Client Onboarding

A client onboarding is the record of getting a newly signed customer live. It holds the plan, broken into phases with owners and due dates, and it collects everything that belongs to the engagement: comments, notes, documents, attachments, and links to the Slack and email threads where the real conversation happens. One onboarding is created per client account, so a customer who arrives as several deals or several signed agreements is still onboarded once, with every source recorded.

• Start one in seconds by typing the client name. If that client is new, Atlas creates the account for you, so nothing has to be set up in the CRM first
• Starts automatically as well, when a deal is won or an agreement is signed
• A library of ready-made plans covering enterprise rollouts, self-serve customers, professional services, regulated clients, migrations, and renewals
• Phased checklist with owners, due dates, and tasks that must be finished before the phase can close
• Progress is calculated from the required tasks, so the percentage always reflects real outstanding work
• One activity timeline covering checklist changes, comments, documents, attachments, and linked external conversations
• Attach a Slack thread, an email thread, or any document by pasting its address, and Atlas recognises and de-duplicates it

• An onboarding belongs to a client account, not to a single deal. If a second deal or agreement is signed for a client who is already being onboarded, it is attached to the existing record rather than starting a second one.
• Only tasks marked as required count toward progress, and only tasks that are both required and blocking prevent a phase from closing. Everything else is advisory, so nobody is trapped by an optional item.
• Automatic starts can be turned off. Workspace settings hold separate switches for deals, agreements, and bulk data imports, and imports are off by default so a large import cannot create thousands of onboardings at once.
• Plans are copied when an onboarding starts, never referenced. Editing or deleting a plan afterwards leaves live and completed onboardings exactly as they were, including who completed each task and when.
• You never have to visit the CRM to begin. Naming a client who does not exist yet creates the account behind the scenes, and naming one who already exists reuses their record rather than creating a duplicate.
• Client Onboarding is a paid module.

1. 1Open Client Onboarding from the sidebar, or press the command key and K and search for it.
2. 2Choose New onboarding, type the client name, pick a plan, and set a target go-live date if you have one. An onboarding also starts on its own when a deal is won or an agreement is signed.
3. 3Review the plan in the checklist. Add anything the plan did not anticipate, and remove what does not apply.
4. 4Assign owners and set due dates so every task has a name and a date against it.
5. 5Work through the phase. Tick tasks off as they are finished; progress updates as you go.
6. 6Attach the Slack thread, the email thread, and any shared documents so the whole engagement is readable in one place.
7. 7When the required work in a phase is done, use the button in the top right to move to the next phase.
8. 8Close the final phase to mark the onboarding complete, then hand over to whoever owns the relationship next.

What creates an onboarding?

Three things: winning a deal, completing an agreement signature, and starting one by hand. All three go through the same path, so however a client arrives, they are onboarded once and every source is recorded on the record.

Do I have to create the client in the CRM first?

No. Type the client name when you start the onboarding and Atlas takes care of the account. A client who already exists is matched regardless of capitalisation and reused, so you will not end up with the same company recorded twice.

Which plan should I choose?

The plan library is grouped by the kind of engagement, so you can pick by shape rather than by name: enterprise rollouts, self-serve customers, professional services and statements of work, commercial and billing setup, legal and compliance, technical integration, data migration, enablement and training, governance and reviews, regulated industries, and expansion or renewal. Each plan shows a summary and how long it usually runs. If you are not sure, leave the plan on the workspace default and adjust the checklist afterwards.

A client signed a second contract. Do they get a second onboarding?

No. While an onboarding is still open for that client, a further signed deal or agreement is attached to it as an additional source. If the previous onboarding has already been completed or cancelled, a new one can be started for the next engagement.

Why can I not move to the next phase?

A phase stays open while it still has tasks that are marked both required and blocking. The workspace names the tasks that are holding it, directly under the button, so you can see exactly what is left.

Can I change the plan for one client without changing it for everyone?

Yes. The plan is copied into the onboarding when it starts, so adding, editing, or removing tasks on one client changes only that client. To change what future clients get, edit the plan in the library.

How does progress get calculated?

Progress is the share of required tasks that are done or deliberately skipped. Optional tasks never affect it. An onboarding with no required tasks reads as complete rather than being stuck at zero.

What happens if we stop onboarding a client?

Cancel the onboarding. The record and its full history are kept, the client account is freed so a fresh onboarding can be started later, and the cancellation is written into the timeline with the reason.

Can an assistant read and update an onboarding?

Yes. The Atlas MCP server exposes tools to list and read onboardings, read the timeline, create and update checklist tasks, attach links, and start an onboarding. Advancing a phase and cancelling are deliberately left out, because both are consequential and belong to a person.