Mutual success plan
Objective. Connect the customer's contracted scope to a desired business outcome, a baseline and a measurable milestone, with ownership named on both sides.
A shared, customer-agreed plan that ties what was bought to the outcome it is meant to produce, with a baseline, a milestone, a dependency and owners on each side. It is the backbone of the account: the handover feeds it, the QBR measures against it, and adoption interventions reference it. This is the tool version of C01 - build it with the customer, keep it live, review it every QBR.
See it in the demo
What it is and when to use it
A mutual success plan is the jointly owned statement of what success looks like for this account and how both sides will get there. Build it at the start of the relationship, right after the sales-to-CSM handover (KIT-03), and keep it live through every review. It matters because an account with no agreed outcome drifts: usage happens, invoices get paid, and then a renewal arrives with no evidence that anything changed - and no shared definition of what 'changed' would even mean. The plan makes the outcome explicit, measurable and mutually owned, so value is something you prove rather than assert.
The plan - copy this
ACCOUNT: ____ CUSTOMER SPONSOR: ____ CSM: ____ SALES PARTNER: ____
CONTRACTED SCOPE: application(s), seats, teams/processes in scope: ____
DESIRED BUSINESS OUTCOME (the customer's words): ____
BASELINE (today's number, source, how measured - from the pilot charter if there was one): ____
TARGET MILESTONE (what, by when, measured how, with the denominator held constant): ____
LEADING INDICATORS (adoption signals that predict the outcome - routines running, coverage, review follow-through): ____
VALUE TYPE: capacity ____ | cash ____ (kept separate)
DEPENDENCIES (what must be true - data, integrations, access, employee comms) and their owners: ____
OWNERS: customer owns ____ ; Time Champ owns ____
REVIEW CADENCE + NEXT REVIEW DATE: ____
How to fill it
Build it with the sponsor, using their words for the outcome - a plan written in Time Champ's language is not owned by the customer. Carry the baseline and value-type split straight from the pilot charter (KIT-02) and the handover (KIT-03); if there was no pilot, the first milestone is establishing the baseline. Make the milestone measurable with a date and a constant denominator, so it can be judged at the QBR rather than argued. Add leading indicators - the adoption signals that predict the outcome - so you can tell early whether you are on track, not just discover it at renewal. Name owners on both sides for every dependency. Set a review cadence and treat the plan as a living document reviewed each QBR, not a kickoff artifact that is never reopened.
The honest caveat
A success plan states an intended outcome and a target the customer owns - it is not a Time Champ guarantee of results, and the target must be grounded in the pilot evidence or the customer's own ambition, not a number the product has not been shown to deliver. Keep capacity and cash separate in the value line, because a blended figure here corrupts every QBR that references the plan. The plan predicts nothing on its own; value depends on the routines actually running and the actions managers take (KIT-06, KIT-09), which is why leading indicators sit alongside the outcome. If a dependency is unresolved, the plan carries it as a risk with an owner - it does not assume it away.
Interpretation check
A success plan is owned jointly and written in the customer's words; the target is their ambition tested against evidence, not a Time Champ promise. Capacity value and cash stay separate, and the outcome is predicted by leading adoption indicators, not assumed from usage.
In the field
KnackGlobal success plan: scope = RCM output visibility across the in-scope payer teams; outcome = defend output per FTE and cost per claim against the ProHance displacement; baseline = the pilot's clean-unit cost; leading indicators = manager review follow-through and capture coverage; value line keeps freed claims-capacity separate from denial-recovery cash.
Practical task
Build a mutual success plan with a real or role-played sponsor: capture the outcome in their words, carry the baseline and capacity/cash split from the pilot or set baseline-building as milestone one, define a measurable dated milestone with a constant denominator, name owners for every dependency, and set a review cadence. Confirm the sponsor agrees the plan is theirs.
Self-check
What does the mutual success plan connect?
Contracted scope to a desired business outcome, via a baseline, a measurable milestone with a date and constant denominator, dependencies, and owners on both sides.
There was no pilot, so no baseline exists. What is the first milestone?
Establishing the baseline. You cannot prove a change against a number that never existed, so building it becomes the first measurable step in the plan.
Why include leading indicators as well as the outcome?
Adoption signals (routines running, coverage, follow-through) predict the outcome early, so you can tell whether you are on track rather than discovering it only at renewal.
How is value type recorded, and why does it matter here?
Capacity and cash on separate lines; a blended figure in the plan corrupts every QBR that references it and sets up a dispute about what was actually delivered.
Verified vs demo. The plan structure is reusable; the outcome, baseline, target and dependencies are the customer's own and must not be invented or pre-loaded with unproven numbers. Capacity stays separate from cash, and any unresolved dependency is carried as a risk with an owner.