Day-by-Day Onboarding Checklist
Audience: KeyNova onboarding engineers and hotel operations leads.
Purpose: A prescriptive 7-day execution plan (T-6 → T-0) for bringing a single property from "signed contract" to "live on KeyNova". Phase 1 launches 5 properties on 2026-04-14; this playbook is what we run for each one.
Prerequisites:
- Contract signed and property short code assigned
- Property Data Collection Form sent to hotel ops
- KeyNova onboarding engineer assigned
- Azure DevOps ticket opened in
hmp-platformunderonboarding/{property-code}Related:
- Property Data Collection Form
- Training Materials Review
- Seed template:
hmp-infrastructure/seeds/seed-production-hotel.sql- Seed script:
hmp-infrastructure/seeds/seed-master.sh
Roles
| Role | Who | Time commitment |
|---|---|---|
| KN-Eng | KeyNova onboarding engineer | ~4 hrs/day across 7 days |
| KN-Ops | KeyNova customer success manager | ~2 hrs/day |
| KN-Dev | KeyNova on-call engineer (for escalation) | On-call T-0 to T+7 |
| H-GM | Hotel general manager | Sign-off at T-6, T-4, T-0 |
| H-Ops | Hotel operations lead (primary contact) | ~4 hrs/day across 7 days |
| H-IT | Hotel IT / MIS lead | ~2 hrs/day T-5 to T-2 |
| H-Staff | Hotel front-line staff (FD/HK/FnB) | Training only (T-2, T-1) |
Escalation path
| Severity | Issue | Notify | SLA |
|---|---|---|---|
| P0 | Blocker preventing go-live | KN-Ops → KN Eng Manager → CTO | 15 min |
| P1 | Serious issue, workaround exists | KN-Ops | 1 hour |
| P2 | Minor issue, non-blocking | KN-Eng | 4 hours |
| P3 | Cosmetic / docs | KN-Eng | 1 business day |
Day 1 — T-6 — Data Collection & Kickoff
Theme: Gather everything we need. No software changes yet.
Prerequisites:
- Contract signed
- Property short code assigned (e.g.
OBRI-UDR) - Azure DevOps ticket created
Tasks
- KN-Ops Send Property Data Collection Form to H-Ops (email + shared Google Doc copy)
- KN-Ops Schedule 60-minute kickoff video call with H-GM + H-Ops + H-IT
- KN-Ops Share onboarding calendar (this checklist as a Google Doc with editable dates)
- KN-Ops Create Slack channel
#onboarding-{property-code}and invite H-Ops, H-IT, KN-Eng, KN-Dev - H-Ops Confirm target go-live date
- H-Ops Confirm domain name(s) for property:
{property}.keynovahotels.comor custom domain - H-Ops Start filling sections 1 (Property Info) and 9 (Staff Accounts) of the form
- H-Ops Collect and upload logo (SVG/PNG), hero image (1920×1080), and 3 photos per room type to shared folder
- KN-Eng Send IT readiness checklist to H-IT:
- Network: 25+ Mbps symmetric, wired to front desk, wired to POS terminals
- Public IP address (for OTA whitelisting + NIC IRP)
- Printers: thermal at FD + kitchen + POS (models and connection type)
- Mobile devices: Android tablets for HK, phones for FnB, iPad for managers
- WiFi: separate staff/guest SSIDs, WPA2 or better
- Browser: Chrome or Edge latest, 1366×768 minimum on reception PCs
- KN-Eng Open tracking tickets in Azure DevOps for all 7 days
- KN-Eng Reserve RDS subdomain for property:
db-{property-code}-prod.{region}.rds.amazonaws.com(shared RDS, dedicated schema)
Deliverables
- Signed kickoff meeting minutes in Slack channel
- Shared Google Doc with form, section 1 + section 9 filled
- Shared Google Drive folder with logo + hero + room photos
- All checklist tasks in Azure DevOps under
onboarding/{property-code}
Gate to proceed to Day 2
- H-Ops has form section 1 + section 9 at least 80% filled
- Logo + hero image uploaded
- H-IT has confirmed network readiness (or listed blockers)
- H-GM sign-off on go-live date
Day 2 — T-5 — Seed + Base Configuration
Theme: Provision the property in KeyNova production. Hotel data starts flowing into the DB.
