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Build a Mutual Action Plan in a Deal Room

Updated Oct 26, 2026

Build a Mutual Action Plan in a Deal Room

About This Feature​

A Mutual Action Plan (MAP) is a shared, collaborative checklist built inside a Deal Room that aligns sellers and buyers on what needs to happen — and by when — to move a deal forward. MAPs are organized into stages (e.g., Discovery, Evaluation, Procurement) that each contain a list of tasks with owners, descriptions, links, and due dates. Sellers and buyers can update tasks in real time so progress is always visible to everyone in the room.

Snapshot 📸​

Feature Status: Included with Deal Rooms (available on all plans)

Role Access: Edit MAPs in a template or deal room: Admin, Editor, Presenter (with edit rights on the template or room) View & update tasks as a buyer: Any Deal Room participant

Location: Inside any Deal Room — open the Mutual Action Plan from the side panel, or from its own page tab if you show it as a tab.

What's in a Mutual Action Plan​

Every MAP is made up of two building blocks:

  • Stages — Group tasks into phases of the deal (for example, Kickoff, Technical Validation, Legal). You can add, rename, reorder, and delete stages.
  • Tasks — Action items inside a stage. Each task supports:
    • A name
    • A description with bold, italic, underline, and strikethrough
    • One or more links (URLs to demos, docs, recordings, etc.)
    • A due date
    • A completion checkbox that any participant can toggle

Quick Start Guide​

Add a stage​

Open the Mutual Action Plan in your Deal Room (or Deal Room template), from the side panel or its page tab, and click Add stage. Give the stage a clear, deal-phase name like Discovery or Procurement.

Add a task​

Inside any stage, click Add task. Enter the task name, and (optionally) expand the task to:

  • Add a description, formatted with Bold, Italic, Underline, or Strike from the toolbar (stage and task names are plain text)
  • Attach one or more links to supporting content
  • Set a due date

Reorder stages and tasks​

Drag a stage handle to reorder stages in the plan, or drag a task to move it within a stage or to a different stage.

Mark tasks complete​

Click the checkbox next to a task to mark it complete. The completion timestamp is recorded so both sides can see when work was finished. Click again to re-open the task.

Edit or remove items​

Hover any stage or task to rename, edit, or delete it. Removing a stage also removes the tasks inside it.

Set a task due date​

Click a task's Due date chip to open the due-date popover. Each task supports two kinds of due date, picked with the Fixed date / Relative toggle at the top of the popover.

Fixed date​

Pick a specific calendar day. The chip shows that date on every task view, and turns red once the date is in the past and the task is still open.

Relative date​

A relative due date is counted from a date that belongs to the Deal Room itself, so the same template produces sensible dates in every deal without any manual editing. Set three things:

  • Counted from — either Publish date (the day the Deal Room was first published) or Opportunity created (the creation date of the CRM opportunity the room is linked to).
  • Amount — a whole number. Positive values schedule the task after the base date; negative values schedule it before.
  • Unit — Days, Weeks, or Months.

As you adjust the values, the popover previews the resolved date (for example, Due Mar 14, 2026). Click Set due date to save, or Remove due date to clear it.

Opportunity created is only selectable once the Deal Room is linked to a CRM opportunity. Until then the option is disabled and the popover shows Link the room to a CRM opportunity to count from its creation.

How relative dates resolve in a Deal Room​

  • In the editor — in a template, or in a Deal Room that has not yet been published and is not linked to an opportunity — the chip reads something like 7 days after first publish; not published yet so sellers can see what will happen without a concrete date yet.
  • Viewers never see that placeholder. Until the base date exists, the viewer counts the offset from today, so the date they see moves forward day by day until the room is published or linked.
  • Once the base date exists (the room is published, or the linked opportunity has a creation date), the chip resolves to a real calendar day and behaves like any other due date — including the overdue styling once that day has passed.
  • Each task resolves independently, so one task can count from publish and another from opportunity creation inside the same MAP.

Offset limits​

To keep dates sensible, offsets are capped at 3,650 days, 520 weeks, or 120 months in either direction.

Collaborating with Buyers on a MAP​

MAPs are designed for buyer + seller collaboration:

  • Buyers added to the Deal Room can check off their own tasks, edit descriptions, and add links — no Walnut seat required.
  • Any change shows up in the Deal Room's Updates tab for other participants (your own edits do not appear in your own Updates feed).
  • Use Deal Room Comments on a specific MAP task to ask a question or @mention a stakeholder in context.

