Client Onboarding Checklist for a Software Development Company

As a software development company, your goal for onboarding new clients should be to make the process as easy and painless as possible, focusing on their individual needs and providing them with value.

No doubt they will have questions about your process: where to go for information? Who is working on what? How do they know if you're delivering on your promises? Etcetera. It's your responsibility (and opportunity) to educate them, answer common doubts and questions, and provide them with everything they need to get started.

All of this combined confirms that their decision to go with you was a good one, and will allow you to begin work on the project without a hitch.

We designed this template to facilitate the complete onboarding process for a software development company, using automation to reduce the workload for both you and your client.

With our robust conditional logic, you'll also be able to deal with the individual needs of your clients more readily, saving you even more time by automatically creating specific tasks for specific client scenarios.

The process outlined in this checklist will form the backbone of your client onboarding workflow, allowing you to wrap everything up neatly and rest assured you've done the best job possible in bringing new clients on board.

Let's get started!

First of all, gather some basic details for this process using the form fields below.

Upload the software development contract to the form field below.

Send the contract to your client for signing with this email widget. 

You shouldn't have to do anything, since the body of the email has been prepared for you, pulling in all relevant data automatically. Simply check the text and hit send when you're ready.

Once you receive it back, upload the signed software development contract to the form field below.

Generate the first invoice and upload a copy of it to the form field below.

Send your client the first invoice so that work on the project can proceed.

The email below contains a copy of the invoice you provided in the previous task; simply check that the information is correct and send it off.

Once the client has paid the first invoice, record the date which they made the payment in the form field of this task.

Set up your project management system with everything you need to get started with this client's project.

Automate the creation of a new project management system entry with one of our project management app integrations. 

Discover how you can streamline your client onboarding process with Process Street with the video below:

Declare who will work on what during this project, and record details of each position in the form fields below.

Send an email to introduce the rest of the team to your client.

An email has been prepared for you with all of the information presented clearly for your client, including names and roles of your team members. They've even been CC'd into the recipients.

Give the email a look-over to make sure everything is accurate and hit the send button.

Invite your new client onto all of your relevant communications channels. 

Use the sub-checklist below as a guide, and check this task as complete once you've done this.

Early in the process, it's a good idea to help your client feel welcome by preparing some content for sending over as part of a welcome email.

Here is a list of content you might consider incorporating into your welcome email:

You may already have some welcome content prepared for situations like this. If that's the case, simply proceed to the next task.

Otherwise, use the form fields below to record resources that will be the element's welcome email.

Edit the body of the email below to include only the information you need , and then send it when everything looks okay.

You can use one of our email integrations to automatically send this welcome email whenever you run a new version of this checklist.

Check the contents of the email below, then hit the send button to send a link to your client for them to book a kickoff call with you.

Everything is already prepared for you; simply send the email once you've made sure it looks good.

Use the email widget below to schedule progress reports with your new client further on into the onboarding process.

Check over the text in the email template and then hit the send button once you're happy with it.

Confirm the dates of all onboarding appointments booked so far using he form fields in this task.

Send over a questionnaire to get information on the patient's lifestyle and general health, including allergies, existing conditions, and general fitness.

Ideally, the questionnaire should be completed before the appointment. Edit the email body to include a link to your own questionnaire.

Set up an email integration to send this questionnaire using your survey tool of choice; we have a bunch of options for automating Typeform to streamline your patient onboarding workflow.

Send over a questionnaire to get information on the patient's lifestyle and general health, including allergies, existing conditions, and general fitness.

Ideally, the questionnaire should be completed before the appointment. Edit the email body to include a link to your own questionnaire.

Set up an email integration to send this questionnaire using your survey tool of choice; we have a bunch of options for automating Typeform to streamline your patient onboarding workflow.

