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Initial Setup

Follow these steps and you can be up and running rapidly!

Updated over 2 weeks ago

Impacts of a mature vCIO Process

Building a mature vCIO process is critical for every MSP to scale and has the following impacts:

  1. Stack standardization
    A standardized stack is easier for your engineers to support, more efficient to sell/procure, easier central monitoring, and gives your clients a far more stable/smooth IT experience
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  2. Project Engine
    A consistent vCIO process becomes a project engine that generates valuable projects to reduce outage/security risks and enhances your client operations with technology
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  3. Client Success
    Clients that execute on digital transformation consistently grow faster, have smoother operations, have happier teams, serve their clients better, and can achieve bigger profits
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  4. Attract Mature Clients
    A proactive, consistent, mature vCIO process and clean client app will help you attract better clients and retain your overall client base
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  5. Efficient Client Leadership/vCIO
    A mature vCIO process using Strategy Overview will dramatically reduce the time your vCIOs spend on preparing for QBRs and providing client leadership
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    ​

Initial Setup

  1. Onboarding

    Follow these resources to onboard rapidly:
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    • Initial Setup Video
      ​Watch this video to recap the setup process and then follow the guide below
      ​


      ​

    • 1on1 Onboarding/Q&A
      Starter Subscribers can schedule a free 1on1 onboarding using this link (We recommend watching the initial setup video and following this guide first to setup your PSA, ITGlue, and Office 365 for at least 1 client prior to meeting so you can use the time efficiently)
      ​

    • vCIO Mastery Training
      Available for Emerging subscribers an above, we offer 12 training meetings to implement Strategy Overview, learn how to build a vCIO team, how to deliver an elite QBR, and key automation/process elements needed to run a scalable vCIO process
      ​
      Read more about vCIO Mastery here
      ​
      Upgrade to Emerging here to get vCIO Mastery training for free here
      ​
      Enroll in vCIO Mastery here (You will get a Calendly link for the kickoff after scheduling)
      ​
      Schedule trainings (We are experiencing high demand and MSPs are often booking the next 3-4 sessions ahead of time)

      https://calendly.com/strategy-overview/strategy-overview-vcio-mastery-covered
      ​​

  2. PSA Integration/Company Import

    Integrate your PSA by following these guides (You can also run Strategy Overview without a PSA by just adding companies manually or with a spreadsheet import)
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    1. Connectwise Manage

    2. Autotask

    3. Kaseya BMS

    4. HaloPSA

    5. SyncroPSA

    6. ServiceNow

    PSA Sync Info
    PSA integrations sync the following elements:

    • Company Types

    • Markets

    • Company Statuses

    • Companies

    • Configurations

    • Contacts

    • Tickets (Only for Connectwise for now. Other PSAs coming soon)

    • Projects (Coming soon)

    • Opportunities (Coming soon)

    • Agreements (Coming soon)

    Companies

    Add only your companies that will be clients in a vCIO process or serious prospects. You can add companies in a number of ways:
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    • PSA Integration Import
      Settings > Integrations > PSA > Companies
      ​

    • Companies Module

      • Companies Module Add > Add Companies or Import from PSA or Excel import

      • You can add clients without a PSA and then map later on to PSA when you import
        ​

    • Company Excel Import (Not PSA)
      Companies Module Excel Import > Export to Excel and then import from Excel

      • Make sure the Territories, Markets and Types are are exactly the same as you just setup in the settings above.

      • For status, there are only two: "Active" or "Inactive"

      • To set user permissions in the spreadsheet use the semicolon to separate users. Example: [email protected];[email protected] (Admin users don't need to be added to the list of users since they have full permissions already.)
        ​

    • Strategy Module
      Strategy Module > Plus icon at top of company list
      ​
      ​

  3. Warranty/Asset Data Enrichment

    Enable our warranty integration to enrich your configurations/assets with:

    • Warranty expiration date

    • Purchase date

    • Manufacturer information.
      ​
      Please follow this guide
      ​
      We update the following manufacturers

