Joint Deployment Blueprint FAQ

ErinG

General

What customer segments is the JDB applicable to?

As of July 1, 2021, we expect all CSBPs who have customers in the Majors and Enterprise segments to begin tracking implementation health in Gainsight. For partners, partners managing the implementationsin all segments should input implementation health in Partner Central (for Commercial customers, the partner will put in updates, however the CSBP will not be required to input anything at this time).

Is the JDB intended to be used for all engagements or just partner-primed engagements?

The JDB should be used for ALL engagements, whether Anaplan-primed, partner-primed, or managed by the customer.

How will customer-led implementations be managed?

As customer-led implementations are managed by customers, CSBPs should seek to understand how the customer-led implementation is going through their regular engagement with the customer and provide the status update in the scorecard. This is only applicable for non-commercial CSBPs.

What do I do if I have multiple use cases that are part of a single project?

If multiple use cases are occurring simultaneously and being worked on by the same project team, you only need to input the information for one of the created projects on an ongoing basis, unless another project warrants a different input.

For the projects that will not be updated, please add a note in the comments section, "See [Insert Project Name] for details" so we know this is part of a broader program; this will ensure this use case is considered current.

Does the health score color reflect my view of my collaborator's work (partner, Anaplan BP) or the project itself?

The framework is to enable Anaplan and our partners to work together, but the health score is exclusively a reflection of the project health. This might be due to the customer, partner, Anaplan, or some other factor, which should be reflected in the health score notes. Health score and notes in "General Collaboration” is where we’d see whether the partner and BP were working well together.

How do projects flow through to Partner Central for the partner to update? Does anything need to be triggered in Gainsight to generate a project in Partner Central?

Once a new project appears in the Customer & Pod Health Model within Anaplan, a project will be created in Partner Central. In order for a project to appear in Partner Central, a Use Case must be created in Gainsight by a CSBP and the Implementation Partner Contact Name must be populated. Once the Use Case has a score for one of the pillars or overall score, it will be pushed into the Customer & Pod Health Model and Partner Central.

Who will be holding partners accountable for inputting required data?

The Partner Success team will be responsible for making sure partners are inputting the required data, where there is coverage (Partner Health calls will occur with these partners regularly). Where there is not coverage, the Partner Connect program will drive accountability. Additionally, the Partner Success team will be running Partner Health calls with a select partner base to ensure accountability from the partners.

Who is responsible for driving alignment conversations between the partner and CS when misalignment exists?

The CSBP should leverage the JDB Overall Project Health Tracker during regular conversations with the partner regarding implementation health. The CSBP and partner should work to align on any areas of misalignment during these conversations. If alignment cannot be reached, the CSBP can escalate via the dashboard to their CSD, who may then escalate to the appropriate Partner Success Manager, if needed. Likewise, the partner may also reach out to their Partner Success Manager for support.

If one of the JDB pillars has an implementation health status of red or yellow, can we progress forward beyond that pillar?

Once you define a pillar status to be red or yellow, you should connect with your partner to strategize on the ways the team(s) can work together to mitigate the issue, escalating to CSD, Anaplan PS, and/or Partner Success as required. Issues should be mitigated before moving on to a future JDB pillar.

I am in the Implementation Pillar and I know there is risk in the Launch pillar, even though we have not yet progressed there. Should I turn Launch yellow or red?

No, the health score (color) should only be applied through the pillar that you are currently in and not beyond. If you identify risks in future pillars, we encourage you to add notes (including date and initials) to those pillars, but do not update the health score for pillars beyond the current state of the project.

How can I find out what new JDB resources are available?

The JDB Know It Now is where you will find the most recent announcements (aggregated from emails, Slack, Office Hours, etc.).

 

Joint Deployment Health App (Partners)

How will I know if I'm responsible for providing updates on the JDB?

When the Anaplan CSBP adds a Partner Contact Name, the primary contact leading the implementation, that individual will be sent an email notification. The notification will include the name of the customer, project, CSBP (including email address), and links to resources including a video tutorial and the Joint Deployment Health App itself.

Will I be alerted when the CSBP makes updates to the JDB?

Yes and no. Every Monday, the Partner Contact will be notified via email of each account that has had a change on the Anaplan side to the health score color (red, yellow, green). However, the Partner Contact will not be notified of changes in the notes field; since notes are to be updated every two weeks, this would otherwise become too noisy as an email alert.

How do I see my projects and log activity in the Partner Joint Deployment Health App?