Once you've received the completed business goals questionnaire, record a link to it in the form field here:

Once you've received the completed project specifications questionnaire, record a link to it in the form field here:

Prepare a meeting agenda before you have the kickoff call, with points that you'll want to go over with your client.

Use the form field below to record the consultation agenda.

Prepare a to-do list to guide the client toward achieving a successful onboarding outcome.

The to-do list should be arranged in order of urgency, with clear instructions for completing each item and recommended due dates for the client to work towards.

Once prepared, upload the to-do list to the form field below.

Discuss the meeting agenda during your call with the client, addressing each point as you go.

Make notes during the course of the call with the form field below.

Discuss the to-do list that you prepared earlier and make sure the client clearly understands each item.

A to-do list is an important tool for achieving a successful onboarding, so it's crucial that the client understands the information laid out in this document.

Discuss a timeline for the project, including an estimate for project completion date, what will be the first milestone and when the due date will be for that milestone.

After coming to an agreement with your client, record the details in the form fields below.

Prepare a project brief containing all of the information you know about the client so far, including their business goals, needs and project specifications.

Upload a copy of the project brief document to the form field below.

Send a copy of the project brief to your client using the email widget in this task,

The body of the email template has been prepared for you, and the project brief document has been inserted automatically.

All you have to do is check that the information is accurate and send the email.

Project information

Signed contract: {{form.Signed_software_development_contract}}
First invoice: {{form.First_invoice}}
First invoice paid: {{form.Date_first_invoice_paid}}

Project manager: {{form.Project_manager}}
Technical lead: {{form.Technical_lead}}
Product owner: {{form.Product_owner}}
Lead graphic designer: {{form.Lead_graphic_designer}}
Software developers: {{form.Software_developers}}
Testing: {{form.Testers}}

Kickoff call scheduled for: {{form.Kickoff_call_date}}
30 day progress report scheduled for:{{form.30_day_progress_report_date}}
60 day progress report scheduled for: {{form.60_day_progress_report_date}}
90 day progress report scheduled for: {{form.90_day_progress_report_date}}

Business goals questionnaire (completed): {{form.Completed_business_goals_questionnaire}}
Project specification questionnaire (completed): {{form.Completed_project_specifications_questionnaire}}

Client to-do list: {{form.Client_to-do_list}}
To-do list notes: {{form.Client_to-do_list_notes}}

First milestone: {{form.First_milestone}}
First milestone date: {{form.First_milestone_date}}

Project brief: {{form.Project_brief}}

Copy and paste the information above directly into your project management software.

Save time by automatically updating your customer profile with one of our many project management integrations.

Perform research to support the design decisions made for their software spec.

This goes a long way to make an impression on your client that your design decisions are thorough and well-thought-out. Just make sure the supporting research is actually relevant. Provide statistics, proven methodologies, or similar case studies.

Provide a link to the relevant research below. It could also be a Google Docs form with a collection of your research.

The research you performed has been automatically added to the body of the email below. Simply check the contents of the email and send it off when you're ready.

Take notes during your 30 day progress meeting and record them in the form field below.

You can streamline the onboarding process if you assign this to marketing with our task assignments feature.

Use these notes to prepare a full report and upload it to the file upload form field below.

Send the client your 30 day progress report. The email is already prepared; simply check the contents and send it when you're ready.

Take notes during your 60 day progress meeting and record them in the form field below.

Use these notes to prepare a full report and upload it to the file upload form field below.

Send the client your 60 day progress report. The email is already prepared; simply check the contents and send it when you're ready.

Take notes during your 90 day progress meeting and record them in the form field below.

Use these notes to prepare a full report and upload it to the file upload form field below.

Send the client your 90 day progress report. The email is already prepared; simply check the contents and send it when you're ready.

With your new client fully onboard, it's time to send over a feedback questionnaire.

The link to your feedback questionnaire is already in the body of the email below; just make sure the information looks correct and send it off.

Once the client has completed the feedback questionnaire, insert a link to it in the form field below.

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