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Getting Started · · 5 min read

Setting up your Snowfire environment

Where Snowfire runs and the order to set it up: connect the systems behind one decision, define the metrics, then Signals, Chat and schedules.

What it’s for

Setup starts with the systems behind one decision, not everything at once. Connect them, define the numbers once, then let Signals, Chat and scheduled prompts work on top. First look at your data in about 24 hours.

Before you start

Snowfire runs in our cloud, in your private cloud (VPC) or on-prem. Each deployment option comes with a requirements checklist for your security and platform teams.

Admins set up the environment. The person who creates the company becomes its first Admin.

Setup is shared with the Snowfire team. In the customer portal, every checklist item says who does it: Snowfire setup items are done by Snowfire, and You provide, You define and You do items are yours.

Steps

Set up in five steps

Each step builds on the one before it. Start with one decision you make every week and the systems behind it.

  1. Connectors: Connect the systems behind one decision. First look at your data in about 24 hours.
  2. Metrics: Define the numbers once. Connected data becomes Metrics, each with one definition, so every team starts from the same figure.
  3. Signals: Watch inside and outside. Signals watch those metrics, plus competitors, news and regulation, and rank what changed by impact.
  4. Chat: Interrogate the number. Interrogate any number in Chat. It answers from the same metrics and shows where each figure came from.
  5. Scheduled prompts: Get updates before you ask. A scheduled prompt runs on the days you pick and delivers the update to email or a connected messaging channel.

Track setup in the customer portal

  1. Open the account menu and switch from App to Portal.
  2. Choose Overview. The Deployment timeline shows the stage your account is in.
  3. Use the sidebar to move through the portal. Account Management holds Relationship, Communications, Users, Use Cases, Legal Docs and Metadata. Deployment Stage holds Connectors, Onboarding, Pre-Production and Production. Each page shows its progress.
  4. Work through the stages in order. Each stage opens once the one before it is complete.
Customer portal sidebar with Account Management, Deployment Stage and Platform Adoption, and the progress of each page
The customer portal sidebar.
Customer portal Deployment timeline with seven stages from New to Live, the account at the Connected stage
Customer portal: the Deployment timeline.
  1. New: the account is created.
  2. Account Management: relationship, communications, metadata, use cases and legal documents, such as the NDA, DPA and MSA.
  3. Connected: at least one active connector.
  4. Onboarding: stand up the isolated environment and load base-level company context.
  5. Pre-Production: data sync, a proof of concept, use case checks, pilot workflows, team training and pilot feedback.
  6. Production: go-live, the full team onboarded, KPIs set and a first business review.
  7. Live: Onboarding, Pre-Production and Production are complete.

Sign the legal documents

These documents must be completed before you can proceed forward. Account Management is complete when Relationship, Communications, Metadata, Use Cases and Legal Docs are at 100%.

  1. In the portal sidebar, choose Legal Docs.
  2. On Snowfire Trust Center, choose Request Access to get the security documentation and compliance resources. The card then reads Access requested.
  3. For each agreement, open it from its Document or signing URL with Open in new tab: the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), the Data Processing Agreement (DPA) and the Master Subscription Agreement (MSA).
  4. Once an agreement is signed, choose Sign on its card. Until then it reads Not signed yet.
  5. Choose View history on a card to see who signed it or requested access, and when.
Legal Documents page with the Snowfire Trust Center and Request Access, then the NDA, DPA and MSA, each with a document or signing URL and a Sign button
Legal Documents: the Trust Center and the agreements to sign.
  • NDA: mutual non-disclosure is in place before customer data is shared.
  • DPA: the processing terms cover how Snowfire handles customer data.
  • MSA: the commercial terms for the Snowfire engagement are signed.

Work through a stage checklist

  1. Under Deployment Stage, choose Onboarding, Pre-Production or Production.
  2. Read Progress at the top. It shows how much of the stage is done, such as 0% complete · 0 of 14.
  3. Use the Table of contents to jump to an item. Items are grouped by who does them.
  4. Open an item to read what it covers.
  5. Tick the item’s checkbox when it is done.
  6. To leave context for the other team, type in Add a note… under Notes and choose Add note.
  7. Choose View history to see who marked each item done or open, and who added a note.
Onboarding checklist with Progress at 0% complete, 0 of 14, View history, and a table of contents grouped into Snowfire setup, You provide and You define
Onboarding: progress, and each item grouped by who does it.
The You define group open on POC ideal outcome, with its checkbox, description, Notes, an Add a note box, Add note and View history
A checklist item: tick it when done, or add a note.

Onboarding

  • Snowfire setup: Security & Isolated Environment, Access & Permissions, Company Metadata + Suppliers/Competitors, Base-Level Company Context, Core Features Enabled, External Signals: Base Layer, and Scheduled Market Intelligence.
  • You provide: user and admin emails for anyone else who should have a seat. Snowfire intelligence reaches only the people set up as users.
  • You define: the POC ideal outcome, one sentence you both agree counts as success; the connector plan, which sources connect first and in what order; and a standing meeting cadence.
  • You do: install Snowfire on desktop and phone, connect Slack or Teams, and set your personal signal preferences.

Pre-Production

Data Sync, Proof of Concept Complete, Unstructured context, Validate initial use cases, Run pilot workflows, Team training session and Collect pilot feedback.

Production

Go-live deployment, Full team onboarded, KPIs established, First business review, Meeting cadence shift, Remaining connectors online and Identify expansion candidates.

Check and fix

Setup is done when the Deployment timeline reads Live.

ProblemFix
A stage will not open.Finish the checklist for the stage before it.
Account Management is not at 100%.Open Legal Docs: request Trust Center access and sign the NDA, DPA and MSA. Then check Relationship, Communications, Metadata and Use Cases.
Connected does not light up.Connected needs at least one active connector. See Connecting a data source.
Someone gets no Snowfire intelligence.Add their email under You provide in Onboarding, so they are set up as a user.
An item was ticked by mistake.Clear its checkbox. View history keeps a record that it was marked open again.
Nothing reaches Snowfire yet.Check the first connector on the Active tab in Data Management. See Connector health.

Related articles

For the full setup guide, see Get started with Snowfire.

  • What is Snowfire?

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  • The initial interview

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    The onboarding interview you complete when you first join Snowfire, and how it shapes the context Snowfire uses for your answers.

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