Prerequisites:
- Day 1 gate passed
- Form sections 1, 2 (Rooms), 3 (Rate Plans), 9 (Staff) complete
Tasks
- H-Ops Complete form sections 2 (Room types + rooms CSV), 3 (Rate plans + cancellation policies)
- H-Ops Confirm GSTIN, PAN (required for tax posting)
- KN-Eng Copy
hmp-infrastructure/seeds/seed-production-hotel.sqltoseeds/onboarding/{property-code}/seed.sql - KN-Eng Fill all 88
-- REPLACE:placeholders using the form (use Appendix B of the form for mapping) - KN-Eng Generate production bcrypt hash for admin password using
scripts/generate-bcrypt.sh - KN-Eng Peer-review the filled seed file (required — second engineer signs off)
- KN-Eng Run
scripts/validate-seed-integrity.sh seeds/onboarding/{property-code}/seed.sql - KN-Eng Run seed against prod RDS:
PGPASSWORD=*** psql -h {host} -U keynova -d keynova_prod -f seeds/onboarding/{property-code}/seed.sql - KN-Eng Verify property visible in admin portal at
https://admin.keynovahotels.com/properties - KN-Eng Load rooms CSV via property-service rooms bulk import endpoint
- KN-Eng Load menu CSV via pos-service menu bulk import endpoint (deferred if POS not at launch)
- KN-Eng Upload logo + hero image via admin portal → Property → Branding
- KN-Eng Configure property settings:
- Timezone (§1.11)
- Currency (§1.12)
- Check-in / check-out times (§5.1, §5.2)
- Business date rollover time (§5.9)
- Default tax rules (§4.5, §5.7)
- GSTIN (§1.13) in tax configuration
- KN-Eng Smoke test: login as
admin@{property-domain}using temp password; confirm dashboard loads
Deliverables
- Filled
seed.sqlcommitted tohmp-infrastructure/seeds/onboarding/{property-code}/branch - Property visible in admin portal with correct name, logo, rooms, rate plans
- Smoke test screenshot in Slack
Gate to proceed to Day 3
- Admin can log in
- Property dashboard loads without errors
- All rooms imported and visible in Rooms page
- At least 1 rate plan visible with base rates for all room types
Day 3 — T-4 — Integration Setup
Theme: Wire up payment, channel manager, email, e-invoicing. Test each integration end-to-end.
Prerequisites:
- Day 2 gate passed
- H-Ops has provided credentials (§6, §7, §8 of the form) via 1Password vault
- H-IT has whitelisted KeyNova IPs for OTA push
Tasks
Razorpay (Payment)
- KN-Eng Add Razorpay credentials to property settings → Payments
- KN-Eng Configure webhook URL:
https://{property-domain}/api/webhooks/razorpay - KN-Eng Copy webhook secret from Razorpay dashboard → add to property settings
- KN-Eng Run test transaction: ₹1 booking using test card
4111 1111 1111 1111(Razorpay test mode) - KN-Eng Verify webhook received, folio posted, test booking marked paid
- KN-Eng Switch Razorpay to live mode; run ₹1 live transaction (refund immediately)
- KN-Eng Confirm payment receipt email sent via SendGrid
ResAvenue (Channel Manager) — if applicable
- KN-Eng Enable ResAvenue adapter for property via admin portal
- KN-Eng Add requestor ID, password, hotel code (from §6 of form)
- KN-Eng Configure OTA room type mappings from §6.7
- KN-Eng Configure OTA rate plan mappings from §6.8
- KN-Eng Push 7-day inventory test: expect
200 OKfrom ResAvenue - KN-Eng Verify ResAvenue dashboard shows updated ARI for all mapped room types
- KN-Eng Create test reservation on Booking.com extranet (or ask ResAvenue to inject a test booking)
- KN-Eng Verify booking pulled into KeyNova reservation list within 10 minutes
SendGrid (Email)
- KN-Eng Verify SPF/DKIM records for
{property-domain}are configured - KN-Eng Configure sender email and display name in notification-service
- KN-Eng Send test booking confirmation email; verify delivery + rendering in Gmail + Outlook
- KN-Eng Send test check-out invoice email; verify PDF attachment renders
NIC IRP (E-invoicing) — if applicable
- KN-Eng If
E-invoice enabled at launch = true(form §8.4):- Add NIC credentials to property settings
- Generate test IRN for a dummy invoice
- Verify QR code + IRN returned
- KN-Eng If
false: confirmEINVOICE_MOCK=trueis set for property; add post-launch ticket
Twilio (SMS) — optional
- KN-Eng If SMS enabled: verify Twilio credentials, send test booking confirmation SMS
Deliverables
- All integrations tested end-to-end with screenshots in Slack channel
- Integration status report in Azure DevOps ticket
- P1 blockers escalated to KN-Dev
Gate to proceed to Day 4
- Razorpay: at least 1 successful live ₹1 transaction
- ResAvenue (if applicable): 1 successful inventory push + 1 successful reservation pull
- SendGrid: test email delivered to H-Ops inbox
- No P0/P1 integration blockers
Day 4 — T-3 — User Provisioning & Permissions
Theme: Create all staff accounts, assign roles, verify login and permissions. Print credentials.
