Portal users can be created in the customer detail screen. Portal User Permissions allows you to give granular permissions to your portal users.

Table of Contents

Overview
Portal User Permission Groups
Default Permissions For Non-Portal Users
Adding a Portal User
Self-Serve Password Reset
Enabling MFA

Overview

Portal users are meant to work with contacts. Just add contacts, then assign them portal user groups with different permissions.

Here are some technical details:

• If a customer has no portal users, they will be able to use their secure token login link that is on by default and linked to from the customer detail screen in the app.
• If there is at least one portal user, the secure login link will no longer be enough; they will be redirected to also use their username/password combination.
• If there is a portal user and no contacts, once they login, they should see what they had before—everything by default.
• If there is a portal user assigned to a contact, they have whatever default portal permissions are set at Portal User Permission Groups.
• If you as a technician log into a customers portal account, it doesn't log you out for a long time. If you then click a link to another customer's portal that does not have portal users, instead of just "being logged into it," the system will detect your prior login and have to log you out of that session. End result, if you log in and out of a lot of portal accounts, sometimes you'll have to click the link twice.

Portal User Permission Groups

Portal user permission groups allow you to set permission levels on what can be accessed and viewed within the customer portal. Then you can give your customers and contacts access to their portal based on these permission groups. They function almost exactly like Security Groups for Users.

Customers without portal users automatically belong to the "Non-Portal User Group," even if you have another group set as the default.

To access these groups, head to More > Admin > Customers - Portal User Permission Groups.

Here is what you can do on this screen.

1. Click a name to rename a group. Note you cannot rename Admin Portal Group or Non-Portal User Group.
2. Create a new group.
3. Make the selected group the default, clone it, edit or delete it.

If you create a new group or edit an existing one, next choose what permissions you want each portal user in that permission group to have access to in their customer portal.

When finished, click Create Portal group or Update Portal group. Once the Portal User Permission Groups have been set up, they can now be applied to your customers and contacts.

Default Permissions For Non-Portal Users

As mentioned earlier, if you opt to not set up portal users, they automatically belong to the "Non-Portal User" permissions group. This allows them to log in with their own dedicated portal accounts.

By default, all they can do is access the portal and create new tickets, but feel free to change the permissions for that group.

Note that your users will have the same Non-Portal Users Group permissions when they access the Customer Online Portal in customer accounts with no portal users. This applies to Global Admins and even when a different Portal User Permission Group is set to the default.

Adding a Portal User

While by default it is possible to get directly into the Customer Portal, you can also give the customer a Username and password to secure their Portal. If the customer has employees who may need to use the portal or submit work requests, we recommend also turning on Enable Multiple Contacts on Customers in the Customer Preferences.

There are two ways to add portal users on a customer profile—in the Portal Users section, and in the Contacts tab. We recommend the latter when adding contacts as portal users, as it makes certain things easier.

Add a portal user in the Portal Users section

1. Open any customer profile and scroll down to the Portal Users section.
2. To the right of Portal Users, click New.
   
3. The primary customer will show here. You can click to access a dropdown and select one of the contacts if any exist.
4. The Login field is the username for signing in to the Portal. It will default to a random 6-character string. We recommend always setting it to their email address so that the customer can self-serve password resets in the Customer Portal. For contacts, they must also already have an email address in their record in the Contacts tab for this to work.
5. After changing the Login to their email, scroll down to the Portal Users section again and click the down arrow button to see the rest of the fields.
   
6. You only need to set and confirm their password if you do not enter their email in the Login field. If you enter a password, it must conform to the password requirements listed above the field. They are best practices, so there is no way to reduce their complexity. If customers find it challenging, you might recommend they use a password manager such as LastPass or 1Password.
7. Select a different Portal permission group if desired.
8. Turn on Require MFA For This User if desired. See Enabling MFA for a Portal User for more info.
9. Click Update Portal user when finished, then click OK. This will collapse the fields and you will need to click the down arrow (5) again to do the next step.
10. If the customer or contact has an email on file, click Send Registration Email Invitation. This will send them an email with a link to set their password. This will work even if their Login is not the same as their email, but we recommend making them the same (see step 4 above).

Enable a portal user in the Contacts section

To enable Portal Users on Contacts,

1. On the customer detail screen, click the Contacts tab.
2. Click the desired Contact if there is more than one.
3. Turn on the Enable Portal User checkbox.
   
4. Once enabled, click the Portal Group dropdown and select which portal user group the contact will belong to. This determines the level of access they have in the Customer Portal.
5. Turn on Require MFA for the portal user if desired. See Enabling MFA for a Portal User for more info.
6. If the contact does not have an email on file, when you turn on Enable Portal User, three fields will appear. In Portal Login Override, enter a username. If you enter a non-email username, you can then create a Portal User Password and then enter it again in the Confirmation field, then click Save. However, if you enter an email address in Portal Login Override, the password fields will disappear and you will be able to send or reset the password after saving.
   
7. Click Save. If the contact has an email, the app will send them a portal invitation for them to finish setting up their portal account.

Your customer will now be able to login through the portal login page that can be added to your email templates, or linked from your website:

You can also enable the portal for multiple customers/contacts in bulk by heading to the main customer page and selecting which customers you would like to have portal access, then clicking Bulk Actions > Bulk Manage Portal Users.

There are Email Templates for the Portal Invitation and the Password Reset functions that you can customize by heading to More > Admin > PDF/Email Templates > Email Templates.

Self-Serve Password Reset

If your customer has forgotten their password for the portal, they can simply click Forgot your password? on the portal login screen (see Sign In screenshot above) and it will email them a link to reset their password.

You can send them the same link. On the Contacts tab of the customer detail screen, select the desired contact, then click Send Password Reset Link.

If they cannot get it to work or their login is not their email, you can reset their password for them. On the same screen, click Password Reset, enter and confirm a new password, then click Save.

Enabling MFA for a Portal User

You can enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for any newly created or existing portal user. To do this,

1. On the customer's detail page, in the Portal Users section, click the dropdown arrow.
   
2. Turn on the Require MFA For This User checkbox.
3. Click Update Portal user.

Customers will then be prompted to set up MFA the next time they log in to the customer portal. No additional action on your end is needed.

You can disable MFA by unchecking the box above and updating the portal user. Please note you will need to require MFA for each individual portal user added.

Note: If you do not see the Documentation section (along with hardly anything else), are there any Portal Users for this customer? If not, then when you access their portal, it defaults to the Non-Portal User Group permissions. You will need to edit those permissions (found in More > Admin > Customers - Portal User Permission Groups) to enable the Documentation - View Public setting and any other sections you want those Portal users to view.