━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ SOP DOCUMENT ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ SOP Title: SaaS Customer Onboarding Process SOP Code: CSM-OPS-001 Version: 1.0 Effective Date: May 9, 2026 Last Review Date: May 9, 2026 Approved By: To be filled ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 1. PURPOSE ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ This SOP defines the standard process for onboarding new SaaS customers after contract signing. The purpose is to ensure customers are successfully set up, trained, and fully operational within 5 business days. A consistent onboarding process improves customer satisfaction, accelerates product adoption, and reduces implementation delays or support issues. 2. SCOPE This SOP applies to all new SaaS customers and covers the activities performed by the Sales, Customer Success, and Onboarding teams. It applies to all onboarding activities conducted remotely across all business locations. 3. ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES | Role | Responsibility | | ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Sales Representative | Transfer customer information and contract details to the onboarding team after deal closure | | Onboarding Specialist | Manage onboarding activities, configure accounts, conduct training, and confirm customer go-live | | Customer Success Manager | Monitor customer adoption and overall onboarding success | | Technical Support Team | Assist with technical setup issues or escalations | | Customer Contact | Provide required information, attend training, and validate onboarding completion | 4. MATERIALS / TOOLS REQUIRED * CRM system * Customer onboarding checklist * SaaS platform admin portal * Video conferencing software * Email platform * Knowledge base or training documentation * Project/task management tool * Customer contract and signed agreement 5. PROCEDURE (STEP-BY-STEP) Total Estimated Time: 5 Business Days Step 1: Receive Customer Handoff Action: Review the signed contract and customer information provided by the Sales Representative. Confirm onboarding requirements, purchased features, timeline, and customer contacts. Who: Onboarding Specialist Time: 30 minutes Output: Complete onboarding request with customer details confirmed Step 2: Schedule Kickoff Meeting Action: Contact the customer and schedule an onboarding kickoff meeting within 1 business day of contract signing. Share agenda and onboarding timeline. Who: Onboarding Specialist Time: 30 minutes Output: Kickoff meeting scheduled and calendar invitation sent Step 3: Conduct Kickoff Meeting Action: Meet with the customer to introduce the onboarding process, confirm goals, gather setup requirements, and explain responsibilities and timelines. Who: Onboarding Specialist Time: 1 hour Output: Customer requirements and onboarding expectations documented Step 4: ⚠️ Configure Customer Account Action: Create and configure the customer account, user access, permissions, integrations, and purchased product features according to the signed agreement. Who: Onboarding Specialist Time: 2–4 hours Output: Customer environment configured and ready for testing Step 5: Perform Internal Quality Verification Action: Test account functionality, user access, integrations, notifications, and core workflows before customer access is granted. Who: Onboarding Specialist Time: 1 hour Output: Verified and tested customer setup Step 6: Deliver Product Training Action: Conduct customer training sessions covering platform navigation, key features, workflows, and best practices. Provide supporting documentation and training materials. Who: Onboarding Specialist Time: 1–2 hours Output: Customer trained on product usage and onboarding materials shared Step 7: Support Customer Go-Live Action: Assist the customer during initial platform usage and resolve any onboarding-related issues or questions. Who: Onboarding Specialist Time: 1 business day Output: Customer actively using the platform successfully Step 8: Confirm Onboarding Completion Action: Obtain customer confirmation that onboarding is complete and verify the customer is live within 5 business days. Update onboarding status in the CRM system. Who: Onboarding Specialist Time: 30 minutes Output: Customer marked as onboarded and live in system records 6. QUALITY CHECKPOINTS • After Step 4: Verify all purchased features, user permissions, and integrations are configured correctly • After Step 6: Verify customer attended training and can successfully perform basic platform functions 7. COMMON ERRORS & HOW TO AVOID THEM | Error | Cause | Prevention | | ----------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- | | Incorrect account configuration | Missing or unclear contract details | Review signed contract carefully before setup | | Delayed onboarding timeline | Customer meetings not scheduled promptly | Schedule kickoff meeting within 1 business day | | Customer confusion after training | Training delivered too quickly or without examples | Use live demonstrations and provide written guides | | Missing integrations or permissions | Incomplete setup validation | Perform full internal testing before go-live | 8. ESCALATION PATH If onboarding cannot be completed within 5 business days due to technical issues, missing customer information, or system errors, the Onboarding Specialist must escalate the issue to the Customer Success Manager and Technical Support Team within 24 hours of identifying the risk. 9. RECORD KEEPING Maintain onboarding records including signed contracts, onboarding checklists, training attendance, configuration details, customer communications, and go-live confirmations. Store all records in the CRM system and shared onboarding repository for a minimum retention period of 3 years.