Internal — CaseForge CS Team Only Enterprise accounts CaseForge 3.x

CSM Playbook

This playbook guides the Customer Success Manager through the full post-sale engagement lifecycle — from kickoff through renewal. It covers the CSM's responsibilities at each phase, common customer scenarios with recommended responses, and escalation protocols.

This document is a reference, not a script. Use your judgment based on individual customer context. If this playbook conflicts with a specific account agreement or SOW, the SOW takes precedence.

Your Role as CSM

The CSM is the customer's primary relationship owner after the sale closes.

Responsibility	Description
Engagement health	Hold regular check-ins, surface risks before they become escalations, and ensure the customer is progressing toward their defined success outcomes
Implementation oversight	Own the project timeline, coordinate between the customer PM and the CaseForge IE, and enforce milestone gates
Adoption	Monitor post-go-live usage metrics and proactively engage customers whose adoption is lower than expected
Renewal	Position the renewal conversation at least 90 days before contract end; involve the AE for expansion opportunities
Voice of customer	Document customer feedback and product gaps in the internal feedback system; represent the customer's needs in product planning discussions

You are not the technical owner of the implementation (that is the IE) and not the sales owner (that is the AE). Your position is at the intersection: you own the relationship and the outcome.

Phase 1 Pre-Kickoff Contract close → Day 7

Your tasks

Review the signed order document — confirm contracted modules, user count, integrations, and any custom terms Introduce yourself to the customer executive sponsor and PM via email within 24 hours of contract close Schedule the kickoff call within five business days of contract close Create the project tracker in the CS tool (Gainsight) and populate the implementation timeline Assign an IE and confirm their availability for the kickoff date Confirm the customer received tenant provisioning credentials (the IE sends these — verify with the IE)

Email template: CSM introduction

Subject: Welcome to CaseForge — [Customer Name] Hi [Sponsor name], I'm [Your name], your Customer Success Manager at CaseForge. I'll be your main point of contact through implementation and beyond. I've scheduled our kickoff call for [date/time] — you should have the calendar invite. I'll be joined by [IE name], who leads our technical implementation. In the meantime, [IE name] will reach out to [IT admin name] to begin environment access setup. Looking forward to working with you. [Signature]

Phase 2 Implementation Kickoff → Go-live

Weekly check-in format

Run a 30-minute weekly check-in with the customer PM every week until hypercare exit. Standard agenda:

Segment	Duration	What to cover
Milestone status	5 min	Green/yellow/red on each open milestone
Blockers	10 min	What's preventing progress; who owns resolution; deadline
This week's tasks	10 min	What the customer team and CF team need to complete before the next call
Risks	5 min	Anything that could affect go-live date; discuss early

Take notes in the project tracker during the call. Send a summary within two hours. Keep summaries factual — record what was agreed, not context or interpretation.

Milestone gate process

Do not allow the team to skip a milestone sign-off even if "it's basically done." Milestone sign-offs are the customer PM's formal confirmation that a phase is complete. They:

Create a clear record of what was delivered and when
Give the customer a natural point to raise any issues before moving forward
Protect CaseForge from scope creep disputes

If a customer PM is reluctant to sign off ("we trust you, just keep going"), explain that the sign-off protects them — if something is unexpectedly wrong, it's much easier to address at a milestone than after go-live.

Common implementation risks

IT admin unavailable during integration sessions

Symptoms Sessions scheduled but IT admin joins unprepared, lacks credentials, or is pulled to other priorities.

Impact Integration delays that compress the testing window.

Response At kickoff, get the IT admin's direct contact. Confirm each session 48 hours in advance with a preparation checklist. If consistently unavailable, escalate to the executive sponsor — frame as a project risk, not a performance issue.

Data migration is larger or messier than scoped

Symptoms Customer provides a data export far larger than estimated, with significant quality issues or non-standard format.

Impact Migration slips, potentially pushing go-live.

Response Surface this immediately. Estimate revised migration effort with the IE. If additional work is out of scope, involve the AE for a scope amendment before proceeding. Do not absorb unscoped migration work silently.

UAT reveals significant workflow rework

Symptoms UAT test cases failing due to workflow configuration mismatches with the customer's actual processes.

Impact Rework delays the Phase 4 timeline.

Response Assess severity with IE. Minor misconfigurations (field labels, stage names) resolve quickly. Structural redesign (adding/removing stages, changing transition rules) takes longer. Adjust go-live proactively — a rushed go-live produces a poor customer experience.

Phase 3 Go-Live & Hypercare Weeks 7–12

Go-live day responsibilities

Be available for the full change window — not just the kickoff of the cutover activity.
Confirm the go-live checklist is being worked in order. Do not let the team skip verification steps.
Send the go-live confirmation email to the executive sponsor within one hour of go-live sign-off.
Log the go-live date in the CS tool and trigger the hypercare onboarding workflow.

