Signed proposal to a checked client start

A signed proposal can become a useful welcome draft and task list. Read the signed scope first. Extract the promises, check what is missing, then ask the owner to approve the exact welcome message and tasks before anything is sent or created.

This is a fictional example. Meadow Studio and its client, Birch Books, are invented. The names and terms demonstrate the checks; they are not a client result.

Start with the signed version

The example agreement says: “Meadow Studio will deliver a three-page website for Birch Books. Birch will supply final copy and images. The first draft is due ten working days after those materials are accepted. Jo is the client contact. Hosting and ongoing edits are excluded.”

The signature record confirms the agreement is signed. A note in the sales folder says “perhaps launch on the 20th”. That note is not a contractual date. The agreement does not identify the person accepting the materials or the delivery team owner.

Keep the signature record, agreement version and sales notes separate. If two versions both appear to be final, stop and ask the owner which applies. Do not choose the newest filename and assume it is signed.

Build the checked fact sheet

A signature does not mean all required inputs have arrived. Keep “signed”, “inputs accepted” and “ready to start” as separate states.

The finished welcome draft

Hi Jo, thanks for signing. We will build the three-page website described in the agreement. Please send the final copy and images. Once we confirm those are accepted, we can confirm the first-draft date. Hosting and ongoing edits are outside this scope. We will introduce your delivery contact before work starts.

The draft promises only what the agreement supports. It does not invent a calendar date or claim work has begun.

The task list is equally small:

• Confirm the delivery owner. Hold until a person is named.
• Request the final copy and images from Jo. Owner approves the message first.
• Check the supplied materials against the three-page scope.
• Record who accepted the materials and when.
• Calculate and confirm the first-draft date using the agreed working-day calendar.

Do not create accounts, invite the client or grant folder access as a side effect of drafting this list.

Instructions you can reuse

Use only the attached signed agreement and signature record for commitments. Extract deliverables, exclusions, required inputs, named contacts and date conditions. Cite the source for each. List conflicts and missing owners separately. Draft a welcome message and a task list. Keep unsupported dates out of the message. Do not send, invite, create accounts or assign unconfirmed people.

Before using these instructions, remove client information the chosen tool is not approved to receive. Keep read access to the source separate from permission to send or create project records.

Check before the client sees it

The delivery owner compares every promise with the signed agreement. The contact must match the approved client record. Every task must have either a confirmed owner or an explicit hold. A date conditioned on materials must remain conditional until acceptance is recorded.

Test an unsigned document, a missing contact, an extra deliverable in a sales note and a repeated signed event. Each should stop or be held for review. A repeated event should find the existing client-start record using the agreement reference. It should not create another project.

The job is finished when the approved welcome is sent once and the agreed tasks exist with their references recorded. A draft alone is not that finish.

This follows the checked proposal example. Once the client is running, use the monthly report example.

Keep a record of the finish

Record the source version, draft version, reviewer, decision and time. A correction changes the draft version and cancels the earlier approval. Save the final destination and its reference separately from the review decision.

If the last action fails, check the destination before trying again. A missing reply does not prove nothing happened. Keep the job on hold until its owner has checked. Never repeat a send or create a second record just to clear an error.

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