Agency onboarding: key steps: Start with agreed outcomes, owners and required accounts.; Turn contract into a brief with budget authority, decision owner and change limits.; Run a kickoff to align on decisions and share data safely.
Image: Agency Review Desk

Agency Onboarding

Agency onboarding

Agency onboarding turns a signed agreement into safe access, shared priorities and a workable first month. It should produce a clear operating arrangement, not …

Desk Relationships · · 2 min read

Agency onboarding converts a signed agreement into safe access, shared priorities and a workable first month.

Start with outcomes, owners and the accounts the agency needs for the agreed work.

Agency onboarding workflow

  1. Start with outcomes, owners and account accessDefine business objectives, decision owners, and authorised accounts
  2. Turn contract into a short briefClarify scope: audience, budget, claims, change authority, and data sharing limits
  3. Run a kickoff around decisionsAlign on workflows, approvals, escalation paths, and measurement baselines
  4. Make month one realisticAgree deliverables, dependencies, and milestones for the first month

Give the agency a bounded starting point

Turn the contract into a short brief: business objective, audience, current performance baseline, approved claims, budget authority, decision owner and what the agency may change.

Separate work already authorised from ideas that need approval.

The earlier guide on agency contracts covers commercial scope. Onboarding puts that agreed scope into operation.

Access and ownership: see the companion piece on giving an agency access without surrendering account ownership.

First-week item / Evidence of completion

Account access
Named users, role and removal owner recorded
Measurement
Baseline, event definitions and known gaps agreed
Workflow
Brief, approval and escalation paths confirmed
Data
Fields shared and permitted purpose documented
Plan
Deliverables and dependencies for the first month accepted

First-week onboarding checklist

  • Account accessNamed users, role and removal owner recorded
  • MeasurementBaseline, event definitions and known gaps agreed
  • WorkflowBrief, approval and escalation paths confirmed
  • DataFields shared and permitted purpose documented
  • PlanDeliverables and dependencies for the first month accepted

Run a kickoff around decisions

Kickoff design: see the related article on running a kickoff around outcomes and responsibilities.

Data sharing: read the linked guide on sharing business context without exposing unnecessary data.

Make month one realistic

First-month planning: consult the separate article on agreeing a realistic first-month work plan.

In this guide

  1. Giving an agency access without surrendering account ownershipGrant an agency the access needed to do agreed work while keeping a client administrator and a clear exit route. Shared passwords make it hard to see who changed …
  2. Running a kickoff around outcomes and responsibilitiesA kickoff is useful when it resolves choices that would otherwise stall delivery. Send factual background before the meeting and use the live time to agree on …
  3. Sharing business context without exposing unnecessary dataAn agency needs enough context to make sound decisions, but it rarely needs the whole customer database on day one. Match each data request to a task, a permitted …
  4. Agreeing on a realistic first-month work planThe first month should establish access, a trustworthy baseline and a small set of improvements. Promising a full strategy, new creative, repaired measurement and …

More from Agency Onboarding

Agency Onboarding

Changing agencies

Plan an agency change around notice, account access, working files, live campaigns and clear responsibilities during the overlap.

Desk Relationships · · 4 min read