Email template: Go-live confirmation

Subject: CaseForge is live — [Customer Name] Hi [Sponsor name], Great news — CaseForge went live for [Customer Name] today at [time]. Your team can now access the platform at https://[tenant].caseforge.io. For the next four weeks, we're in an elevated support period. [IE name] is monitoring the system daily and available for same-business-day response on any issues. Weekly check-ins with [PM name] continue on [day/time]. Thank you to the [Customer Name] team for a smooth implementation. We're looking forward to seeing the impact. [Signature]

Hypercare monitoring schedule

Week	CSM activity
Week 8	Weekly check-in; confirm no P1/P2 issues; review adoption metrics (first-week logins)
Week 9	Review integration health with IE; confirm notification delivery is stable
Week 10	Review usage data — are users creating cases, or is adoption stalling? Proactive outreach if low.
Week 11	Pre-exit review with customer PM — are exit criteria being met?
Week 12	Hypercare exit call; transition to standard support; introduce renewal timeline

Adoption red flags

If you see any of the following in the first 30 days, act immediately — do not wait for the next check-in:

Fewer than 50% of provisioned users have logged in within two weeks of go-live
No cases have been created (or only test cases) after the first week
Integration delivering no data (zero syncs)
Admin reports receiving calls about the same issue three or more times (indicates a training gap, not a one-off)

Low adoption response: Schedule a 30-minute call with the customer PM and admin. Do not draw conclusions without hearing their perspective first — low adoption is sometimes intentional (phased rollout) and sometimes a systemic issue. If systemic, bring in the IE for a configuration review.

Phase 4 Steady-State & Renewal Months 3–12

Quarterly business review (QBR)

Schedule a QBR at months 3, 6, and 9.

Agenda item	Focus
Usage metrics	Cases created/closed, average resolution time vs. baseline
Value delivered	Tie metrics to the business outcomes defined at kickoff
Open items	Unresolved configuration questions, deferred integrations, enhancement requests
Product roadmap	Share relevant upcoming features and how they apply to this customer
Renewal preview	At month 9: confirm renewal intent, start expansion conversation if applicable

Health score signals

Update the health score in the CS tool after each check-in.

Signal	Weight	Green	Yellow	Red
Active users / licensed users	High	>70%	40–70%	<40%
Cases created (last 30 days)	High	Increasing or stable	Declining	Zero
Open P1/P2 support tickets	High	0	1–2 with plan	3+ or unresponsive
Last check-in date	Medium	<14 days	14–30 days	>30 days
Renewal engagement (at T-90)	High	Signed or verbal confirmation	In conversation	No engagement

A Yellow health score requires a documented action plan in the CS tool. A Red health score requires CSM manager review within five business days.

Renewal timeline

T-90 days Send renewal notification; schedule renewal discussion with economic buyer

T-60 days If no response to renewal outreach, escalate to CSM manager + AE

T-45 days Multi-thread — contact both the sponsor and the PM if the sponsor is unresponsive

T-30 days Renewal document should be signed by this date for a clean renewal

If the renewal is at risk due to a product or service issue, do not escalate the price or commercial discussion until the issue is resolved. Customers renew based on value delivered, not commercial pressure.

Escalation Protocol

Internal escalations (you escalating within CaseForge)

Situation	Escalate to	Timeline
IE unresponsive to customer for >24 hours	IE manager	Immediately
Implementation milestone slipping >5 days with no resolution plan	Implementation manager	Within 24 hours of identifying the slip
Customer threatening churn	CSM manager + AE	Immediately
Product defect blocking go-live	Product + Engineering via priority support ticket	Immediately + alert CSM manager
Data breach or security incident	Security team + CSM manager	Immediately — follow the security incident runbook

External escalations (customer escalating to CaseForge)

If a customer escalates beyond you — contacting your manager, the CIO, or submitting a formal complaint:

Thank the customer for raising the concern and confirm you will investigate.
Notify your manager within 30 minutes.
Prepare a factual summary: what happened, when, current status, and resolution path.
Respond to the customer within two business hours with the summary and a defined resolution timeline.

Do not send an apology that admits CaseForge fault without a factual basis. Do not promise outcomes you cannot control.

Tools & Resources

Resource	Location
Customer project tracker	Gainsight → Accounts → [Customer]
Implementation document library	Shared Google Drive (Implementation → [Customer])
Health score dashboard	Gainsight → Reports → CS Health Dashboard
Support ticket escalation	support.caseforge.io → Priority flag → CSM escalation
Product roadmap (internal)	Confluence → Product → Roadmap (current quarter)
CaseForge status page	status.caseforge.io
IE assignment and availability	CS Engineering calendar (Shared Calendar → Implementation)