Searching for insights about configuration reviews

Julie Schifter

Hi all,

Hope you're well  

I was wondering if any of you have experience with configuration reviews incl. how to conduct them, what a standard checklist might look like, who conducts them and the frequency. 
Also, what are the key takeaways from these meetings and how are they used in a customer-facing context. 

Thank you in advance  

Best 

Julie

William Buckingham

Hi Julie, 

I think "configuration review" will often vary based on the type of product and customer desired outcomes.  

I think a key question to ask yourself and your team members, is "How does our "configuration review" differ from our "business reviews"?  It might be the same thing/in place of business review, but if it is different, making that difference crystal clear will be a great first step.  

Much of the below will overlap with common "business review"  structure, however, I typically like to use the following high level overview to start:

Pre-Configuration Review

1. Identify from customer: Desired outcomes, use cases, success criteria. (For new customers, this should come from sales.  For existing customers, this should be continuously learned by the Customer Success rep.)
2. Determine what features  of your product best achieve the above^ 
   1. 1. this should essentially create a few checklists you may use moving forward:
         1. What to keep using/doing?
         2. What to adjust current use/practice of?
         3. What to start using/doing?
         4. What to start tracking/reporting?
         5. What upgraded features to pilot or consider piloting?
3. Communicate these to the customer, agree to plan to implement and use
4. Customer buy-in to Configuration Review Cadence

Configuration-Review 

1. Remind customer of the purpose behind Configuration Review
2. General Check in with the customer.  Give the customer the opportunity to open it up beyond your known agenda.
3. Review and check in on: Things to keep using/doing.
   1. Are we still using/doing these?
   2. Are we still obtaining the results we  were previously? Better, same, or worse than before?
4. Review Prior Uses/Practices which were Adjusted:
   1. Have we made the agreed upon adjustments?  If not, why?
   2. How has this change(s) been going? How has the team received the change?
   3. Are we receiving the anticipated benefits we expected and discussed recieving? 
   4. Any new lessons learned from this change?  
   5. Any new pain points, needs, or feature requests created/surfaced from this change?
5. Review New Uses/Practices(similar to the above):
   1. Have we started using/doing what we said we would? If not, why?
   2. How is this new function going for the business?
   3. Any new lessons learned from this new feature?  
   4. Any new pain points, needs, or feature requests created/surfaced from this change?
6. Review added reporting/tracking initiatives:
   1. Have we started reporting on what we said we would?
   2. How has this changed your actionable knowledge and insights?
   3. Who at the business is using this information?
   4. How would you like us (the vendor) to use the information this has surfaced? (often not applicable, but great to ask)
7. Check in on Pilots being considered(if they actually agreed to a pilot, there should be a separate call cadence for that):
   1. Ask about further conversations, needs, ideas for this pilot. 
   2. Remind the customer how it helps achieve one or more of their desired outcomes and realize value within one of their success criteria.
8. Review Recent Releases
   1. Show the Release and any corresponding enablement 
   2. Help create change-management plan if needed 
   3. Connect the release to their desired outcomes if relevant. 

Post-Configuration Review:

1. Follow Up on Action Items
2. Send Recap
3. Create actionable list for the next Configuration Review 

Not a perfect nor an exhaustive list, but I feel it typically is a decent starting point from which to add, subtract, and adjust parameters.   I hope this helps.   Best of luck in your efforts. 

#successplans #businessreviews #configuration