Build a CS Onboarding System in HubSpot

Design a CRM onboarding pipeline, health signals, and dashboard in HubSpot.

Introduction

30 Second Summary

Every SaaS company loses customers when onboarding is chaotic. The teams that keep customers are the ones with a repeatable system that tracks progress, flags risk early, and proves results with data.

In this project, you will build a complete Customer Success onboarding operations system in HubSpot CRM for a fictional B2B analytics company called FlowMetrics. You will design a structured pipeline, configure health tracking properties, populate sample data, build a reporting dashboard, and write a professional playbook document.

What You'll Build

A fully configured customer onboarding operations system in HubSpot with a deal pipeline, custom health signal properties, sample customer data, a reporting dashboard, and a shareable CS Ops playbook.

By the end of this project, you'll have:

A 6-stage onboarding pipeline in HubSpot that mirrors a real SaaS Customer Success workflow with defined exit criteria for each stage.
A reporting dashboard with 4 reports surfacing onboarding health, stalled accounts, and revenue by pipeline stage at a glance.
A CS Ops Playbook document in Google Docs you can share with hiring managers as a portfolio piece proving your process design skills.
Secret Mission: Build a customer risk segmentation system with filtered views and write an executive health summary you can present in an interview.

Are there any prerequisites?

You need a HubSpot account on the free tier. If you do not have one yet, Step 1 includes sign-up instructions. No credit card is required and the free plan has no expiration.

Before We Start

Before We Start...

Set Up Your HubSpot CRM

Every CS operations system needs a home. HubSpot CRM is where you will build the onboarding pipeline, track customer health signals, and generate reports that prove your operational thinking to hiring managers.

In this step, you will sign into HubSpot, verify that your free plan has the capacity for custom properties, and confirm access to the three CRM sections you will use throughout this project.

In this step, get ready to:

Sign in to your HubSpot account (or create a free one).
Verify your free plan and custom property availability.
Confirm access to the CRM Contacts, Companies, and Deals sections.

Access your HubSpot account

HubSpot is entirely browser-based. You do not need to download or install anything.

Open your browser and navigate to hubspot.com.
Click Log in in the top right corner and sign in with your existing credentials.

You should land on your HubSpot dashboard after signing in.

✔️ I'm on my HubSpot dashboard

You are all set. Continue to the next substep below.

ⓧ I need to create a new account

On the HubSpot homepage, click Get started free.
Enter your email, name, and a password to create your account.
No credit card is required. The free plan has no expiration date.
Complete any onboarding prompts HubSpot shows you until you reach the dashboard.

What does HubSpot's free tier include?

The free plan supports up to 2 users, 1,000 contacts, 10 custom properties, and 30 dashboards. That is more than enough for this project.

Confirm your free tier features

Before building anything, you need to confirm two things: you are on the free plan, and you have room for the 8 custom properties this project requires.

Click the settings icon (gear) in the top navigation bar.
In the left sidebar menu, click Account & Billing.
Verify that your plan shows as Free. If you see a paid plan, you are still fine to continue.

Now check your custom property capacity.

In the left sidebar menu, click Properties.
Look for the custom property usage indicator near the top of the page. It shows how many of your 10 allowed custom properties are in use.
Confirm you have fewer than 10 custom properties used. This project will create 8 new properties, so you need at least 8 available slots.

✔️ I have enough custom property slots

You have capacity for the 8 properties this project needs. Continue to the next substep.

ⓧ I've used all 10 custom properties

You need to free up at least 8 property slots before continuing.

On the Properties page, click the Select an object dropdown and choose each object type (Contact, Company, Deal) to review your custom properties.
Identify properties you no longer need.
Hover over a property you want to remove, click the More dropdown, then click Archive.
Repeat until you have at least 8 slots free.

Start fresh instead

If your account is heavily used, consider creating a brand new free HubSpot account with a different email address. This gives you a clean slate with all 10 property slots available.

Why does the free tier limit matter?

HubSpot's free plan allows 10 custom properties total across all objects (contacts, companies, and deals combined). This project uses 8 of those 10 slots, leaving you 2 as a buffer.