Prerequisites:
- Day 3 gate passed
- H-Ops has confirmed staff list with roles (form §9)
- All staff have valid email addresses
Tasks
- KN-Eng Create admin user from form §9 (if not already created in seed)
- KN-Eng Enforce MFA (TOTP) on admin account at first login
- KN-Eng Create manager users (1-2)
- KN-Eng Create front desk users (3-5)
- KN-Eng Create housekeeping supervisor + staff users (5-10)
- KN-Eng Create F&B manager + staff users (3-5)
- KN-Eng Create kitchen staff users (if KDS used) (2-3)
- KN-Eng Create accounts / night audit user (1)
- KN-Eng Verify each user receives welcome email with temp password and first-login link
- KN-Eng Assign role-based permissions: verify front desk cannot access billing exports, etc.
- KN-Eng Test login flow for each role using a shadow session (or ask H-Ops to test)
- KN-Eng Configure shift schedule if shift management is enabled
- H-Ops Confirm each staff member can log in
- H-Ops Print wallet-sized credential cards (role + login URL only, never passwords)
- KN-Eng Document any permission gaps in ticket (do NOT block go-live on minor perms issues)
Deliverables
- User list in Azure DevOps ticket with status (
Created/Verified/Failed) - Welcome emails delivered
- Screenshot of each role's dashboard home
Gate to proceed to Day 5
- At least 1 admin, 1 manager, 2 front desk, 1 HK supervisor, 1 FnB manager verified working
- No role escalation bugs (front desk can't see admin pages)
Day 5 — T-2 — Training Session 1 (Front Desk)
Theme: Front desk team learns reservations, check-in/out, folio posting, night audit.
Prerequisites:
- Day 4 gate passed
- Training room booked at the hotel (or video call if remote)
- Each trainee has login credentials and a laptop/tablet
- Printed Front Desk Quick-Start Guide available
Tasks
- KN-Ops Conduct 2-hour front desk training session (agenda below)
- H-GM Attend opening 10 minutes (sets expectations)
- H-Ops Attend full session as super-user
Training agenda (2 hours)
| Time | Topic | Hands-on |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00-0:10 | Welcome, KeyNova overview, why we moved | — |
| 0:10-0:20 | Login, MFA, password policy, shift handover | Each trainee logs in |
| 0:20-0:35 | Dashboard home, today's arrivals board, room status | Navigation exercise |
| 0:35-0:55 | Create reservation (walk-in + phone + OTA) | Each trainee creates 1 reservation |
| 0:55-1:10 | Break + Q&A | — |
| 1:10-1:25 | Check-in flow (with ID verification, advance payment) | Each trainee checks in 1 reservation |
| 1:25-1:40 | Post charges (room service, minibar, laundry) | Each trainee posts 3 charges |
| 1:40-1:55 | Check-out flow (review folio, settle, print invoice) | Each trainee checks out 1 reservation |
| 1:55-2:00 | Q&A + next steps (night audit tomorrow) | — |
Deliverables
- Training attendance sheet
- List of open questions → added to
#onboarding-{property-code}Slack - Each trainee has created, checked in, charged, and checked out at least 1 dummy reservation
Gate to proceed to Day 6
- All front desk trainees can complete the full reservation → check-in → charge → check-out loop unassisted
- No P0 training blockers
Day 6 — T-1 — Training Session 2 (HK, FnB, Manager)
Theme: Housekeeping, F&B/POS, and manager dashboard training. Mobile app install.
