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OnboardingCustomers

For MSPs and IT service providers

MSP onboarding checklist for new managed IT clients

An MSP onboarding checklist covers everything needed before you can support a new client: signed agreement, discovery of users and devices, admin credentials handed over securely, network and backup documentation, agent rollout, security baseline and a go-live date for support. OnboardingCustomers runs that checklist as a plan with client tasks and document requests in one portal.

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IT technician installing network equipment in a client's server closet during onboarding
onboardingcustomers.com/app/onboardings/207/documents
  • Certificate of insurancePDF, 412 KB Approved
  • W-9 formPDF, 96 KB Approved
  • Security questionnaireXLSX, 58 KB In review
  • Employee data exportCSV required Rejected, wrong format
  • Brand guidelinesNot uploaded yet Requested 5 days ago
Files are type checked and scanned on upload. Reminder to the customer goes out tomorrow at 9:00 their time.

Why MSP onboarding needs a checklist the client can see

Taking on a new managed services client means inheriting an environment you did not build. Half the information lives in the head of a departing IT person, a quarter in an outdated spreadsheet and the rest nowhere. Your technicians cannot support what they cannot see, and the first month of tickets goes badly when discovery was rushed.

A checklist fixes the order of work. A checklist the client can see fixes the bigger problem: most of the items depend on them. Admin access, license lists, vendor contacts and a list of who is a VIP user all come from the client side. When those items sit in an email, they come back slowly. When each one is a task assigned to a named contact with a due date and a reminder, they come back on time.

Below is a complete checklist you can copy. It is also the default MSP template in OnboardingCustomers.

Example client

Atlas Dental Group, 12 clinics, 140 users

  1. Signed
  2. Discovery
  3. Access
  4. Rollout
  5. Baseline
  6. Support live
At risk, firewall admin pending 9 of 14 documents received

The client operations manager sees the same plan in their portal with only their tasks: the clinic list, the license export, the vendor contacts and the user communication sign-off.

The MSP onboarding checklist

Grouped by phase. Items marked client are tasks for the client contact in the portal. Items marked MSP are tasks for your team.

1. Agreement and kickoff

  • Client Sign the managed services agreement and any data processing addendum
  • Client Name the primary contact, billing contact and after hours escalation contact
  • Client Book the kickoff meeting
  • MSP Confirm service scope, sites and included users from the agreement
  • MSP Agree the support go-live date and the communication plan for end users

2. Discovery and documentation

  • Client Upload the user list with roles, departments and VIP users
  • Client Upload the site list with addresses, opening hours and onsite contacts
  • Client Share software license exports and renewal dates
  • Client List third party vendors with support contacts (ISP, phone system, line of business apps)
  • MSP Audit devices, servers, printers and network equipment
  • MSP Document the network, including diagrams, IP ranges and firewall rules

3. Access and handover

  • Client Grant global admin or delegated access to the email and productivity tenant
  • Client Hand over firewall, switch and wireless admin access through your vault process
  • Client Hand over domain registrar and DNS access
  • Client Confirm backup provider access or approve migration to your backup
  • MSP Verify every credential works and record access status in the plan
  • MSP Remove or rotate accounts held by the previous provider

4. Rollout, baseline and go-live

  • MSP Deploy monitoring and management agents to all endpoints and servers
  • MSP Apply the security baseline, MFA, patch policy and endpoint protection
  • MSP Run and verify a test restore from backup
  • Client Approve the end user announcement with the new support contact details
  • MSP Open the support desk for the client and confirm ticket routing
  • Client Sign off on onboarding complete

How the checklist runs in OnboardingCustomers

Named document requests

User list, license export, network diagram. Each is requested by name with document collection, and the plan shows what arrived and what is missing.

Reminders to the owner

The contact who owns an overdue item gets a reminder. Your service manager sees the at-risk chip before the support go-live date is in danger.

A record of what was handed over

Every completed task, upload and signature is timestamped, so you can show what the client provided and when, which helps when scope questions come up later.

Common MSP onboarding mistakes the checklist prevents

  • Starting support before access is verified. The first urgent ticket arrives and nobody can log into the firewall. Make access verification a milestone before support go-live.
  • No inventory of third party vendors. When the phone system fails, you need the vendor contract number, not a guess.
  • Old provider accounts left active. Rotation of shared admin accounts belongs in the plan, not in someone's memory.
  • Users never told who to call. An approved end user announcement is a client task with a due date.

If you onboard clients for other services too, the general onboarding checklist template covers the steps that apply to every B2B service.

Keep exploring

Document collection Request diagrams, licenses and lists by name. Onboarding checklist template A general checklist you can adapt. Client onboarding automation Reminders and triggers for each step.

Frequently asked questions

Still deciding? Write to [email protected] and a person on our team answers.

What should an MSP onboarding checklist include?
Contract and service scope, client contacts and escalation path, an inventory of users, devices, sites and applications, administrator access, network and backup documentation, agent rollout, security baseline checks, user communication and a support go-live date.
How do clients hand over credentials safely?
Ask for access through your own credential vault process and track only the status in the plan, for example access granted or pending. Do not paste passwords into tasks, comments or emails. Documents such as network diagrams can be uploaded in the portal.
Can I reuse one checklist for every new client?
Yes. Save your checklist as a template with phases and client tasks. Each new client gets a copy adjusted to the agreement, for example extra tasks when a second site or a cloud migration is in scope.
Does it replace my PSA or RMM?
No. It runs onboarding and the client-facing plan. Tickets, monitoring and billing stay in the tools you already use for ongoing service.
How many new clients can we onboard at once?
Startup allows 10 active onboardings, Growth 50, Scale 200 and Enterprise 1,000. An onboarding stops counting as active at go-live.

Run your MSP onboarding checklist in a client portal

Create an account, save your checklist as a template and send your next new client a portal with every item they owe you.

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