Single Phase vs. Multi-Phase Onboarding Execution

Overview

This topic describes the advantages and disadvantages of using a phased, or iterative, approach to onboarding into the Messaging platform.

Clients will often ask if their onboarding can be approached in phases. They may ask "Do all Campaigns within a given channel need to launch at once?" Or, "Do all channels (Email, SMS Text, Push Notifications, etc.) need to launch at once?"

While the ideal onboarding effort is handled in a single-phase engagement between the Client and the Cheetah Digital Onboarding team, it's possible to successfully utilize a multi-phased execution approach, as long as a best-practice tenet is adhered to. Specifically, completing the requirements gathering process in its entirety is critical, even if marketing channels, or Campaigns within a channel, are rolled out in subsequent phases.

To understand the importance of this approach, we’ll provide an overview of the Cheetah Digital Onboarding process, and take a look at some common issues that can influence the decision between a single phase versus a multi-phase onboarding execution.

Onboarding

The Cheetah Digital Onboarding process has three stages (not to be confused with a multi-phase execution strategy). The three stages of the Cheetah Digital Onboarding process are:

Discover -- This stage involves working with the Client to define the functional and technical requirements of building a Client-specific solution withinEngage+. The deliverables for this stage are comprised within the Business Requirement Document (BRD).
Execute -- After the Client’s acceptance of these requirements, the Execute stage entails implementing the data feeds and tables, creating Campaigns, building exports, and enabling reporting. This stage will also include development and testing of any custom configurations for the Client.
Activate -- Upon completion of all execution activities, as well as related testing and acceptance of the requirements herein, the Client’s Messaging solution will go live in a production capacity.

Iterative development of the BRD spans two of these three stages -- Discover and Execute. The Discover stage involves defining the functional and technical requirements required to build a Messaging solution for the Client. Upon agreement and sign-off of all sections of the BRD, Cheetah Digital and the Client will have the information necessary to develop (Execute) and test (Activate) all configurations as they relate to the agreed upon functional and technical requirements. At the conclusion of the Activate stage, testing and acceptance of the Messaging solution will be complete, and the solution can move into production.

If a Client has constraints, whether internal (such as accessibility of key personnel, sprint development cycles, seasonality) or external (such as third party vendor engagement, contractual obligations), that preclude the entirety of the onboarding scope of work to be accomplished within a single onboarding cycle, a multi-phase execution approach can be utilized. In these circumstances, the Cheetah Digital Onboarding team will recommend that the Discover stage be done holistically in a single effort, as opposed to doing Discover phases that align against each distinct Execute and Activate stage.

Holistic requirements gathering helps ensure that the database diagram -- a critical component of the Messaging configuration -- will effectively support all Campaign types, across all channels the Client will be using. Taking a piecemeal approach to the Discover stage and aligning it against a multi-phased execution plan is far more likely to result in re-work and change requests, since a full vetting of the design can't be applied before the build work begins.

Other Considerations

In addition to the singular, holistic Discover stage, Clients may also want to consider the following when evaluating whether a single phase or a multi-phase execution onboarding is appropriate for their needs:

Accessibility of key personnel throughout the onboarding -- Clients may find that it’s easier to schedule or make available certain key stakeholders available within specific execution phases (for example, API development) versus having the stakeholder be present throughout the onboarding project.
Usability of Messaging – Multi-phase executions can offer self-service clients the ability to familiarize themselves with Messaging more gradually over the course of the Execute phases, instead of being immersed all at once.
Permission Status Synching Across Systems – When multiple sending platforms are being used, the need to synchronize permission statuses (opt-ins and opt-outs) may be needed depending on which party is the "system of record" for permission management. A sync for a minimum of 30 days after the prior vendor’s last Campaign send should be carried out given that CAN-SPAM requires unsubscribe links must remain active for a period of 30 days after a mailing deploys.
Multiple system campaign reporting – With multi-phase onboarding executions, a Client will often need to look into two different systems for Campaign reports – that of the vendor they are moving from, as well as Messaging. Clients may want to consider the needs and methods of their system users tasked with delivering Campaign reporting.
Remarketing campaigns -- Complexities involved with deploying remarketing campaigns based on a client’s Web Analytics vendor data (ex. Omniture, Coremetrics, Google Analytics) being captured from multiple systems should be considered. Simplification of the Campaign audience selection rules may be prudent for this temporary period of time when overlap may occur.

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