Full instructions, including a step-by-step video, can be found in the Manage Your Practice section of Community. This will guide you through the process of updating the Partner Joint Deployment Health App.

 

Gainsight (Anaplan)

When should a new use case be created in Gainsight? Do use cases and Gainsight projects have a 1:1 relationship?

A new use case should be created for any new implementation performed by either Anaplan, a partner, or a customer. For multi-phase implementations resulting in multiple, non-simultaneous, projects, a separate use case should be created for each. A suffix may be added to each new multi-phase use case to denote its uniqueness. 

What is the frequency in which the Gainsight JDB Scorecard should be updated?

CSBPs should be reviewing their customers' project health weekly. This may or may not result in the Gainsight Scorecard requiring change weekly.

The Scorecard should be kept evergreen, meaning when there is a situation that requires an update to the Scorecard, the CSBP is expected to provide an update on the Scorecard accordingly (even if it may be off his/her weekly review cycle).

Partners will be held to the same level of expectations on the upkeep needs (in Partner Central)

What should be included in the comments section in Gainsight for each JDB pillar?

The comment input into Gainsight should include:

• The date of the comment
• The initials of the person inputting the comment
• A brief sentence(s) explaining the implementation health status for the JDB pillar
• An action plan for any pillar with a red or yellow status. The action plan should clearly lay out the actions to be completed, the dates they should be completed by, and the owner of each step.

A potential net new customer is going through their first buying experience with Anaplan and are still tagged as a “Prospect.” I don’t see this customer in Gainsight, what should I do?

SFDC Prospects do not currently flow into Gainsight. Therefore, a use case cannot be created until the opportunity moves to stage 5 by Order Management. As such, the implementation health will not be trackable in Gainsight until a net new customer has an opportunity shift to Stage 5 and Order Management converts them to a customer.

In lieu of this, a CSBP / CSD should work closely with their sales and partner counterparts to ensure the upstream JDB pillars (Sales Cycle & Project Planning) are being performed correctly without any issues. Once the use case is created, the implementation health for all prior pillars should be updated by the CSBP in Gainsight.

We will look to update this as part of Phase 2 so that implementation health can be live tracked in Gainsight for all customers going through the Sales Cycle and Project Planning phases.

 

JDB Overall Project Health Tracker (Anaplan)

Where can I access the Joint Deployment Health Dashboards?

The Joint Deployment Health Dashboard is a New UX app in the Customer & Pod Health App in the Joint Deployment Health section. Depending on where you sit in the organization, you will see between one and five dashboards.

I'm a CSBP. How should I be using the Joint Deployment Health Dashboard?

There is no direct input of scores or comments required for a CSBP into the Joint Deployment Health Dashboard, as all CSBP score and comment inputs flow into the tracker directly from Gainsight. The Joint Deployment Health Dashboard should be leveraged during regular conversations with partners to review customer implementation health. Implementation issues and areas of misalignment should be focused on during these conversations. The dashboard should also be leveraged for implementation health discussions with your CSD. If you’d like to escalate a project to your CSD, you can do so in the dashboard.

I’m a CSD. How should I be using the Joint Deployment Health Dashboard? 

The Joint Deployment Health Dashboard should be reviewed on a weekly basis with your CSBPs to discuss the implementation health for open projects. The focus should be on areas of CS/partner misalignment, issue discussion and resolution, and action plan review/development. 

The CSD will be responsible for updating the “CSD Inputs” section (when necessary), subsequent to the weekly implementation health discussions with the CSBP. 

If necessary, you have the ability to escalate a project to the AVP you report up into. 

How frequently should the Joint Deployment Health Dashboard be updated? 

CSDs should be reviewing project health with their CSBPs and updating the CSD Inputs (when necessary) at least bi-weekly. 

The tracker should be kept evergreen, meaning when there is a situation that requires an update to the tracker, the CSD is expected to provide an update on the tracker accordingly (even if it may be off of the bi-weekly review cycle), no less than once every two weeks. 

Partners are expected to provide updates with the same frequency (in Partner Central). 

The implementation status for a project does not fit into one of the implementation status categories in the Joint Deployment Health Dashboard. How can I request an additional status?

If you feel an additional implementation status category is needed, send an email to customer.operations@anaplan.com with:

• The new implementation status category
• The frequency you think this new category will be used (high, medium, low) and
• An explanation as to why the status is required.
• Please include “New JDB Implementation Status Category Request” in the email subject