Contact Manager Edition is no longer sold but grandfathered orgs still run on it. The migration path is to Starter Suite, which inherits the same data model with substantially more capability.
- Inventory the org
List Accounts, Contacts, Tasks, Events, custom field counts, and any AppExchange packages installed. This is the baseline for the migration.
- Engage your Salesforce account executive
Contact Manager Edition orgs are typically too small to have a dedicated AE, but Salesforce SMB sales can quote a Starter Suite migration. Pricing differences will be the biggest concern; surface them early.
- Pick the target edition
Starter Suite for a bundled experience, Sales Cloud Starter if you only need sales, Service Cloud Starter for service-only. Most ex-Contact-Manager orgs land on Starter Suite.
- Spin up a target org and migrate data
The standard pattern is Data Loader export from the source, import to the target, with Account-Contact relationships intact. Tasks and Events follow. This is straightforward for Contact Manager-scale data volumes.
- Train users on the new feature set
Starter Suite adds Opportunity, Pipeline View, simple email marketing, and a meaningfully better mobile experience. Users coming from Contact Manager Edition will see new ribbons and menus; a short walkthrough prevents confusion.
- Decommission the old org
Once data is migrated and users are working in the new org, cancel the Contact Manager Edition contract. Export a final backup before shutdown.
- Contact Manager Edition is grandfathered; if you cancel the contract, you cannot re-buy it. Migrate forward only when you are sure.
- Custom field counts in Contact Manager were tight. Modern Starter Suite has more headroom, but if you used the maximum on Contact Manager, audit before migration to confirm everything has a home in the target.
- Pricing per user is higher on Starter Suite than on Contact Manager Edition was. Surface the cost change to the business owner well before the contract renewal.
- Reports and Dashboards on Contact Manager were limited to a few standard report types. Reports built there will likely need to be rebuilt in the target rather than exported and re-imported.
- The Salesforce Mobile App user experience differs. Train mobile-heavy users separately.