Client Data Access and Metric Sign-Off (Onboarding)

Client Data Access and Metric Sign-Off (Onboarding)

1. 01

   Inventory every source system the client will report on, and name the person who owns each one

   List the CRM, ad platforms, billing system, and product database separately. A source with no named owner becomes the reason a dashboard goes stale in month three.

2. 02

   Confirm the metric definition in writing before any chart is built

   Ask the client to state how they calculate pipeline, active customer, and cost per acquisition. Two teams at the same company often disagree, and the disagreement surfaces during a board meeting, not during onboarding.

3. 03

   Test whether ad platform conversion data reaches CRM opportunity records

   B2B agencies that cannot connect spend to closed revenue produce a pipeline number finance will not accept, which puts the retainer at risk. Document the gap in a client-facing brief rather than quietly working around it.

4. 04

   Map each client viewer to a role and a row-level scope

   Decide who sees margin, who sees individual rep performance, and who sees only aggregate totals. Retrofitting permissions after a client shares a link is far more expensive than setting them at kickoff.

5. 05

   Agree the refresh cadence and the alert thresholds in the same session

   A daily refresh on a weekly decision cycle adds cost without changing behavior. Tie each automated alert to a named person who will act on it.

6. 06

   Run one full reporting cycle on the real dataset before the first invoice

   Build the deliverable, hand it to the client, and watch them use it. Delivery cost and margin expectations should be set from that observed cycle, not from a demo on sample data.

7. 07

   Record the access model, metric definitions, and cadence in a single handoff document

   The document becomes the reference when a new analyst joins the account or the client changes marketing leadership.