2.2 · Customer Success · Outcome Measurement
Book 1 · Ch 12 · Product Boundaries That Hold

NPS and Outcome Cadence: CO-Friendly Metrics for Federal Products

Quarterly outcome review cadence using mission-impact metrics, not satisfaction scores. Metric definitions and escalation thresholds fill in once the first customer's contract KPIs are agreed.

2.2 · Customer Success · artifact id: nps-outcome-cadence-v0.html · v0 · 2026-05-28
Format stub. This artifact defines the measurement framework and cadence. Specific KPI targets, baseline values, and agency-negotiated thresholds populate when the first customer's contract performance standards are agreed at kickoff.

The CO-friendly metrics problem

Federal contracting officers process satisfaction differently than commercial customers. A CO cannot put "NPS score of 47" in a past performance record. The past performance information retrieval system (PPIRS / CPARS) asks about schedule, quality, cost, and management. A Customer Success function in a federal product company needs to produce metrics the CO can cite in CPARS, not just internal health scores.

Ch 12 of Shrink-Wrap It makes the boundary alignment point: every metric tracked should map back to a CLIN deliverable description. If the metric does not appear in the SOW or the contract's quality assurance surveillance plan (QASP), it is an internal metric only. This cadence uses two metric categories: contract-facing (QASP-aligned, reported to CO) and internal (health indicators, not reported externally unless a threshold is breached).

Metric categories

Category 1: Contract-facing (QASP-aligned)

These appear in the contract's quality assurance surveillance plan or are directly tied to CLIN deliverable definitions. They are shared with the agency CO on the agreed reporting schedule.

Metric Definition Target Measurement method Reporting cadence
System uptime Percentage of scheduled hours the product is available and responding within SLA response thresholds [TBD: typically 99.5% or 99.9% per SLA template] Automated monitoring; exported from observability platform monthly Monthly to CO; quarterly summary to agency PM
Mean time to remediate (MTTR) - P1 Average time from P1 incident declaration to resolution [TBD: typically 4 hours for P1 per SLA template] Ticket system; incident log Reported per incident; summarized quarterly
POA&M closure rate Percentage of open POA&M items closed by their scheduled completion date 90%+ on-schedule closure ConMon POA&M log; 3PAO assessment findings Quarterly to agency ISSO
Control deviation rate Number of security control deviations identified per quarter relative to SSP baseline Zero unauthorized deviations ConMon scans; ISSO review Quarterly to agency ISSO
Deliverable schedule adherence Percentage of contractually required deliverables (e.g., status reports, ConMon evidence packages) submitted on or before the due date 100% Contract deliverable log Monthly

Category 2: Internal health indicators

These are tracked internally by Customer Success. They inform expansion conversations and early warning escalations. They are not shared with the CO in standard reporting but may be referenced if escalation reaches CO level.

Metric Definition Target Escalation threshold
Monthly active users (MAU) Users who logged in and performed at least one action in the trailing 30 days 70%+ of provisioned user count Below 40% triggers training conversation; below 25% triggers at-risk escalation
Feature utilization depth Number of distinct features used per active user per month [TBD once product feature set is defined] Single-feature usage by 80%+ of MAUs signals potential expansion or training gap
Support ticket trend Month-over-month change in support ticket volume per 100 users Flat or declining trend after Month 3 Rising ticket volume in Month 4+ signals product or onboarding gap
Sponsor engagement Number of scheduled touchpoints held with agency PM and ISSO vs. planned cadence 100% of scheduled touchpoints held Two consecutive missed touchpoints triggers escalation to Federal Posture Lead
Internal NPS Quarterly single-question survey to agency PM and ISSO: "How likely are you to recommend [Product Name] to a colleague at another agency?" (0-10 scale) 7+ (promoter territory) Below 6 triggers structured debrief within 2 weeks; below 5 triggers escalation to First-SKU Launch Lead

Quarterly review cadence

Month Review type Attendees Agenda skeleton
Month 1 Go-live review (inline with onboarding Step 4) NorthAI Customer Success + agency PM + agency ISSO (1) Confirm go-live milestone, (2) Review 30-day health baseline, (3) Set Q1 KPI targets
Month 3 Q1 outcome review NorthAI Customer Success + agency PM (1) Contract-facing metrics vs. targets, (2) Internal health review, (3) Open issues log, (4) Feature requests categorized
Month 6 Mid-year review + ISSO security check NorthAI Customer Success + Authorization Architect + agency PM + agency ISSO (1) Contract metrics YTD, (2) ConMon status and POA&M summary, (3) Option year discussion if applicable, (4) Expansion signals
Month 9 Q3 outcome review + renewal prep NorthAI Customer Success + Revenue Lead + agency PM (1) Contract metrics YTD, (2) Renewal intent discussion, (3) User count adjustment for option year, (4) Expansion CLIN proposal if triggered
Month 12 Annual review + option year exercise NorthAI Customer Success + First-SKU Launch Lead + agency PM + agency CO (1) Full-year contract metrics summary, (2) CPARS / past performance prep, (3) Option year exercise confirmation, (4) Year 2 plan

Escalation thresholds

Condition Action Timeline
SLA breach (uptime below threshold for any rolling 7-day period) Incident declared; Customer Success notifies agency PM same day; root cause report due within 5 business days Immediate
Internal NPS below 5 Structured debrief with agency PM; escalation to First-SKU Launch Lead; improvement plan drafted within 2 weeks Within 10 business days of survey result
MAU below 25% at Month 3+ At-risk account flag; Customer Success + Federal Posture Lead joint call with agency PM; training and adoption plan Within 5 business days of trigger
POA&M closure rate below 80% Authorization Architect escalates to agency ISSO; remediation plan with new dates; notify First-SKU Launch Lead At quarterly ISSO review
Unauthorized boundary change detected Immediate: reverse the change, notify agency ISSO, document in ConMon log, open emergency POA&M Within 24 hours of detection