Playbooks Overview

Playbooks are groups of tasks that enable you to complete a focused piece of customer success work. They're useful for scoping any work that needs completing to satisfy the objectives of a success plan. You can also use them independently to scope out any series of tasks that a customer success manager (CSM) might need to undertake in support of their customer. They’re particularly useful for managing repetitive pieces of work to save time and drive consistency.

Viewing Playbooks

You can view playbooks in:

You can view the playbook task records associated with a playbook in the Related tab of the playbook's record page.

Creating Playbooks

You can create either blank playbooks or playbooks from templates. A playbook created from a template inherits the information stored in the template, including its playbook task information. You can also select a record type for your new record if your administrator has set up custom record types.

You can create playbooks using:

  • The Create Playbook action in the Actions panel, which is available on the Customer Success Management Workspace. This action might also be available from a record page if your administrator has added the Actions panel to the page. This method enables you to create either blank playbooks or playbooks from a template.
  • The Add Playbooks button in Success Tracker. This method enables you to create either blank playbooks or playbooks from a template.
  • The New list view button in the Playbooks tab. This enables you to create blank playbooks only.

For more information, see Creating Playbooks.

You can also create new playbooks from existing ones using the Clone Playbook button available on playbook record pages. For more information, see Cloning Playbooks.

Note:

You must have the correct permissions assigned to create playbooks:

  • From templates
  • In Success Tracker

For more information, see Setting up Customer Success Cloud.

Playbook Creation Guidelines

Consider these guidelines when creating playbooks.

These guidelines apply to associating objectives with parent and child records:

When creating a playbook:

  • The Success Plan field is automatically populated if you leave it blank and select an objective that has a parent success plan associated with it.

  • When creating a playbook from an account, objective, or success plan record page, the Account field is automatically populated with the account associated with the record you are creating the playbook from.
  • The Account field is automatically populated if you leave it blank and select an objective that has a parent account associated with it.

  • If you select a parent success plan for a playbook, it must match the success plan of the objective associated with the playbook.

  • You must select a role if you want to enable the automatic allocation of resources to it.
  • If you do not select a team during playbook creation, adding resources to the team using team manager automatically creates and associates a team with the playbook.
Tip:

When the My Accounts checkbox is selected, you can view, search for, and select only accounts where you are a resource, along with their associated records. This checkbox is automatically selected if you are a resource on the account of any associated records. The selection is retained on the same computer, using the same browser. To select this checkbox, the currently logged-in user must be a resource on an account and have the correct permissions.

These guidelines describe which fields and field values you can view and select when creating playbooks:

  • The available field values depend on the values selected in the fields of the record's parent objects.
  • Removing a field value of a related object also removes the field values of its child objects. This does not apply when creating a playbook in the New Playbook window.

These guidelines apply to creating playbooks from templates:

  • When the Template field is selected, you can select only template objectives and success plans. To view and select template objectives and success plans, the Template field must be included in the related page layout. If the field is not included, it is treated as deselected and no template parent records are displayed.

  • If you specify start and end dates when creating a record from a template, they override the dates copied from the template.

  • Playbook tasks copied from the template playbook or success plan are associated with the same account as the playbook.

  • The start date of a record created from the template defaults to today's date. If you specify start and end dates when creating a record from a template, they override the dates copied from the template. If a playbook template does not have an end date, the end date of a record created from the template is left blank.

  • The end date of a record created from a template is calculated based on the number of days between the start and end dates on the template. If a playbook template has an end date but does not have a start date:

    • The start date of a record created from the template defaults to today's date.

    • The end date of a record created from the template is left blank.

  • The new child record dates are calculated by using the child record start date incremented by the difference between the template's start date and today's date. The start and end dates of new child records are left blank:

    • If the template has no start date
    • If the template's start date is cleared when creating a record from the template

Blank Playbooks

You can automatically associate blank playbook records with accounts, success plans, and objectives.