Prerequisites:
- Day 5 gate passed
- Mobile app APK sideloaded on HK tablets + FnB phones, OR app installed from Play Store
- Printed Housekeeping Guide, F&B POS Guide, Manager Guide
Tasks
Housekeeping training (1 hour)
- KN-Ops Conduct 60-minute HK training
- Agenda:
- Install mobile app, login, offline mode
- My Tasks tab, accept task, start task, use cleaning timer
- Complete task with photo upload, flag discrepancy (minibar, damage)
- Update room status manually (DND, out-of-order)
- Supervisor view: inspection flow
- Hands-on: each HK staff accepts and completes 2 dummy tasks
F&B / POS training (1 hour)
- KN-Ops Conduct 60-minute F&B training
- Agenda:
- Install mobile app / open web POS, login
- Tables tab, select table, take order
- Modifier sheet (spice level, allergens, special requests)
- Send KOT to kitchen, kitchen display board
- Close order, generate bill, settle payment (cash / card / room charge)
- Room charge flow: post to guest folio
- Hands-on: each waiter takes + closes 2 dummy orders
Manager walkthrough (1 hour)
- KN-Ops Conduct 60-minute manager walkthrough
- Agenda:
- Dashboard overview: KPIs (occupancy, ADR, RevPAR)
- Arrivals/departures reports, daily revenue report
- Night audit: when to run, pre-checks, reviewing summary
- POS revenue report, HK productivity report
- Channel manager ARI view (if applicable)
- Settings: tax configuration, cancellation policies, seasonality
- User management: how to add/disable staff
- Hands-on: manager runs a dummy night audit, pulls 1 report
Deliverables
- Training attendance for all 3 sessions
- Mobile app installed and verified on every required device
- Dummy data cleanup: KN-Eng removes all test reservations, orders, tasks
Gate to proceed to Day 7
- All HK staff can accept + complete a task on mobile
- All FnB staff can take + close an order
- Manager can run night audit successfully
- Dummy data cleaned from production DB
Day 7 — T-0 — Soft Launch (Go-Live)
Theme: First live day. KeyNova team on-call for 24 hours. Daily standup with property GM.
Prerequisites:
- Day 6 gate passed
- Cutover communication sent to hotel staff (24h before)
- KN-Dev on-call confirmed
Tasks
Pre-opening (07:00)
- KN-Eng Final health check: all services responding, dashboards loading, Razorpay in live mode
- KN-Eng Verify business date is today
- KN-Eng Join Slack channel, acknowledge "go" from H-GM
- H-GM Formal cutover announcement to all staff
- H-Ops Switch printers + scanners to KeyNova from old PMS (if migrating)
Business hours (08:00-22:00)
- H-Ops First live walk-in reservation created
- H-Ops First live check-in processed
- H-Ops First live folio posting (any charge)
- H-Ops First live check-out with payment
- H-Ops First live KOT sent to kitchen (if F&B)
- H-Ops First live housekeeping task assigned + completed
- KN-Ops Monitor Slack channel; response time <5 min for any question
- KN-Eng Monitor Grafana dashboards for property: error rate, p95 latency, queue depth
- KN-Dev On-call (phone + Slack); 15-min P0 response
End of day (22:00-02:00)
- H-Ops Confirm all check-ins processed
- H-Ops Confirm all check-outs settled
- H-Ops No-shows marked
- H-Ops Run night audit
- KN-Eng Monitor night audit logs in real time; intervene if stuck
- H-Ops Review night audit summary report with manager
- KN-Ops Daily standup with H-GM at 22:30 (or next morning 09:00)
- Recap: what went well, what broke, open questions
- File P1/P2 tickets in Azure DevOps
- Agree on T+1 action items
Deliverables
- At least 1 complete guest lifecycle on production (reservation → check-in → charge → check-out)
- Night audit completed successfully
- Daily standup minutes in Slack
- Azure DevOps ticket updated to
LIVEstatus
Success criteria
- All staff completed their shift without calling the old PMS
- No P0 incidents
- Night audit completed within 10 minutes
- All payments reconciled with Razorpay dashboard
Post-launch (T+1 to T+7)
| Day | Focus | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| T+1 | Morning review, address P1/P2 from T-0 | KN-Ops + H-Ops |
| T+2 | Second night audit cycle, OTA reconciliation | KN-Eng |
| T+3 | Refresher micro-training for any struggling staff | KN-Ops |
| T+5 | Weekly revenue report review with manager | KN-Ops |
| T+7 | Hyper-care end; handoff to standard support SLA | KN-Ops → KN Support |
After T+7, the property moves to standard support: Slack channel archived, Zendesk ticketing begins, SLA follows contract (8×5 or 24×7).