Understanding platform limits is itself a CS Ops skill. In interviews, you can explain how you designed within constraints rather than reaching for a paid tier.

Orient to the CRM structure

The onboarding system you are building spans three CRM objects: Contacts (people), Companies (accounts), and Deals (onboarding journeys). Confirm you can access each one.

In the top navigation, click CRM, then select Contacts.
Confirm the Contacts index page loads. You may see existing contacts or an empty list.
Click CRM again, then select Companies.
Confirm the Companies index page loads.
Click CRM again, then select Deals.
Confirm the Deals page loads. You should see a default pipeline view (likely called "Sales Pipeline").

What are CRM objects?

In HubSpot, objects are the categories of data in your CRM. Contacts represent individual people. Companies represent organizations. Deals represent transactions or processes you want to track through stages.

In this project, you will use a Deal to represent each customer's onboarding journey through your pipeline stages.

Don't see CRM in the navigation?

If your top navigation does not show a CRM menu item, your account may have a different navigation layout. Try clicking Contacts or Sales in the top navigation instead. These menus contain links to Contacts, Companies, and Deals.

Help me find the CRM sections in my HubSpot navigation.

Your HubSpot account is ready. Next up, you will design and build a 6-stage customer onboarding pipeline that mirrors a real SaaS CS workflow.

Design and Build the Customer Onboarding Pipeline

Every SaaS customer goes through a journey from signing the contract to becoming fully self-sufficient with the product. Without a structured pipeline to track that journey, customers fall through the cracks and churn silently.

In this step, you will transform HubSpot's default deal pipeline into a purpose-built customer onboarding pipeline with 6 stages. Each stage represents a real milestone in the onboarding journey, giving you visibility into where every customer stands.

In this step, get ready to:

Customize the default deal pipeline into a 6-stage onboarding pipeline.
Define exit criteria that determine when a customer moves to the next stage.

Rename and configure the onboarding pipeline

HubSpot's free tier includes one default deal pipeline called "Sales Pipeline" with pre-built stages. Since the free tier only allows one deal pipeline, you will repurpose this existing pipeline by renaming it and replacing the default stages with your onboarding stages.

Click the settings icon (gear icon) in the top navigation bar.
In the left sidebar menu, under the Data Management section, click Objects.
Click the Select an object dropdown menu and select Deals.
Click the Pipelines tab.
You should see the default "Sales Pipeline" already selected.
On the right side, click Actions, then select Rename this pipeline.
In the dialog box, replace the existing name with Customer Onboarding and click Rename.

Why rename instead of creating a new pipeline?

HubSpot's free tier allows only 1 deal pipeline. You already have the default "Sales Pipeline," so creating a second one is not possible without upgrading. Renaming and reconfiguring the existing pipeline gives you a fully customized onboarding pipeline at no cost.

Now you need to replace the default stages with your 6 onboarding stages. You will delete the ones you do not need and add your own.

Delete all the default open stages by hovering over each stage name and clicking Delete. Remove: Appointment scheduled, Qualified to buy, Presentation scheduled, Decision maker bought-in, and Contract sent.
Keep the existing Closed won and Closed lost stages for now. You will rename them shortly.
Click + Add stage to add your first onboarding stage.
Enter New Customer Won as the stage name.
Click the Deal probability dropdown and select or enter 10%.
Repeat the process to add these stages in order:

Kickoff Scheduled with deal probability 20%.
Kickoff Complete with deal probability 40%.
Implementation with deal probability 60%.
Training and Adoption with deal probability 80%.

Now rename the Closed won stage. Click on the stage name text and change it to Onboarding Complete. Ensure the deal probability is set to 100% and it is marked as Won.
Rename the Closed lost stage to Onboarding Stalled. Ensure it remains marked as Lost.
Click Save at the bottom left to apply all your changes.

What do the win probabilities mean?

Each stage has a probability percentage that represents how likely a customer is to complete onboarding successfully at that point. HubSpot uses these percentages to calculate weighted pipeline values in reports and the board view.

For an onboarding pipeline, think of these as confidence levels. A customer at 10% (New Customer Won) has a long way to go, while one at 80% (Training and Adoption) is almost across the finish line.

