region
38. Exception analytics: trend reporting on late shipments, customs holds, and temperature excursions by carrier, lane, and season
39. Cold-chain compliance reporting: on-demand audit reports per regulatory body (FDA, MHRA, TGA) with temperature log evidence
40. Historical analytics querying 5 years of tracking data without impacting transactional system performance

Security (Req 41-49)

41. Access governed by region, business unit, and function; no cross-region visibility unless global account
42. 4,200 global accounts visible to all relevant regional teams with data protection controls
43. Data residency: EU personal data in EU data center; Japan/Singapore/Australia per local regulations
44. Shield Platform Encryption for sensitive fields; encryption protects data at rest but does not change physical storage location
45. Portal users authenticated with MFA; support for client IdP federation via SAML
46. Sensitive data (hazmat, denied-party results, cold-chain pharma) restricted beyond standard RBAC via Restriction Rules
47. Complete audit trail for shipment, compliance, and account changes per jurisdictional retention periods
48. Data classification metadata tagging personal data fields by applicable regulation (GDPR, APPI, PDPA)
49. Session management: configurable session timeouts by user type (office, mobile, portal) with forced re-authentication on session expiry

Integration (Req 50-57)

50. Consolidate 40+ carrier APIs into a single abstraction layer; onboard new carriers without custom development per carrier
51. Bidirectional TMS synchronization in near-real-time
52. WMS events flow into CRM within 5 minutes
53. Consolidated ERP integration accounting for EU’s planned S/4HANA upgrade during the program
54. Temperature data: alerts within 2 minutes of excursion; full 60-second readings not required in Salesforce
55. Integration error handling with automated retry, dead-letter queues, and escalation paths per integration target
56. Circuit breaker pattern for synchronous integrations (customs screening) to prevent cascade failures
57. API rate limit management for carrier APIs with varied and undocumented throttling policies

Data Migration (Req 58-62)

58. Field-level mapping documentation for all three regional org schemas to the global data model, including data type conversions and default value rules
59. ETL cadence: accounts and contacts migrated first, then shipments with tracking events, then documents and compliance records
60. Rollback plan for each migration phase: ability to revert to source org as system of record if parallel run reveals critical discrepancies
61. Data validation rules: post-migration record counts, referential integrity checks, and spot-check audits for top 200 accounts by revenue
62. Zendesk 1.2M historical tickets migrated to Service Cloud as read-only cases with original timestamps preserved

Governance (Req 63-65)

63. Clear governance: ownership, change request process, deployment controls with GARB approval for cross-region changes
64. Support globally distributed dev team (3 time zones) with bi-weekly releases and follow-the-sun validation
65. Release management preventing regional changes from breaking other regions, with region-specific UAT and cross-region regression testing

Constraints

1. EU Salesforce data must remain in an EU data center
2. FrostGuard stays standalone; Salesforce integrates with it, not replaces it
3. SAP S/4HANA (NA) is the global ERP target; EU upgrade completes month 18
4. Carrier APIs cannot be modified - GTL must adapt
5. FrostLine FileMaker must be decommissioned within 12 months
6. Max 2 hours planned downtime for any customer-facing service during entire program
7. Must support 7 languages: EN, DE, NL, FR, JA, ZH, KO

Stakeholders

Role	Name	Key Concern
CEO	Maria Chen	Client retention through operational excellence
COO	David Okafor	Zero disruption during transformation
CISO	Anja Muller	Data residency; multi-jurisdictional security
CIO	Rajesh Patel	Consolidation ROI; reducing $4.2M 3-org maintenance
VP Sales	Tom Nakamura	Unified global account view; cross-sell cold-chain
VP Customer Experience	Sarah Kim	Portal performance; self-service adoption
VP Field Ops	Marcus Johnson	Mobile reliability; offline capability
VP M&A	Lisa Zhang	FrostLine onboarding; account merge
FrostLine MD	James Whitfield	Cold-chain monitoring preservation
EU Director	Pierre Duval	GDPR; no EU disruption
APAC Director	Yuki Tanaka	Data sovereignty; local language support

Budget and Timeline

Item	Budget	Timeline
Phase 1: Foundation + NA migration	$5.5M	Months 1-8
Phase 2: EU + APAC migration	$4.5M	Months 6-16
Phase 3: Cold-chain + portal	$3.0M	Months 12-22
Contingency	$1.5M	As needed
Total	$14.5M	24 months

IT staff: 45 internal (15 SF admins/devs across regions, 20 integration/infrastructure, 10 management). SI partner: Big Four firm with 35-person team. FrostLine IT: 8 people (all retained).

Known Risks

• LDV performance: Combined ~395M historical + 42-56M/year new tracking events
• Duplicate accounts: Conflicting field values across orgs with no global source of truth
• EU ERP upgrade overlap: SAP ECC to S/4HANA months 10-18 overlaps EU Salesforce migration
• FrostLine cultural integration: Small-company agility vs. “big company processes”
• Carrier API fragility: 40+ point-to-point integrations with undocumented rate limits
• Portal scale: 8,000 concurrent users beyond typical Experience Cloud deployments

Deliverables

Present all 9 CTA solution artifacts in 45 minutes + 45-minute Q&A:

1. System Landscape
2. Data Model / ERD
3. Role Hierarchy & Sharing Model
4. Integration Architecture
5. Identity & SSO
6. Data Migration Strategy
7. Governance Framework
8. Environment Strategy
9. Phased Delivery Roadmap

Board Strategy

This scenario is deliberately complex. Identify the 3-4 highest-risk architectural decisions and go deep. Briefly cover the rest. Show trade-off awareness, not feature lists.

Key Implicit Requirements

Data volumes (413M+ tracking events), the regulatory environment (GDPR/APPI/PDPA across 18 countries), org consolidation (3 orgs with different schemas, languages, and compliance tooling), integration count (40+ carriers + enterprise systems at ~920K events/day), and the dual-transformation risk (Salesforce + SAP simultaneously in EU) drive your most critical decisions.

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This content is study material for CTA exam preparation. Content compiled and presented with AI assistance. Not affiliated with Salesforce.