MAPs in Templates vs. Live Deal Rooms​

You can pre-build a MAP inside a Deal Room template so every new deal starts with a consistent plan (e.g., a standard pre-sales playbook). Once a Deal Room is created from a template, its MAP becomes independent — editing the template's MAP later will not change MAPs in deal rooms that already exist.

Show the MAP as a Tab or in the Side Panel​

By default, the MAP opens in a side panel next to the page the buyer is reading. You can instead give it its own tab among the Deal Room's pages, so it reads like a full page of the room rather than an overlay. It is the same plan either way: switching moves it, and no stages, tasks, or dates are lost.

Choose the placement​

  1. Open the Deal Room (or Deal Room template) in the editor.
  2. Click the gear icon in the top bar to open Settings.
  3. Under Mutual Action Plan, choose:
    • Side panel: the plan opens in a panel next to the content.
    • Tab: the plan appears as a tab among the room's pages.

When you choose Tab, the MAP is added as the last tab in the page row. The side panel and the tab never show at the same time.

Work with the MAP tab​

  • Move it: drag the tab to any position among the pages.
  • Rename it: open the tab's ⋯ menu and choose Rename (up to 60 characters). Clear the name to go back to the default, your MAP button text or Mutual Action Plan.

Unlike a page, the plan tab can't be duplicated, hidden, or deleted. To take it out of the page row, switch the setting back to Side panel.

On the tab, buyers see the plan's overall progress, a summary, and each stage as a card they can expand.

Gate the plan to specific viewers​

A gated plan is visible only to viewers whose verified email address is on the plan's list. Everyone else sees the rest of the Deal Room as usual, without the plan, and can't view or complete its tasks. The room's link doesn't change.

Gating relies on verified emails, so the Deal Room needs Collect viewers email set to Required and Email Verification turned on. The gating window offers a switch, Collect and verify emails for the whole Deal Room, that turns both on for you. Every viewer of the room is then asked to confirm their address, and this stays on even if you remove the gate later.

  1. Set the plan to show as a Tab (see above).
  2. Open the plan tab's ⋯ menu and choose Gate plan.
  3. Add the email addresses of the people who should see the plan, clicking Add after each one.
  4. Click Done.

A shield icon on the plan tab shows the plan is gated. Hover it to see Email gated — some buyers can't see the plan. To remove someone, open the gating window and choose Remove from this page next to their address.

If you switch the plan back to the Side panel, the gate stays in force. A Plan gated button in the page row reminds you, and clicking it opens the gating window again. For gating regular pages, see Control who can see each page in a Deal Room.

Good to know​

  • Placement goes live when you publish. Switching to Tab in the editor doesn't change the live Deal Room until you republish it.
  • Templates carry it over. A Deal Room created from a template, or duplicated from another room, keeps the template's placement, tab position, and tab name.
  • Deal Rooms only. The tab placement is available in Deal Rooms. In playlists, the MAP always opens in the side panel.

Rename the MAP Button​

The button buyers click to open the MAP is labeled Mutual Action Plan by default. If your team calls it something else — Success Plan, Joint Execution Plan, Next Steps — you can rename it, either once for the whole workspace or on a specific Deal Room.

Workspace default​

Open Company Settings → Account. Set Mutual Action Plan button text for new Deal Rooms to whatever your team uses (for example, Success Plan). Every new Deal Room picks up that label. Deal Rooms that already exist keep whatever they already have.

Per Deal Room​

Open the Deal Room in edit mode and go to its Styling options. Set Action plan button text for that Deal Room. This override wins over the workspace default. Leave it blank to fall back to the workspace default (or to the built-in Mutual Action Plan if no default is set).

Tip: Keep the label short. It sits inline in the Deal Room header alongside the other section buttons, so long labels wrap awkwardly.

FAQs​

Can buyers edit the MAP without a Walnut account? Yes. Anyone with access to the Deal Room can toggle task completion, edit task details, and add links.

Do MAP tasks sync to my CRM? Deal Room engagement (including MAP activity) surfaces in Salesforce and HubSpot when those integrations are connected. See Deal room insights and analytics.

Should I use the side panel or a tab? Use the side panel when the MAP supports the content (buyers glance at next steps while they read). Use a tab when the plan is the point of the room, for example a late-stage or onboarding room, so it gets a full page and a place in the navigation.

Can a viewer see a gated plan if they type an allowed email without verifying it? No. The plan is shown only to viewers who have verified an address on the list.

Why can't I turn off Collect viewers email or Email Verification? While any page or the plan is gated to specific email addresses, those settings are locked. Remove the gates first.

What happens to the MAP if I duplicate a Deal Room? The duplicated Deal Room gets its own independent copy of the MAP, including all stages, tasks, and due dates.

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