To automatically associate a blank playbook record with an account, create the playbook from the Actions panel:

  • On the account's record page
  • On the record page of a success plan or objective associated with the account

This automatically populates the Account field on the new record.

To automatically associate a blank playbook record with a success plan, create the playbook:

  • Using Actions in Success Tracker on the success plan's record page

  • From the Actions panel on:

    • The success plan's record page

    • The record page of an objective associated with the success plan

This automatically populates the following fields on the new record:

  • The Success Plan field

  • The Account field with the success plan's account, if the success plan is associated with an account

To automatically associate a blank playbook record with an objective, create the playbook from the Actions panel on the objective's record page. This automatically populates the following fields on the new record:

  • The Objective field

  • The Account field with the objective's parent account, if the objective is associated with an account

  • The Success Plan field with the objective's success plan, if the objective is associated with a success plan

Note:

The Actions panel might also be available on the record pages that your administrator added it to. If you want to use the Actions panel on a specific record page, contact your administrator.

Playbooks Created from Templates

You can save a playbook as a template by selecting the Template checkbox when creating your new playbook. Playbooks created from templates inherit their information and playbook task records.

You can automatically associate a playbook with:

  • An account, by creating the playbook from the Actions panel on the account's record page
  • An objective, by creating the playbook from the Actions panel on the objective's record page
  • A success plan, by creating the playbook from the Actions panel on the success plan's record page

When creating a new playbook record from a template that contains child records, the Select Records grid displays so that you can:

  • View the child records inherited from the template.
  • Deselect any child records that you do not want to include in your new record. By default, all of the template's child records are selected. If the template contains no child records, a message notifies you of this, the Select Records grid does not display, and you can finish creating your new record.

  • Edit the child records inherited from the template. When adding resources to new child records, ensure that the resources you want to add are active and are not PSA resources. You can add a single resource to objectives and playbooks, and multiple resources to playbook tasks.

Note:

Changing the start date of a playbook affects the start and end dates of its child records. In this case, any changes you made to the start and end dates of child records will be lost and the start and end dates will be set according to the playbook's new start date.

  • When selecting a template:

    • Only playbooks with the Active and Template checkboxes selected are displayed.
    • You can switch between views using Cards and Lists. By default, the last-selected view is displayed.

    • To refresh the template information, click Reload.

Custom Record Types

If your org uses custom record types:

  • You can select a record type for your new record, if your administrator has set up custom record types.

  • The displayed fields might vary if your org uses custom record types. For more information, contact your administrator.

  • When creating a record of a specific type, the Record Type field is automatically populated and is read-only. To display this field, your administrator must add it to the necessary page layouts.

  • If there are no record types available in your org for the CS Activity, Objective, Playbook, Playbook Task, and Success Plan objects, the fields in their related creation and edit windows use the related field sets.

For more information, see Setting up Customer Success Cloud.

Editing Playbooks

You can edit playbooks from:

  • The Playbooks tab
  • Success Tracker

For more information, see Editing Playbooks.

When editing a playbook:

  • The available field values depend on the values selected in the fields of the parent objects associated with the record. If no values are specified for any of the parent objects, associating the record with a parent object can automatically populate the remaining related object fields on the record. Removing a field value of a related object also removes the field values of its child objects.

  • The Success Plan field is automatically populated if you leave it blank and select an objective that has a parent success plan associated with it.

  • If you select a parent success plan for a playbook, it must match the success plan of the objective associated with the playbook.

  • Updating a playbook's objective also updates the objective and success plan of the CS activities and playbook tasks associated with the playbook.
  • Updating a playbook's success plan also updates the success plan of the CS activities playbook tasks associated with the playbook.
Notes:
  • The displayed fields might vary if your org uses custom record types. For more information, contact your administrator.
  • When the Template field is selected, you can only select the objective and success plan records that have their respective Template fields selected.

  • If there are no record types available in your org for the CS Activity, Objective, Playbook, Playbook Task, and Success Plan objects, the fields in their related creation and edit windows use the related field sets.