Navigate to CRM then Deals to verify your pipeline. You should see the "Customer Onboarding" pipeline selected in the pipeline dropdown at the top, with your 6 stages displayed as columns in the board view.

Don't see your new stages?

Make sure you clicked Save at the bottom left of the Pipelines settings page. Changes are not applied until you save.

If stages appear in the wrong order, return to Settings, then Objects, then Deals, then the Pipelines tab, and drag the stages into the correct sequence.

Help me troubleshoot my pipeline setup

Define exit criteria for each stage

A pipeline without exit criteria is just a list of labels. Exit criteria define what must be true before a customer moves from one stage to the next, preventing premature advancement and ensuring quality at each step.

Open a new document, note, or text file where you can record your exit criteria. You will add these to your CS Ops Playbook later.
Document the following exit criteria for each stage:

New Customer Won: Contract signed, CSM assigned, customer stakeholders identified.
Kickoff Scheduled: Kickoff meeting date confirmed with customer champion.
Kickoff Complete: Success plan agreed, timeline set, technical requirements documented.
Implementation: Product configured, integrations connected, data migrated.
Training and Adoption: Users trained, first value milestone achieved.
Onboarding Complete: Customer self-sufficient, health check passed, handed to ongoing CS.

Why do exit criteria matter for CS Ops?

In real CS teams, exit criteria prevent the common problem of customers being "moved along" in the pipeline without actually achieving the milestone. When you interview for CS or Ops roles, being able to articulate exit criteria for each stage demonstrates process-design maturity that hiring managers look for.

Save this for your playbook

Keep your exit criteria document handy. In Step 5, you will incorporate these directly into your CS Ops Playbook as the "Pipeline Stages" section.

Your onboarding pipeline is live. Next up, you will create custom properties that track health signals across your customers, contacts, and deals.

Create Custom Health Signal Properties

Your onboarding pipeline gives you a clear path from new customer to successful onboarding. But the default HubSpot fields don't capture the health signals you need to spot at-risk customers early.

Custom properties let you track data points specific to your CS operations. You'll create 8 properties across companies, contacts, and deals to build a complete picture of each customer's onboarding health.

In this step, get ready to:

Create 3 company-level properties for customer segmentation and health tracking.
Create 2 contact-level properties for stakeholder role and engagement tracking.
Create 3 deal-level properties for onboarding progress and risk signals.

Create company-level properties

Company properties track account-level data that applies to the entire customer relationship. You'll create three properties to segment customers and monitor their overall health.

Click the settings icon (gear) in the top navigation bar.
In the left sidebar menu, click Properties.
Click the Select an object dropdown menu and select Company properties.
Above the table, click Create property.
In the right panel, enter Customer Segment in the Property label text field.
Click the Field type dropdown menu and select Dropdown select.
Click Add option and enter Enterprise.
Click Add option again and enter Mid-Market.
Click Add option once more and enter SMB.
Click Create property to save.

Now create the second company property.

Above the table, click Create property again.
Enter Health Status in the Property label text field.
Set the Field type to Dropdown select.
Add four options: Healthy, Needs Attention, At Risk, and Critical.
Click Create property to save.

Create the third and final company property.

Above the table, click Create property again.
Enter Annual Recurring Revenue in the Property label text field.
Set the Field type to Number.
Set the number format to Currency.
Click Create property to save.

What do these company properties track?

Customer Segment tells you whether an account is Enterprise, Mid-Market, or SMB. This drives how much attention they need during onboarding.

Health Status gives you a quick visual indicator of account risk. Annual Recurring Revenue quantifies what is at stake if an account churns.

You should see all three properties listed when you scroll through the Company properties table: Customer Segment, Health Status, and Annual Recurring Revenue.

Don't see your new property in the list?

Make sure you clicked Create property at the bottom of the panel. If you only filled in the fields without clicking the button, the property was not saved.

If you see a message about reaching your property limit, you need to delete an unused custom property first. The free tier allows 10 custom properties total across all objects.

Help me troubleshoot my custom property creation in HubSpot.

