Onboarding is the period where Cloud Core MSP gains access, validates inventory, deploys tools, documents the environment, identifies inherited risk, and stabilizes support. Some guarantees or service targets may be limited until critical access and risks are addressed.
Onboarding goals
Onboarding may include access coordination, tool deployment, inventory validation, documentation, baseline review, and stabilization of inherited issues.
- Confirm covered users, devices, servers, sites, networks, cloud tenants, voice services, and vendors.
- Establish administrative access and emergency contacts.
- Deploy approved management, monitoring, security, and backup tools according to the selected package.
- Document key systems, vendor contacts, licensing, network information, backup scope, and support procedures.
- Identify inherited risk, unsupported systems, unknown credentials, missing backups, and critical gaps.
- Move support into normal ticket flow as the environment stabilizes.
Stabilization period
The stabilization period is the initial period after service begins where inherited issues are discovered and corrected. The length depends on environment size, access quality, documentation quality, vendor cooperation, and the condition of existing systems.
Some service targets may be limited during onboarding until required access, tooling, and material risks are addressed.
During stabilization, Cloud Core MSP will respond to support requests, but some service levels, uptime expectations, backup confidence, and security assumptions may be limited until critical risks are corrected.
Common inherited issues
- Unknown administrator accounts or missing credentials.
- Unsupported operating systems or aging hardware.
- Incomplete backup coverage or untested restores.
- Unclear licensing, unmanaged devices, or stale user accounts.
- Firewall, DNS, email, or identity settings changed without documentation.
- Vendor contracts, domains, circuits, and portals controlled by prior providers or unknown contacts.
Client responsibilities during onboarding
- Provide access to systems, vendors, facilities, and decision-makers.
- Identify critical business systems and known pain points.
- Approve standardization, tool deployment, and security control changes where required.
- Provide existing documentation, contracts, vendor contacts, and account ownership information.
- Avoid avoidable major changes until baseline documentation and access are stable.
Onboarding work not included
The following onboarding services are not included and will be billed separately unless explicitly stated in writing:
- Large migrations, tenant cleanups, server rebuilds, network redesign, cabling, or office moves.
- Emergency remediation of major pre-existing failures.
- Security incident response for a compromise discovered during onboarding.
- Large-scale workstation deployment, hardware replacement, or application implementation.