What should a customer onboarding project plan include?
A customer onboarding project plan for B2B SaaS should include: (1) A task table with task name, owner, due date, status, dependencies, and completion criterion. (2) Dependency map showing which tasks must complete before others start. (3) Go-live date with 5-day buffer. (4) Risk register with mitigation plans for IT dependencies, stakeholder gaps, and data requirements. (5) Communication schedule — what gets sent, when, to whom. (6) Escalation protocol — who is contacted when tasks are blocked for 48+ hours.
In this article
Project Plan Structure
Task Table
For each task record: task name, stage, owner (specific person), due date, dependencies, status, and completion criterion. The completion criterion is what turns a task list into a verification system — "client confirms via email" is a criterion. "Mark done" is not. See our onboarding checklist for the full task list by stage.
Dependency Map
Not all tasks are sequential. Map dependencies explicitly to identify the critical path and the tasks that can run in parallel. The IT track should always run in parallel with setup. See our timeline template for the visual layout.
Risk Register
Three columns: risk description, mitigation plan, resolution deadline. Populated at kickoff, reviewed weekly. Any risk approaching its deadline without resolution triggers escalation. The four risk categories are in our onboarding risk management guide.
Communication Schedule
Define in advance: welcome email (Day 0), kickoff recap (within 2 hours), weekly check-in (Days 7, 14, 21), at-risk outreach (triggered by health score or silence), go-live confirmation (Day 30). The full 10-email sequence is in our email sequence guide.
Project Plan vs Mutual Action Plan
The project plan is your internal working document — full task breakdown, dependencies, risk register, CSM-only tasks. The MAP is what you share with the client — the tasks that involve them, the go-live date, the escalation path. Keeping them separate prevents overloading the client with internal information while ensuring the CSM has everything they need. See our MAP template for the client-facing version.
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