Create contact-level properties

Contact properties track individual people within each customer account. Knowing who your stakeholders are and how engaged they are helps you spot disengagement before it becomes churn.

Click the Select an object dropdown menu and select Contact properties.
Above the table, click Create property.
Enter Stakeholder Role in the Property label text field.
Set the Field type to Dropdown select.
Add four options: Executive Sponsor, Champion, Day-to-Day User, and Technical Admin.
Click Create property to save.

Now create the second contact property.

Above the table, click Create property again.
Enter Engagement Level in the Property label text field.
Set the Field type to Dropdown select.
Add four options: Highly Engaged, Engaged, Passive, and Disengaged.
Click Create property to save.

What do these contact properties track?

Stakeholder Role identifies who in the customer's organization holds influence. Losing an Executive Sponsor or Champion mid-onboarding is a major red flag.

Engagement Level tracks how actively each contact participates in the onboarding process. A contact shifting from Engaged to Passive is an early warning signal.

You should see both Stakeholder Role and Engagement Level listed in the Contact properties table.

Create deal-level properties

Deal properties track the progress and health of each individual onboarding engagement. These give you the data to spot stalled accounts and escalate before problems grow.

Click the Select an object dropdown menu and select Deal properties.
Above the table, click Create property.
Enter Onboarding Target Date in the Property label text field.
Set the Field type to Date picker.
Click Create property to save.

Now create the Risk Flag property.

Above the table, click Create property again.
Enter Risk Flag in the Property label text field.
Set the Field type to Dropdown select.
Add five options: None, Delayed Kickoff, Low Engagement, Missing Stakeholder, and Technical Blocker.
Click Create property to save.

Create the final property for your onboarding system.

Above the table, click Create property one more time.
Enter Onboarding Health Score in the Property label text field.
Set the Field type to Number.
Leave the number format as unformatted. This property represents a score from 0 to 100.
Click Create property to save.

What do these deal properties track?

Onboarding Target Date sets the deadline so you can flag accounts that fall behind schedule. Risk Flag categorizes the specific blocker affecting an account.

Onboarding Health Score gives you a single number (0-100) that summarizes the overall state of each onboarding. Together, these let you sort and filter deals to find the accounts that need immediate attention.

Why distribute properties across different objects?

Distributing properties across companies, contacts, and deals reflects how real CS teams think. Company properties track account-level health. Contact properties track individual stakeholder engagement. Deal properties track onboarding-specific progress.

This shows interviewers you understand how different CRM objects serve different operational purposes in a CS system.

Confirm all 8 properties are created. Click the Select an object dropdown and check each object type. You should see 3 custom properties under Company, 2 under Contact, and 3 under Deal.

Check your remaining property slots

The free tier allows 10 custom properties total across all objects. With 8 used, you have 2 slots remaining. Keep this in mind if you want to add more properties later.

Seeing a property limit message?

If your account already had custom properties before this project, you may have hit the 10-property cap. Navigate to each object's properties and look for any unused custom properties you can delete to free up space.

Help me figure out which custom properties I can safely delete in HubSpot.

Your health signal properties are ready. Next up, you'll populate your CRM with realistic sample customer data to bring these properties to life.

Populate Your CRM with Sample Customer Data

Your pipeline stages and custom properties are the skeleton of your CS operations system. Now you need realistic data to bring it to life.

In this step, you will create a set of fictional customers for a B2B analytics company called FlowMetrics. Each customer will sit at a different onboarding stage with different health signals. This creates the realistic dataset you need to build meaningful reports and demonstrate operational thinking in interviews.

In this step, get ready to:

Create 4 fictional companies with segment, health, and revenue data.
Create 8 contacts with stakeholder roles and engagement levels.
Create 4 onboarding deals at different pipeline stages with health scores and risk flags.

Create 4 fictional companies

Companies in HubSpot represent the organizations you serve. Each company record holds the firmographic data (segment, health, revenue) that drives your operational reporting.

Navigate to CRM in the top navigation, then select Companies.
Click Create company in the top right corner.
In the company name field, enter Acme Analytics.
Scroll down to your custom properties and set Customer Segment to Enterprise.
Set Health Status to Healthy.
Set Annual Recurring Revenue to 85000.
Click Create to save the company.

