Rolling the portal out without a support queue.

Section 01How to do it

1. 01

   Switch it on, then create the first login

   Portal access is a switch on the client record. It can be turned on for your whole client list in one action. Then create the first login: a name, an email, and whether they receive invoices.

2. 02

   Start with one client who asks a lot

   Your highest-maintenance client is the best pilot, because the saving shows within a fortnight.

3. 03

   Pick the right portal owner

   Choose whoever signs off work, because only a portal owner can accept a quote. The portal owner can invite their own colleagues, each with their own login and two-factor authentication.

4. 04

   Tell them what is in it

   What’s outstanding, every door they hold, repair progress, reports, quotes to approve and invoices to pay. One sentence per item is plenty.

5. 05

   Stop answering by email

   Gently. Reply with the portal link once or twice and the habit changes. Keep answering by hand and it never will.

6. 06

   Roll it out to everyone

   It costs nothing per client, so there is no reason to ration it once the first one works.

Section 02What the app actually does here

• Each portal user gets their own login, with two-factor authentication by authenticator app or email
• You can reset a portal user’s two-factor authentication for them
• Portal access is given per client and covers all of that client’s properties, including ones not yet inspected
• Your client opens on what’s outstanding, can search every door they hold, and sees repair work in one place
• A client’s portal owner can accept a quote. Other portal users can read it, report a door issue and pay an invoice
• A door issue reported in the portal can be turned straight into a repair task
• Clients download their own inspection reports, evidence packs, quotes, invoices, RAMS and fire stopping survey reports. They can also read an issued fire risk assessment and download its PDF
• A compliance overview of all their properties is there for them as a PDF and a CSV
• You create the first portal login. That client’s portal owner can then invite their own colleagues and remove access
• The portal can be switched on for many clients in one action
• Each portal user can be set to receive invoices or not. The site contact and the billing contact can be different people
• Your logo appears on portal emails

Section 03What goes wrong

Every one of these has cost somebody real time. They are cheap to avoid and expensive to unwind.

Section 04Questions

Section 05Related