Initial setup
Summarize
Summary of Initial setup
The Initial Setup phase in the Customer Success Management onboarding process is designed to collect essential information to successfully onboard a customer. This includes identifying key contacts, defining roles, and setting up teams both on the customer and provider sides. Completing this phase establishes the foundation for managing the onboarding case efficiently.
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Key Activities
- Select account: Choose the customer account to generate an onboarding case. If generated from another case, this is auto-populated.
- Enter onboarding related info: Fill out mandatory fields such as the assigned provider agent, select the required Service Exchange integration type (Not required, Remote catalog, Remote task, or Foundation data sync), specify onboarding type (Phased or Full), and set the Go live date. Mark the step complete to proceed.
- Add customer team: Create customer contacts by entering their names and emails and add them to the onboarding case.
- Add customer team responsibilities: Assign predefined user roles to each customer contact. Completion triggers two automatic emails identifying the primary contact and key team members.
- Add account team: Add internal ServiceNow team members, assign predefined roles, and notify them via email. By default, tasks are assigned to the provider's ServiceNow administrator.
- Add squad: Optionally include squad members involved in completing onboarding tasks.
Field Behavior and Automation
The system automatically updates key fields based on predefined mappings to streamline progress tracking:
- Account onboarding cases: Updating the Stage field automatically updates the State field according to a defined mapping (e.g., New maps to Not started or At risk).
- Account onboarding case tasks: Changing the State field updates the Progress field to reflect statuses like Not started, Paused, On track, or Finished.
If using an earlier version of the Customer Success Management application, customers should refer to specific correction instructions to ensure accurate field mappings.
Benefits for ServiceNow Customers
This structured initial setup process helps ServiceNow customers efficiently onboard clients by clearly defining roles, responsibilities, and integration requirements while automating status tracking and notifications. It ensures all stakeholders are engaged and informed from the outset, enabling smoother onboarding execution and improved collaboration.
This phase is meant to gather the initial information needed to successfully onboard a customer. For example, gathering core information such as onboarding manager, key customer contact, internal and external stakeholders, their responsibilities, and so on.
| Activity | Details |
|---|---|
| Select account | When you select the customer account, a new account onboarding case is generated. Note: If the account onboarding case was generated from a case, this field is auto populated. Click Continue to go to the next activity. |
| Enter onboarding related info | The next activity in the playbook involves gathering onboarding related information. The mandatory fields to be entered are:
Note: The State field is set to New for a new record. If this field is updated, the Stage field is automatically updated based on the predefined mapping. This mapping is also available
for account onboarding case tasks between the Progress and State fields. See Field mapping for account onboarding cases and case tasks for details. |
| Add customer team |
Add the customer contacts who will work on the account onboarding case.
|
| Add customer team responsibilities | Assign responsibilities to each of the customer contacts that have been added.
When this step is completed, two emails are automatically generated. The first email identifies the primary point of contact for the account onboarding case. The second email identifies the key team members participating in the onboarding process. |
| Add account team | Add and assign responsibilities to the internal team members (service providers) working on the account onboarding case. This includes the ServiceNow administrator handling the case. After the account is added, an email is sent to all the team members.
Note: By default, all tasks in the playbook are assigned to the provider's ServiceNow administrator. |
| Add squad | Add the squad members who will be involved in completing the onboarding case and other activities. This is an optional activity. Click Mark complete to move to the next stage. |
After the Initial Setup stage has been completed, the case information, account, customer, and squad team member information you have added is displayed in the left panel.
Field mapping for account onboarding cases and case tasks
| State | Stage |
|---|---|
| New | Not started, At risk |
| Unassigned | Not started, At risk |
| Active | On track, At risk |
| Blocked | Paused, At risk |
| Closed | Finished |
| Canceled | Finished |
| State | Progress |
|---|---|
| Open | Not started |
| Awaiting customer | Paused, At risk |
| Awaiting internal | Paused, At risk |
| In Progress | On track, At risk |
| Review | On track, At risk |
| Closed | Finished |
| Canceled | Finished |
If you are using an earlier version of the Customer Success Management application, follow the instructions in KB1651427 to correct the mapping between these fields.