Cut Above for SaaS Vendor
A B2B software company selling subscriptions. Leads and deals move through a trial or pilot to a signed order form, followed by implementation, data migration, integrations, SSO and security review, training, a success plan for the first 90 days, quarterly reviews, renewals, expansions, save plans and, when it happens, offboarding. The work is done by customer success, solutions and implementation teams, tracked against ARR, seats and a renewal date.
What the system calls things
| Cut Above calls it | You call it | |
|---|---|---|
| Client | → | Account |
| Opportunity | → | Deal |
| Engagement | → | Project |
| Milestone | → | Phase |
| Proposal | → | Order form |
Your pipeline
The work you do
Every job is one of these, and each carries its own defaults and paperwork.
Plans that build themselves
Trial onboarding (14 days)
Day 0 is the trial starting. The job is one moment of value inside the first week, then a decision conversation before the trial ends, not a tour of every feature.
3 phases, 6 tasks created for you.
Proof of concept (30 days)
Day 0 is the pilot agreement signed. Success criteria are agreed BEFORE the build, measured at the end, and the evaluation closes with a written result either way.
4 phases, 8 tasks created for you.
Implementation, small team (30 days)
Day 0 is the order form signed. A single-workspace implementation for a team of up to 25: configure, import, train, go live, hypercare.
5 phases, 10 tasks created for you.
Implementation, mid-market (60 days)
Day 0 is the order form signed. Several departments, a data migration, one or two integrations, SSO, and a phased go-live with a hypercare fortnight.
6 phases, 15 tasks created for you.
Enterprise rollout (120 days)
Day 0 is contract signature. A wave-based rollout across sites or business units behind a pilot site, with a PMO cadence, security sign-off and an executive steering committee.
5 phases, 11 tasks created for you.
Data migration (45 days)
Day 0 is scope agreed. Map, extract, trial-load, reconcile, repeat, then a final load with the customer signing off the reconciliation, not us.
3 phases, 9 tasks created for you.
Migration from a competitor (60 days)
Day 0 is signature. Like a data migration, plus the two things that make switching fail: users who miss the old tool, and the overlap month where both are paid for.
4 phases, 9 tasks created for you.
Integration build (40 days)
Day 0 is the integration scope signed. Design the data contract first, build against a sandbox, test with real records, then monitor for a fortnight before calling it done.
4 phases, 8 tasks created for you.
SSO, security & compliance review (21 days)
Day 0 is the request. Enterprise buyers need SSO, SCIM, a data-processing agreement and answers on residency and retention before procurement clears, this is the checklist done once, properly.
3 phases, 6 tasks created for you.
Security questionnaire (14 days)
Day 0 is the questionnaire arriving. Most answers exist already; the work is the ones that do not, and getting the right person to sign the ones that carry weight.
2 phases, 5 tasks created for you.
Training & enablement (14 days)
Day 0 is training scoped. Admins first, then end users, then the material that outlives the sessions: recordings, a short guide, a named internal champion.
3 phases, 5 tasks created for you.
First-90-days success plan
Day 0 is go-live. The three checkpoints that predict a renewal: adoption at 30, value at 60, the executive conversation at 90.
3 phases, 7 tasks created for you.
Quarterly business review
Day 0 is the quarter starting. One meeting a quarter with the sponsor, prepared from usage and outcomes, ending with a documented next-quarter plan.
2 phases, 5 tasks created for you.
Renewal (120 days out)
Day 0 is 120 days before the renewal date, which is where the work starts if the outcome is to be chosen rather than received. Health first, then the sponsor, then the paper.
5 phases, 10 tasks created for you.
Expansion (30 days)
Day 0 is the expansion signal, seats maxed, a new team asking, a feature request that is a plan above. Short, because the account already trusts you.
3 phases, 6 tasks created for you.
Save plan (45 days)
Day 0 is the account going red. Find the real reason before proposing anything; most churn is a champion who left or a workflow that never landed, not price.
4 phases, 6 tasks created for you.
Managed services month
Day 0 is the start of a service month. Admin work the customer would rather we did: users, configuration changes, reports, a monthly review, tracked against the hours allowance.
1 phases, 4 tasks created for you.
Offboarding & data export (30 days)
Day 0 is notice received. Done well, an offboarding is the reference and the win-back; done badly, it is a review. Export everything, delete on time, say so in writing.
3 phases, 6 tasks created for you.
Partner onboarding (45 days)
Day 0 is the partner agreement signed. A reseller or implementation partner needs a demo tenant, training, deal registration and a first joint customer.
2 phases, 5 tasks created for you.
Things it watches
- Deal in evaluation with no movement for 10 days
- New lead, respond within one business day
- Closed won, provision and kick off
- Large deal won, tell leadership
- Project quiet for 10 days
- Go-live in two weeks, confirm readiness
- Fixed-fee implementation at 80% of budget
- Subscription invoice overdue, warn before restricting access
- Invoice paid: confirm ARR and renewal date
- Onboarding task overdue
- Renewal in 30 days
- Renewal in a week
- Trial ends in two days
- Trial ends today
- Go-live in a week
- Cutover in two days
- Hypercare ends in three days
Where this fits, and where it does not
Cut Above fits a software company once the words change. The client becomes an Account, the opportunity a Deal, the proposal an Order form, and a project is an onboarding or a renewal rather than professional work. The pack relies on each account's commercial record (ARR, seats, plan, renewal date, health) and on short, repeatable projects built around a go live date. Time is tracked for services margin, not to bill the customer by the hour. It is also the pack Cut Above runs on itself.