Repeat the same process for the remaining 3 companies using the values below.

Click Create company again and enter BrightPath HR. Set Customer Segment to Mid-Market, Health Status to At Risk, and Annual Recurring Revenue to 24000.
Create CloudSync Labs. Set Customer Segment to SMB, Health Status to Needs Attention, and Annual Recurring Revenue to 9600.
Create DataForge Inc. Set Customer Segment to Enterprise, Health Status to Healthy, and Annual Recurring Revenue to 120000.

Why these specific companies?

Each company represents a different customer segment (Enterprise, Mid-Market, SMB) and a different health state. This variety is intentional.

When you build reports later, this distribution lets you demonstrate that your dashboard surfaces meaningful patterns. A dataset where everything is healthy tells no story.

You should now see 4 companies listed when you navigate to CRM then Companies.

Don't see your custom properties when creating a company?

Your custom properties may not appear in the default create form. After clicking Create company, look for a link or option to add more fields to the form. You can also save the company first with just the name, then open the company record and fill in the custom properties from the detail view.

If you still cannot find the properties, double check that you created them under Company properties (not Contact or Deal) in the previous step.

Help me find my custom properties on the company creation form.

Create contacts and link them to companies

Contacts represent the people you work with at each company. In a real CS workflow, knowing who your executive sponsor is versus your day-to-day user shapes how you communicate and escalate.

Navigate to CRM then Contacts.
Click Create contact.
Enter the first name Sarah and last name Chen.
Set Stakeholder Role to Executive Sponsor.
Set Engagement Level to Highly Engaged.
Click Create to save the contact.

Now associate Sarah Chen with her company.

Open the Sarah Chen contact record.
In the right sidebar, find the Companies section and click Add.
Search for Acme Analytics and select it to create the association.

Create the remaining 7 contacts using the same process. Here are the values for each.

Acme Analytics contacts:

James Okafor: Stakeholder Role = Day-to-Day User, Engagement Level = Engaged. Associate with Acme Analytics.

BrightPath HR contacts:

Maria Lopez: Stakeholder Role = Champion, Engagement Level = Passive. Associate with BrightPath HR.
David Kim: Stakeholder Role = Technical Admin, Engagement Level = Disengaged. Associate with BrightPath HR.

CloudSync Labs contacts:

Create 2 contacts with varied Stakeholder Roles and Engagement Levels. For example, one Champion who is Engaged and one Day-to-Day User who is Passive. Associate both with CloudSync Labs.

DataForge Inc contacts:

Create 2 contacts with varied Stakeholder Roles and Engagement Levels. For example, one Executive Sponsor who is Highly Engaged and one Technical Admin who is Engaged. Associate both with DataForge Inc.

Speed up contact creation

You can associate a contact with a company during creation rather than after. Look for a Company field on the contact creation form. If it appears, search for the company name there to save a step.

Navigate to CRM then Contacts. You should see 8 contacts listed.

Create onboarding deals and link to companies

Deals represent active onboarding engagements moving through your pipeline. Each deal carries the health score, risk flag, and target date that power your operational reporting.

Navigate to CRM then Deals.
Select your Customer Onboarding pipeline from the pipeline dropdown at the top.
Click Create deal.
In the deal name field, enter Acme Analytics Onboarding.
Set Pipeline to Customer Onboarding.
Set Deal stage to Training and Adoption.
Set Amount to 85000.
Set Onboarding Target Date to a date 4 weeks from today.
Set Risk Flag to None.
Set Onboarding Health Score to 85.
Click Create to save the deal.

Now associate the deal with its company and primary contact.

Open the Acme Analytics Onboarding deal record.
In the right sidebar, find the Companies section and click Add.
Search for and select Acme Analytics.
In the Contacts section, click Add and search for Sarah Chen.

Create the remaining 3 deals using these values.

BrightPath HR Onboarding:

Deal name: BrightPath HR Onboarding.
Stage: Kickoff Complete.
Amount: 24000.
Onboarding Target Date: a date 2 weeks in the past.
Risk Flag: Low Engagement.
Onboarding Health Score: 35.
Associate with BrightPath HR and Maria Lopez.

