A client has accepted the proposal. Before filling the calendar with meetings, make sure both sides can answer five questions: what happens first, who decides, what access is needed, how billing works and what could delay the work. A short onboarding record is a useful place for those answers.

The short version

End onboarding with one agreed first deliverable, its owner and date, a working route for approvals, and a list of unresolved dependencies. An invitation to a system is not the same as tested access, and a signed proposal is not always enough for a client's finance team to process an invoice.

Define the first deliverable in observable terms

Translate the first stage of the proposal into something the client can recognise and review. For a marketing engagement, that might be an account audit with a prioritised action list. Agree its format, what it covers and the date on which the client will receive it. Keep any exclusions visible alongside the scope.

Write down what must arrive before that work can begin. If you need an approved brief, historic results or a set of brand assets, give each dependency an owner and date. Agree how a missing input affects the timetable; avoid silently promising the original deadline after the inputs have moved.

  • First deliverable: what the client will actually receive.
  • Scope and exclusions: what this stage does and does not cover.
  • Inputs: the files, decisions and access needed to produce it.
  • Dates: input deadline, delivery date and review date.
  • Acceptance: who reviews it and how feedback will be collected.

Name the people who can make decisions

The person who attends weekly calls may not be able to approve a new budget, sign off a design or resolve a supplier-registration problem. Identify the main contact and the people responsible for those decisions before an urgent request appears.

Choose one place for decisions that affect scope, dates or spending. A meeting note or shared project record can work if both sides use it. Keep a dated record of the agreed change and distinguish a suggestion from an approval.

  • Day-to-day contact and a backup for absences.
  • Person authorised to approve scope or budget changes.
  • Reviewer for the first deliverable.
  • Finance contact for supplier setup and invoices.
  • Agreed channel for decisions and urgent issues.

Request access, then test the task you need to do

List the systems needed for the first stage and request the appropriate role through each platform's access controls. Where individual invitations are available, use them so access can later be changed or removed for one person. Keep passwords, recovery codes and full payment details out of your onboarding record.

Test the actual task after accepting an invitation. Being able to view an advertising account does not establish that you can edit campaigns, retrieve billing records or use its reporting connections. Record missing permissions precisely so the client can resolve the right issue.

Follow the NCSC's guidance for important business accounts: use passkeys where supported, or strong unique passwords with two-step verification. Review access when people leave or no longer need it. Decide who will remove the consultant's access at the end of the engagement.

Further reading: NCSC: secure your important online accounts

Make the first invoice easy to process

Ask the finance contact for the correct customer entity, billing address, invoice destination and any purchase-order or supplier-registration requirement. Confirm the agreed fee, currency and payment schedule against the engagement terms. If the work crosses borders, also agree the payment route and who will address a currency or fee discrepancy.

Use the official invoice requirements for your business when preparing the invoice. GOV.UK sets out the required identifying, date, description and amount information, with additional points for sole traders, limited companies and VAT invoices. A client's purchase-order process is a separate operational requirement; satisfying it does not replace those invoice requirements.

For advertising work, keep the consultancy fee separate from the platform's media charges in the onboarding record. Identify who pays each and who retrieves the relevant invoices.

Further reading: GOV.UK: what invoices must include

Use one short kickoff record

You can copy these labels into a shared document. Fill only what is relevant to the engagement and link to the detailed agreement rather than trying to recreate it. Give each unanswered question an owner and next action so it cannot disappear into meeting notes.

  • Project and agreed scope: summary and location of agreement.
  • First deliverable: output, delivery date and reviewer.
  • Client inputs: item, owner and due date.
  • Access: system, role requested, task tested and remaining issue.
  • Approvals: decision maker and place where decisions are recorded.
  • Billing: entity, finance contact, invoice route and required reference.
  • Open decisions: question, responsible person and deadline.
  • Next review: date and what both sides will check.

Check the record after the first week

Revisit the unresolved items after work starts. Confirm that promised access works, the first inputs have arrived and the client knows when to review the first output. Update the delivery plan if a dependency remains blocked.

The record earns its place when it prevents the same question being asked twice. Keep it short, replace outdated details and carry forward the decisions that will matter at billing or handover.

Sources & updates

Prepared with AI assistance. How these guides are written.

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