Meanwhile, he had been transferred out of engineering project management into sales. His new sales manager had no interest in a project management system for engineering but could see how the same system might be useful in managing sales force processes.

In two weeks, Trahey had customized a copy of SugarCRM for the System Engineering sales force, creating categories and fields in the reports that reflected how ThyssenKrupp does business. He and fellow account managers use it to capture information and set up workflows associated with each account. "We didn't have to shape our business to the software tool. We were able to shape the tool to our business," he said.

Two years ago, the system engineering unit determined it would cost $40,000 to $50,000 to hire someone to write the requirements for an assembly line CRM system. Instead, Trahey's research prompted them to adopt SugarCRM. "We haven't had to spend that money yet," he said with some pride, nor would the money be there to spend under ThyssenKrupp's current operating conditions.

SugarCRM is now used in production to manage sales force processes, with about 10% of the system representing customizations. After operational data is collected, it's sometimes categorized, labeled, and added to a knowledgebase. Reports done on a customer's specifications, for example, can be tagged and moved into the knowledge management part of SugarCRM for future reference.

He's been able to connect the sales system to executive dashboards that offer key performance indicators and graphs. When his boss mouses over a piece of information, an Ajax-based connector pops up related information. "It shows you the big changes going on in a live way. Here are the opportunities that lie closest to the bottom of the funnel," he said.

A second SugarCRM system is being built for the engineering side, but it's still in development and will require more extensive, perhaps 40% customization, Trahey said.

Despite the dire condition of the U.S. automakers and layoffs at heavy-equipment manufacturer Caterpillar, Trahey knows there's work waiting to be done by him and his new SugarCRM system. No matter how bad the economy he gets, he said, people "are still going to need to get in the car and go to work, to Grandma's house, or to get the kids."

He looks too young and too optimistic for the experience he has just been through, trying to hand code his unit's automation system, but he remains unfazed as long as the outcome lends itself to ordering to what was a previously disordered and chaotic process.

He may be in sales now, but he maintains an attitude that shows his roots: "I'm an engineer. I believe in structure."