CloudSync Labs Onboarding:

Deal name: CloudSync Labs Onboarding.
Stage: Implementation.
Amount: 9600.
Onboarding Target Date: a date 1 week from today.
Risk Flag: Technical Blocker.
Onboarding Health Score: 50.
Associate with CloudSync Labs and one of its contacts.

DataForge Inc Onboarding:

Deal name: DataForge Inc Onboarding.
Stage: Onboarding Complete.
Amount: 120000.
Onboarding Target Date: a date from last month.
Risk Flag: None.
Onboarding Health Score: 95.
Associate with DataForge Inc and one of its contacts.

Why set a past target date for BrightPath HR?

BrightPath HR's target date is intentionally overdue. This simulates a stalled onboarding that a CSM should have escalated.

When you build your dashboard in the next step, this deal will stand out as a red flag. In interviews, you can explain how your system surfaces exactly this kind of risk before it becomes churn.

Navigate to CRM then Deals and select the Customer Onboarding pipeline. You should see 4 deals distributed across different stages.

Deals not appearing in the right pipeline?

Make sure you selected Customer Onboarding as the pipeline during deal creation. If a deal ended up in the default Sales Pipeline, open the deal record and change the Pipeline field to Customer Onboarding.

Also confirm you are viewing the correct pipeline by checking the dropdown at the top of the Deals page.

My deals aren't showing in the Customer Onboarding pipeline.

Your CRM now has a realistic dataset with healthy accounts, at-risk accounts, and varied onboarding stages. Next up, you will turn this data into a visual dashboard that surfaces onboarding health at a glance.

Build Your Onboarding Health Dashboard and Playbook

Your CRM now has real customer data flowing through a structured pipeline. The next challenge is making that data visible and actionable at a glance.

In this step, you will build a reporting dashboard that surfaces onboarding health, stalled accounts, and pipeline progression. You will also write a professional CS Ops Playbook document that turns your system into a portfolio piece you can share with hiring managers.

In this step, get ready to:

Create 4 reports surfacing onboarding health signals from your pipeline data.
Assemble a dashboard for at-a-glance pipeline visibility.
Write a CS Ops Playbook document for your portfolio.

Create your onboarding reports

Reports transform raw CRM data into visual insights. You will create 4 reports that each answer a different question about your onboarding pipeline.

In HubSpot, click Reporting in the top navigation bar.
Click Reports.
Click Create report.
Select Single object as your report type.

Why Single object reports?

Single object reports pull data from one CRM object (deals, contacts, or companies). Since your health signals are stored as properties on specific objects, single object reports let you query them directly without complex joins.

After creating each report below, return to Reporting then Reports and click Create report again to start the next one.

Report 1: Onboarding Pipeline Overview

Select Deals as the data source.
Choose a funnel or bar chart visualization.
Configure the report to show deal count grouped by pipeline stage, filtered to your Customer Onboarding pipeline.
Name the report Onboarding Pipeline Overview.
Click Save.

What does this report show?

This report gives you a snapshot of how many customers sit at each onboarding stage. A healthy pipeline has deals flowing steadily from left to right. If deals pile up in one stage, that signals a bottleneck.

Report 2: Onboarding Health Scores

Create a new report with Deals as the data source.
Choose a table visualization.
Add these columns: Deal name, Company, Onboarding Health Score, Risk Flag, and Deal Stage.
Sort by Onboarding Health Score ascending (lowest scores first).
Filter to the Customer Onboarding pipeline.
Name the report Onboarding Health Scores.
Click Save.

What does this report show?

Sorting by health score ascending puts your most at-risk accounts at the top. A CSM checking this table every morning immediately sees which customers need intervention. BrightPath HR (score 35) should appear at the top of your table.

Report 3: Revenue by Onboarding Stage

Create a new report with Deals as the data source.
Choose a bar chart visualization.
Configure it to show total deal amount grouped by pipeline stage.
Filter to the Customer Onboarding pipeline.
Name the report Revenue by Onboarding Stage.
Click Save.

What does this report show?