    • Dell

    • Lenovo

    • HP

    • HPE

    • Acer

    • Asus


      Coming soon

    • Microsoft

    • Apple

    • Fortinet

    • Meraki

    • Unifi

    • Sophos

    • Watchguard​

  4. ITGlue/Hudu Integration

    Follow these guides to integration your documentation systems
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    1. IT Glue

    2. Hudu (Coming in Q4 2025!)


      Features:

      • Sync configurations, flexible assets, web domains and SSLs into Technology part/module in Strategy Overview

      • View all technology info on a report in a Technology part (Renamed Flexible Items Module)

      • View all technology info across all clients in Technology Module (Renamed Flexible Items Module)

      • Relate documentation items to Assessment items for quick access

      • Power Arya AI agent to answer questions on the assessment or fill out an entire Assessment

  5. Office 365/Google Workspace Integration

    Integrate Office 365 to sync office licenses, MFA status, and see the associated license on your Contacts
    ​

    1. Office 365

    2. Google Workspace (Coming in Q4 of 2025!)

  6. General Settings

    Review your settings. Go to Settings > General
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    • Company Information
      Update Company Information (Please make this as accurate as you can)
      ​

    • Localization
      Confirm Localization settings and date format
      ​

    • Groups
      Groups are used to group clients into segments such as locations, vCIOs/Account managers, territories, etc. Groups drive permissions, reports and mass editing for clients. Its ok to start with one group and adjust overtime as you need
      ​

    • Markets
      Markets are verticals for your clients. You can add market specific groups/items on assessment. If you will integrate with a PSA please rename the built in markets to match your PSA ahead of integrating for an easier mapping. If you enabled the PSA integration its best to only edit Markets in your PSA.
      ​

    • Types
      Types are ways to break up clients. (Clients, Prospects, Vendors, etc). Types with the "Prospect" box checked do not show up on the Schedule or Stack module. If you enabled the PSA integration its best to only edit types in your PSA.
      ​

    • Company Statuses - Statuses are usually Active or inactive but could be others. If you enabled the PSA integration its best to only edit statuses in your PSA.
      ​
      ​

  7. Branding

    Go to Settings > Branding to configure your branding
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    • App Name
      You can rename "Strategy Overview" to your MSP name to fully white label the experience
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    • Company Logo
      This is the logo that will accessible via Macros on the cover page of reports
      ​

    • App Logo
      This is a square logo that is your MSP symbol that shows in the top left of the app
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    • Favicon
      The favicon shows up in the browser and in bookmarks. (We recommend to make the image 512x512 so it shows up correctly on mobile bookmarks)
      ​

    • Primary Brand Color
      The primary brand color affects many sections across the app
      ​

    • Custom domain
      This is what your branded tenant will be located at. We recommend app.yourdomain.com for the app and identity.yourdomain.com for the identity (You can also make it whatever you want if you don't to brand Strategy Overview as your full client app)
      ​

    • Login wallpaper
      This will show up on the login page. You should make it reflect your brand
      ​

    • Custom email
      This is the email address that will send new account invitations and forget passwords. You should make it [email protected] but you can also make it whatever you want. You should make it a distribution list in your MSP and invite the admins/managers to the list
      ​

  8. Users

    Invite users by going to Settings > Users. Here is a description of each setting:
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    • Default Template
      This drives the main view on the Strategy module. Leave this alone ideally
      ​

    • Role

      • Admins
        Can edit all users and settings. This is ideal for executives
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      • Managers
        Can edit all users users and settings except admins. This is ideal for senior vCIOs and team leaders
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      • Editors
        can edit reports and only their settings. This is ideal for junior vCIOs and project engineers that may fill out an assessment
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      • Read Only
        Can only read reports. This is ideal for most engineers in your company
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      • External Editor
        This is for client primary contacts or IT directors who may log into the report. They wont see helper videos, receive any emails from strategy overview and will not see the support chat in the bottom right corner. We recommend created a distribution list like [email protected] and adding a user for that to test the client's experience
        ​

    • Groups
      Groups drive permissions. Add the users to specific groups. Its ok to just start with 1 group
      ​

    • Companies
      Company restriction is used to segment companies between internal users or external users invited from your clients. Set to Allow access for all companies to give your internal users access to all companies and control their permissions via groups
      ​

