Customer Onboarding: Implementation

The Implementation Phase is where we gather and define the project requirements to build the project plan, tasks, and timeline.  (watch video)

Implementation Methodology

An Implementation Methodology is a structured approach for planning, organizing, and managing the project to ensure efficient, effective delivery.  

SearchUnify's Implementation methodology includes 8 key elements.

1. Planning & Kickoff
2. User Provisioning
3. Requirements Gathering
4. Development and Configuration
5. Internal Acceptance Testing
6. User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
7. Go Live
8. Hypercare & Customers Success Transition

1. Planning & Kickoff

We’ve introduced the team and outlined what to expect before the project begins. We align on key business goals, scope, priorities, timelines, stakeholders, and governance.

2. User Provisioning

The SearchUnify team will go over the prerequisites, chief among them is getting access to your sandbox environment and your content sources, so we can authenticate crawling and permission testing.

We will also install the SearchUnify applications in your Sandbox environment and spin up our instance to connect to yours.

3. Requirements Gathering

Before the project can be built, SearchUnify will review the requirements and might reach out with any follow up questions. 

Once your requirements are finalized, we generate a project plan complete with tasks, milestones, and target dates. This is what we use and show during our project status meetings.

Each project has multiple stages - depending on the project. But there are 3 major phases for every project:

• • • Sandbox Configuration and Development
    • Sandbox User Acceptance Testing
    • Deployment to Production.

4. Development and Configuration

At this time, the project is in full swing. SearchUnify will begin configuring the solution, including automations, integrations, and data crawling. This will take the most amount of time for the project.  

Implementation is also the time when you might be thinking of changes to the project.  However, as referenced in the Kickoff meeting, Change Requests will impact the project timelines and costs. So if the change is not critical, we recommend holding off on the change until after Go Live.

5. Internal Acceptance Testing

As we get closer to completing the development and confirmation of your solution, you don't need to worry about testing. We handle it internally. We validate the solution against requirements and document use cases.  We may occasionally seek clarification, but testing remains OUR responsibility.

6.User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

Once the main configuration and development is done, we now move to the User Acceptance Testing stage of Implementation.  This is also referred to as UAT.

This stage requires your team's active involvement.

We move the solution to a test environment mirroring your production instance.  

While we continue internal testing, your team reviews typical scenarios and use cases, providing feedback through the Customer Portal.

We'll need to lock down the configuration and development and defer any changes or new requirements until after we deploy to Production.

After receiving sign-off on User Acceptance Testing, we move to the Go Live phase. 

7. Go Live

The code is frozen and we prepare to move our solution to your Production environment.  A dedicated team is then prepared to monitor and support your solution post-deployment. While we continue internal testing, your team reviews typical scenarios and use cases, providing feedback.

8. Hypercare and Customer Success Transition

The final step of implementation is Hypercare and the transition to a Customer Success Manager, (CSM).  The Hypercare Team monitors and fine-tunes the solution as needed and the Customer Success Manager tracks adoption and success, and provides training on administering and configuring the SearchUnify solution.  Your Customer Success Manager will support you every step of the way.

Meetings and Updates

The SearchUnify Project Management team will meet with you at a scheduled cadence and go through the project and any project dependencies or risks.

The Project Management team will also list and review any open or blocked tasks.

These scheduled meetings are very important to the success of the project.

Customer Project Portal

You also have access to your project via a Customer Project Portal. You can find all information related to your project here.  The Customer Project Portal provides a wealth of information available to you at all times.

The Customer Project Portal allows you to view the project as well as update any tasks assigned to you or your team. From this portal, you can also submit feedback, issues, or questions to be added to the project for SearchUnify to review, respond or resolve.

The SearchUnify Project Management team will also post any supportive documentation such as status updates, announcements, or meeting minutes to this Customer Project Portal.  

Your Project Manager will provide you and your team access to the Customer Project Portal.  You can also share this access with others in your organization.

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The previous phase of Customer Onboarding is the Kickoff phase. We encourage you to continue and review the Kickoff phase in detail.

The next phase of Customer Onboarding is the Go Live phase. We encourage you to continue and review the Go Live phase in detail.

Links to Onboarding Articles:
Customer Onboarding (article)
Kickoff (article)
Go Live (article) 
Journey to Success (article)