This report reveals where your revenue concentration sits in the pipeline. If most revenue is stuck in early stages, that signals financial risk. In your data, $120,000 (DataForge Inc) is already at Onboarding Complete, which is a healthy sign.

Report 4: Customer Health Distribution

Create a new report with Companies as the data source.
Choose a pie chart or bar chart visualization.
Configure it to show count of companies grouped by the Health Status property.
Name the report Customer Health Distribution.
Click Save.

What does this report show?

This report gives leadership a quick read on the overall health of your customer base. You should see 2 companies marked Healthy, 1 marked Needs Attention, and 1 marked At Risk.

Reports not showing data?

Make sure your report is filtered to the correct pipeline (Customer Onboarding). If you see no results, double-check that your deals are associated with companies and that the custom properties have values filled in.

Help me troubleshoot my empty reports

Assemble the dashboard

With your 4 reports saved, you will now combine them into a single dashboard that gives a complete picture of onboarding health at a glance.

Click Reporting in the top navigation bar.
Click Dashboards.
Click Create dashboard.
Select Start from scratch.
Name the dashboard CS Onboarding Health.
Click Create dashboard.

Now add your reports to the dashboard and arrange them in this layout:

Click Add report on the dashboard.
Search for and add each of your 4 reports.
Drag and arrange: Onboarding Pipeline Overview top-left, Onboarding Health Scores top-right, Revenue by Onboarding Stage bottom-left, Customer Health Distribution bottom-right.
Click Save on the dashboard.

Why this layout?

The top row shows operational detail (pipeline flow and individual account health). The bottom row shows strategic context (revenue distribution and overall health).

A CS leader scanning this dashboard reads top-to-bottom: individual accounts first, then portfolio-wide patterns.

Your dashboard should now display all 4 reports in a 2x2 grid. Each report pulls live data from your CRM.

Write your CS Ops Playbook

The final piece is a professional document that explains your system. This is what you share with hiring managers to prove you can design and document CS operations.

Open Google Docs in your browser by navigating to docs.google.com.
Click Blank document to create a new document.
Title the document FlowMetrics Customer Onboarding Playbook.

Structure your playbook with the following sections. Write each section in your own words using the data from your HubSpot system.

Overview: Write one paragraph explaining the purpose of the onboarding process for FlowMetrics. Mention the goal of moving customers from contract signing to self-sufficiency.
Pipeline Stages: List each of your 6 stages with its definition and exit criteria (from Step 2). Format as a numbered list with the stage name, a brief description, and the exit criteria bullet points.
Health Scoring Criteria: Explain what each score range means. Use these ranges: 0-30 = Critical, 31-50 = At Risk, 51-70 = Needs Attention, 71-100 = Healthy.
Escalation Triggers: List 3-4 specific scenarios that require CSM action. Examples include: Health Score drops below 50, Risk Flag changes to Low Engagement, and a deal stays in the same stage for more than 14 days.
Dashboard Guide: Take a screenshot of your HubSpot dashboard and paste it into this section. Below the screenshot, write 1-2 sentences per report explaining what it shows and how a CSM should use it.

Make it interview-ready

Write this playbook as if you are handing it to a new CSM on their first day. Use clear headings, short sentences, and avoid jargon. Hiring managers will scan this document in under 60 seconds, so keep it to 1-2 pages maximum.

Why write a playbook?

A playbook proves you can translate system configuration into human-readable process documentation. CS and Operations roles require this skill daily.

The playbook also makes your HubSpot system shareable and understandable to someone who was not involved in building it.

Not sure what to write?

Refer back to the exit criteria you defined in Step 2. Use the sample data from Step 4 as concrete examples in your escalation triggers. Your playbook does not need to be perfect. Focus on clarity and completeness over polish.

Help me write my CS Ops Playbook sections

Your dashboard is live and your playbook is written. Next up, you will extend this system with risk segmentation and an executive summary in the Secret Mission.

Secret mission

Build a Customer Risk Segmentation and Executive Summary

You have a working onboarding system. Now think like a CS Operations leader. Build risk segmentation views that surface problems automatically, then write an executive health summary you can present in a real interview.