Allocating Resources to Playbooks

You can manually allocate any active CS Cloud resource, or automatically allocate the most suitable CS Cloud resource from a pool of resources, to a playbook. The resource receives a notification whenever they are allocated to a playbook. The resource allocated to a playbook record is also the owner of that record.

For more information, see Allocating Resources and Auto-Allocating Resources to Playbooks.

Mass Allocate Resources to Playbooks

Mass Allocate Playbooks in the Actions panel on the Customer Success Management Workspace enables you to automatically allocate resources to all unallocated playbooks. When you click Mass Allocate Playbooks, the Mass Allocate Playbooks window opens. All playbooks that are unallocated, active, and non-template are listed in the Unallocated Playbooks table.

The following permissions are required to mass allocate resources to playbooks:

  • Read and Edit permission for the playbook.
  • Read permission for the Role and Region fields of the playbook.
  • Edit permission for the Playbook Owner field on the playbook.

You can use the global search on the toolbar to find specific records in the Unallocated Playbooks table. Additionally, the Filters panel enables you to filter the unallocated playbooks. The playbook and account name in the table are hyperlinks that, when clicked, take you to the respective playbook or account.

To automatically allocate resources from the Unallocated Playbooks table:

  1. Click Mass Allocate Playbooks in the Actions panel on the Customer Success Management Workspace.
  2. Select the required playbooks. Click the checkbox next to the Playbook Name column header to select all.
  3. Click Auto-Allocate. The Mass Allocate Playbooks window closes, and the process starts. You receive a notification about the success or failure of each playbook allocation through the notification bell. If there are no unallocated playbooks available, then no data is displayed on the Mass Allocate Playbook window.
Tip:

You can select a filter set from the Saved Filters field to quickly apply a set of filters. For more information, see Filter Sets Overview.

Note:
  • Only administrators can access and view allocation records for selected playbooks on the Async Job Records page.
  • Values between one and 99 are valid for the Playbook Mass Allocation Batch Size setting.
  • Administrators can also configure the batch size of asynchronous process for Mass Allocate Playbooks through the Playbook Mass Allocation Batch Size setting in the CS Cloud Resource Allocation settings custom setting. The default value for the Playbook Mass Allocation Batch Size field is 10, and it can be set up to a maximum of 99.

Playbook Customer Success Resource

The Playbook Customer Success Resource object provides a view of resources associated with playbooks. This object establishes a relationship between CS cloud resources and playbooks, streamlining the resource allocation process.

Note:

You cannot directly create, update, or delete a playbook customer success resource from this object.

To do this, enable the Bypass Playbook CS Resource Trigger field in the CS Cloud Process Settings custom setting.

There are specific scenarios where a playbook customer success resource is not created, including:

  • If the playbook is not marked as active.
  • If the playbook marks "Is Template" true.
  • If the playbook has no owner associated.

If a resource is updated in the playbook, a new playbook customer success record is created with the updated resource. The previous record is marked inactive and assigned an end date corresponding to the change date.

Similarly, if a playbook is marked inactive or designated as a template, an end date is automatically added to the existing playbook customer success record. Creating and updating playbook customer success records depends on factors such as the playbook’s active status, template, and owner allocation. Different scenarios might arise based on these conditions and the user’s interaction.

Creating Playbook Skills

You can create playbook skills to determine the skills and competencies a resource must have to be suitable for allocation to the playbook. You can associate CS skills with playbooks from the Playbook Skills tab or the Playbook Skills related list of the playbook's record page. For more information, see CS Skills Overview and Creating Playbook Skills.

Deleting Playbooks

You can delete playbook:

  • In the Playbooks tab
  • In the Playbook related list in the Related tab of the parent records of the playbook that you want to delete
  • In Activity Tracker

To delete a playbook, you must delete its playbook tasks first.

For more information, see Deleting a Playbook.