    • Templates
      Pick which template to give access to. The golden template is called "Strategy Overview" and should be applicable for 99% of assessments
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    • Modules
      Pick your modules carefully. External users should only get access to

      • Strategy module

      • Plan Module

      • Tickets module

      • Technology module (This is your ITGlue or Hudu data, you can consider not granting access to this module if your data isn't clean yet)

      • Office 365

      • Custom modules for clients to see (New onboarding form, billing portal, etc)
        ​​

  9. Strategy Overview Report

    Create your first report:
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    • New Report
      Clicking the New file icon under company in the strategy module
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    • Template
      Pick your template and fill out (Strategy Overview should cover 99% of assessments for MSP clients)
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    • Date
      Set the date of your scheduled assessment or the first date of the month/quarter/year
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    • User
      This is who did the bulk of the work for this individual report or whatever name you want to put in there
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    • Grade
      This is just a general health status and up to your discretion. (For example, the client can have 99 out of 100 things healthy, but if the backups is failing then their whole report can fail)
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    • Executive summary
      The best practice here is to keep it short and sweet. It is something a CEO/CFO can read to get a quick glimpse on the health of their technology and strategy. But you can also make it longer with different sections if needed
      ​

    • Assessment

      • Fill this out as best as you can.

      • This is a living document and if you do not know something leave it as "Needs Review" or "Needs Discussion"

      • Hide any items that don't apply to the client

      • Mark items that may apply in the future as non applicable.

      • Use tags and filters to create the right view for client complexity

      • Use mass maintenance for faster fill out

      • User Arya to fill out faster

      • Adjust the template item by pressing the Gear icon next to the item.
        Add/Remove/Modify any Status/Risk/Solution to optimize the assessment for your MSP, your stack, and your standard solutions.

      • Associate Documentation (ITGlue/Hudu) configs/flexible assets with assessment items by pressing the gear icon

      • Once you associate an item, optimize the columns and use filters to only show relevant items.

      • Adjust the health standard for each item based on your MSP standards. This drives the Arya AI answers. (It takes some trial an error to get Arya to reply properly)

      • The more you edit the template the faster preparing an assessment becomes
        ​

    • Assets

      • Set filters to only view Active and Group by Type

      • Hide any assets that should not be there using the grade

      • Review and grade all assets for risk

      • You can mass maintenance to apply grades in multiple assets at the same time
        ​

    • Contacts

      • Set filters to only view Active and Group by Type

      • Hide the contact list from individual report if you don't have a clean contact list. Don't let it stop you presenting the assessment

      • Review any contacts that may have MFA missing
        ​

    • Office 365

      • Set filters to only view Active, Group by Type, and only relevant meaningful licenses like Office 365 Business Premium. Hide any Free ones like Fabric or Power automate free

      • Review any emails that may have MFA missing
        ​

    • Plan
      Next you need to create a logical plan of projects and initiatives. Paint your digital transformation vision for the clients. You can create a plan either on the Executive Summary or we recommend using the plan module. To add a IT Plan to a client you can add it first on the Plan module or right on the report:

      • Press Settings at the top of the report

      • Add Part

      • Label: IT Plan

      • Type: Plan

      • Icon: List (You can also set it to whatever you like)

      • Select Plan: Add Plan (Or select one if you already made it)

      • Based on a template: Agile Plan (You may have this called something else)

      • Give access to all users from company: Check this if you are only using SO for point of contacts and client owners. Otherwise you can select manual users after. Note, only users that have access to the Strategy or Plan module will be able to see this plan

      • Lay out your plan logically by quarter and bundle projects together. For example:

        • Item Name: Email Overhaul

          • Item Notes:
            Scope

            • Implement Mesh

            • Implement EasyDMARC

            • Implement implement security awareness training
              ​

    • Roadmap/Budget
      You can start by not showing clients a roadmap/budget or even adding budgetary dates/numbers for items. Overtime you should strive to establish a financial roadmap for each client and a budget, even if the client may never be mature enough to see it

    • Report Settings

      You can customize the report by clicking settings at the top

      • Report settings allow you to set which parts open on that report

      • Template settings give you a shortcut to edit the template

      • After you edit the template you need to press "Apply Part Settings to All Drafts" to have the updates reflect on open reports. Otherwise you will only see the changes on new reports
        ​