Clean Up Your Resources

This project runs entirely on HubSpot's free tier and Google Docs. There are no ongoing costs, no expiring trials, and no charges to worry about.

Decide whether to keep your resources running, pause them to come back later, or delete them entirely.

Resources you used:

HubSpot CRM with Customer Onboarding pipeline, 8 custom properties, 4 companies, 8 contacts, 4 deals, 4 reports, 1 dashboard, and 2 saved views.
Google Doc (FlowMetrics Customer Onboarding Playbook).

Keep everything running

No action needed. Choose this if you are still actively building or want to keep this as a portfolio piece.

Your HubSpot free account has no expiration and no charges. Everything you built will remain accessible indefinitely.
Your Google Doc playbook stays in your Google Drive and is free to keep.
You can continue adding customers, refining reports, and expanding the system as a living portfolio piece.

Pause - I'll come back to this later

Take screenshots of your work for your portfolio, then step away knowing everything will still be here when you return.

Take a screenshot of your CS Onboarding Health dashboard showing all 4 reports.
Take a screenshot of your Customer Onboarding pipeline in board view showing deals at different stages.
Export your contacts and companies as CSV files for backup. Navigate to CRM then Contacts, click Actions (top right of the table), then Export. Repeat for Companies.
Bookmark your Google Doc playbook so you can find it easily later.

Delete - I don't want to use this again

Remove all project resources and start fresh. Follow these steps in order.

Delete sample deal records:

Navigate to CRM then Deals.
Select the checkboxes next to all 4 onboarding deals.
Click Delete at the top of the table.
In the dialog box, enter the number of records to delete, then click Delete to confirm.

Delete sample contacts:

Navigate to CRM then Contacts.
Select the checkboxes next to all 8 contacts you created.
Click Delete at the top of the table, enter the number of records, and confirm.

Delete sample companies:

Navigate to CRM then Companies.
Select the checkboxes next to all 4 companies (Acme Analytics, BrightPath HR, CloudSync Labs, DataForge Inc).
Click Delete at the top of the table, enter the number of records, and confirm.

Delete the dashboard and reports:

Navigate to Reporting then Dashboards.
Find the CS Onboarding Health dashboard, click the Actions dropdown, and select Delete.
Navigate to Reporting then Reports.
Select the checkboxes next to your 4 custom reports and delete them.

Delete custom properties:

Click the settings icon (gear) in the top navigation bar.
In the left sidebar menu, navigate to Properties.
Click the Select an object dropdown and choose Company properties.
Find each custom property you created (Customer Segment, Health Status, Annual Recurring Revenue). You can archive or permanently delete each one.
Repeat for Contact properties (Stakeholder Role, Engagement Level) and Deal properties (Onboarding Target Date, Risk Flag, Onboarding Health Score).

Reset the pipeline:

The free tier allows only 1 deal pipeline, so you cannot delete it entirely. After deleting all deal records (done above), you can rename it back to its default name or leave it as-is.
To rename, navigate to Settings then Objects then Deals, click the Pipelines tab, click Actions, and select Rename this pipeline.

Delete the Google Doc:

Open Google Drive and find the FlowMetrics Customer Onboarding Playbook document.
Right-click the file and select Move to trash.

Delete your HubSpot account (optional, only if you no longer need it):

Click your account name in the top right corner, then click Account & Billing.
Click the Delete Account tab.
Click Delete account and enter your Hub ID to confirm.

Nice Work!

You just built a complete Customer Success onboarding operations system in HubSpot CRM. From pipeline design to health signal tracking to executive-ready documentation, you now have a portfolio piece that proves you can think and operate like a CS Ops professional.

You've learned how to:

Design and build a 6-stage customer onboarding pipeline with 8 custom health signal properties tracking customer health across contacts, companies, and deals.
Build a 4-report dashboard surfacing pipeline health, risk distribution, and revenue by onboarding stage at a glance.
Write a professional CS Ops Playbook document with defined stages, exit criteria, escalation triggers, and scoring criteria that you can share directly with hiring managers.
Secret Mission: Built customer risk segmentation views and an executive health summary demonstrating strategic communication skills.

Ready to quiz yourself?