Task count summary
| Day | Theme | Task count (approximate) |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 (T-6) | Data Collection | 13 |
| Day 2 (T-5) | Seed + Config | 16 |
| Day 3 (T-4) | Integrations | 22 |
| Day 4 (T-3) | User Provisioning | 15 |
| Day 5 (T-2) | FD Training | 7 (+ 8 agenda items) |
| Day 6 (T-1) | HK/FnB/Mgr Training | 18 |
| Day 7 (T-0) | Soft Launch | 20 |
| Total | ~111 tasks |
Per-property resource estimate
| Role | Total hours across 7 days |
|---|---|
| KN-Eng (onboarding engineer) | ~32 hours |
| KN-Ops (customer success) | ~20 hours |
| KN-Dev (on-call, mostly idle) | ~8 hours (T-0 concentrated) |
| H-Ops (hotel ops lead) | ~28 hours |
| H-IT | ~10 hours (T-5 to T-2) |
| H-GM | ~4 hours (kickoff + sign-offs + T-0 standup) |
| H-Staff (trainees × avg) | 2 hrs each (training) |
Risk register
| Risk | Impact | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|
| Form filled late or incomplete | Slips T-5 | Daily nudges from KN-Ops; form gate at Day 1 |
| Razorpay live keys not ready | Blocks T-4 | Confirm keys at T-6; escalate to H-GM if missing at T-5 |
| NIC IRP credentials delayed | Deferred | EINVOICE_MOCK=true at launch; plan catch-up post-launch |
| OTA mapping errors | Overselling risk | Dry-run push T-4; peer review by second engineer |
| Staff training attendance < 80% | Day-1 chaos | Mandatory sign-in sheet; H-GM enforces |
| Network outage on T-0 | Full outage | Hotel confirms backup ISP at T-6; KeyNova offline mode for HK + FnB |
| Old PMS data not migrated | Historical reporting gap | Export old PMS reports to PDF for archive; no live migration in Phase 1 |
| Wrong timezone configured | Night audit runs at wrong hour | Explicit timezone check in Day 2 smoke test |
| Printer driver mismatch | Bills don't print on T-0 | Print test receipt at T-2 during FD training |
Appendix: Templates & Scripts
| Path | Purpose |
|---|---|
hmp-infrastructure/seeds/seed-production-hotel.sql | Seed template (88 placeholders) |
hmp-infrastructure/seeds/seed-master.sh | Orchestration script for all seeds |
hmp-infrastructure/seeds/validate-seed-integrity.sh | Pre-run validation of filled seed |
hmp-infrastructure/scripts/generate-bcrypt.sh | Generate bcrypt password hash (cost 12) |
hmp-docs/docs/quick-start-guides/front-desk-guide.html | Front desk training handout |
hmp-docs/docs/quick-start-guides/housekeeping-guide.html | HK training handout |
hmp-docs/docs/quick-start-guides/fnb-pos-guide.html | F&B training handout |
hmp-docs/docs/quick-start-guides/manager-guide.html | Manager training handout |
hmp-docs/docs/onboarding/property-data-collection.md | Form (F1) |
hmp-docs/docs/onboarding/training-materials-review.md | Training review (F3) |