The first 30 days of an MSP engagement decide whether the client turns into a quiet, profitable account \u2014 or a support-ticket bonfire. What separates the two is not the technical work. It is whether onboarding was run from a repeatable process or improvised over Teams.<\/p>\n
Below is the MSP client onboarding checklist we recommend to managed service providers running Superdocu. It covers what to collect, when to collect it, and how to make sure the discovery, security baseline, and documentation are locked in before you own the environment.<\/p>\n
An MSP takes over responsibility for someone else’s infrastructure. That means you inherit their bad decisions, their undocumented workarounds, and their unpatched servers on day one. If you skip discovery, you find out about the unmonitored Hyper-V host during the first outage.<\/p>\n
A repeatable onboarding checklist gives you three things:<\/p>\n
The rest of this guide walks through the exact sequence, broken into the same phases we use with MSPs running Superdocu workflows.<\/p>\n
This is the complete list. Cut items that do not apply to the engagement type (a co-managed IT retainer needs less than a full white-glove takeover).<\/p>\n
Send these through e-signature. If you use Superdocu, the DocuSign integration is inside the workflow so the client signs and the countersigned PDF is filed automatically in the portal \u2014 no separate DocuSign inbox to babysit.<\/p>\n
Nail down the escalation contacts on day one. The number of MSPs that discover on day 20 they have no after-hours phone number is embarrassing.<\/p>\n
This is the section where the client typically says “we do not have that documented.” That is fine. Ask for what exists and plan a discovery scan in week one.<\/p>\n
If the client has fewer than 200 endpoints, a spreadsheet is fine. Above that, plan on running a discovery tool during week one to build the real inventory.<\/p>\n
Do not accept a shared password document over email. Ask the client to create dedicated MSP accounts for each system, or receive credentials through a secure vault. This is the top compliance failure in MSP onboarding audits.<\/p>\n
Assume no backups are working until you have restored a real file from them. This is not paranoia; it is the leading cause of client crises in month two.<\/p>\n
The security baseline drives what you have to fix in the first 90 days. Get it in writing, tie the gaps to the SOW, and price the remediation separately.<\/p>\n
Every MSP has a story about the mystery Windows Server 2008 running one payroll script. Discovery week is when you find yours.<\/p>\n
Tenants are where hidden costs live. A single unmonitored app registration can leak client data for years. Audit the third-party apps before you take on management.<\/p>\n
Get the previous MSP’s documentation, even if it is bad. Bad documentation is faster to rewrite than starting from a blank page.<\/p>\n
Use the checklist above inside a phased plan so the client experiences steady progress instead of one giant discovery marathon.<\/p>\n