        ​

  10. Schedule Module

    You can set the target frequency of strategic reviews on the schedule. Here are some tips
    ​

    • How to set schedule
      Click on vCIO name, Per Year, or Target month to edit each item. You can also mass edit by selecting checkboxes and pressing Edit
      ​

    • Recommended Frequency
      In a perfect world you should touch base and review client risk for all managed clients quarterly. That is when your MSP starts to perform the best. But this is often unrealistic for MSPs just starting a vCIO process. Here are recommended frequencies:

      • Smaller Clients - $0-$2,000 a month - should be once a year

      • Medium Clients - $2,001 - $9,999 a month - should be twice a year or quarterly

      • Large Clients - $10,000+ a month - should be quarterly, monthly, or weekly
        ​

      There are no hard rules. Each client is different. You can have a small fast growing company that wants to aggressively modernize and you can meet with them weekly, or you can have a large slow moving client that is healthy and not evolving a lot and then can meet once a year.
      ​

  11. Overview Dashboards
    The overview dashboards come with some out of the box widgets but you can expand it after adding PSA integration and assets. You can start using the default widgets and not change anything in the begining.
    ​
    Here are 3 places to customize your dashboards
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    1. Company Page
      Each company has its own Dashboard. Here is an example of how to set it up
      ​

    2. Strategy Module Home Page
      The Strategy Module has a dashboard that gives you a total view of all your clients. Here is an example of how to set it up:
      ​

    3. Overview Part on Report
      Each report has a visual representation of the data from the assessment and assets:
      ​


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  12. Technology Strategy Meeting (TSM)/Quarterly Business Review (QBR)

    Execute your first TSM! (We do not call strategy meetings with clients QBRs but not every client is quarterly)
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    • TSM Guide
      Please refer to this guide for more information on how to run a TSM/QBR
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    • TSM Lifecycle Overview
      ​

      • Prepare Report

        Fill out the assessment, review assets/contact/office 365, put recap on the executive summary, and create plan
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      • Schedule TSM
        Use Calendly/Timezest/Bookings to invite your clients to a Technology Strategy Meeting
        ​

      • Technology Strategy Meeting TSM
        Use Presentation mode and meet with your clients, review their business goals and create a plan that aligns their technology strategy to meet their goals
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      • Wrap

        • Refresh the report, create and tickets/opportunities from the meeting

        • Save report to PDF from the Display mode

        • Email to your client with a recap of the meeting or update your IT Strategy ticket with the info.

        • Mark the report complete by clicking "Open" and toggling to "Complete"
          ​

  13. Support/Feature Requests

    For any questions and feature requests please use the chat widget in the bottom right on any page.
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Other Key Information​

  1. Modules

    This is where you can edit modules to show, change module labels/icons, and create custom modules for the left navigation. Example modules to add are New Onboarding forms, Billing portals like connect booster, Screenconnect, ITGlue, MyGlue, various strategic spreadsheets, etc. It is ok to not make any new modules at this time.
    ​

  2. Stack Module

    • This is where you can see a total picture of your stack and your Non Recurring Revenue pre opportunity.

    • Making opportunities for everything coming up adds clutter to your CRM and may not be a good use of time to create.

    • Strategy Overview allows you forecast your pipeline and only create opportunities in your CRM when the time is right and the client tentatively approves the budget from the roadmap.
      ​

  3. Templates

    The templates will define your standards. They are flexible and will evolve over time with your process
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    • Preloaded templates
      We preload the most up to date template with all new accounts. We created these templates for our MSP and have used them for thousands of technology strategy meetings. It is best not to recreate the template but slowly modify it for your MSPs stack.
      ​

    • Edit Templates

      Go to Settings > Templates to edit templates
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    • Shortcut
      You can edit template items right from the report by clicking the gear icon next to items on assessment
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    • Template Logic
      If you want more info on the template logic visit this kb article
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    • Marketplace
      To download more templates, you can visit our marketplace
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Spread the word

Please spread the word to at least one MSP you know and to your peer groups/communities. The more MSPs we have using this app the faster we can develop more features.
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