The purpose of the Customer Portal is to give customers access to view Estimates and Orders, as well as approve designs, and pay for their products. The Customer Portal Module gives you a preview of what customers will see when they sign in to their portal. For more information about the Customer Portal, please see Inviting Customers to the Customer Portal, Customer Portal in Settings, Item Statuses and the Customer Portal, and Entering Payments in the Customer Portal.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Understanding the Customer Portal
- Action Required
- Open Orders
- Open Estimates
- Make a Payment
- History
- My Profile
- Sign Out
- Using Invoices and Statements
To begin, navigate to the module labeled Customer Portal.
Underneath the module selector, choose the company whose perspective you would like to see. Type in the empty field at the top to search your customers.
Understanding the Customer Portal
Once within your Customer Portal, a menu will appear on the left. These sections are how the customer will navigate and view information about Orders, Estimates, Payments, and History.
Note: Make a Payment and History sections must be enabled in order to show in the Customer Portal. This can be managed at any time by navigating to Settings / Customer Portal / Customer Portal Options / General / Features. For more information on the different setting options for the Customer Portal, please see Customer Portal in Settings.
Action Required
These are items that need an action completed to progress the order through the workflow. Common actions needed can include things like Proof or Estimate approvals.
Note: For more information on Item Statuses, please see Item Statuses and the Customer Portal.
For more information on how to set Item Statuses to show in the Action Required section, please see Customer Portal in Settings.
When an Estimate or Order is selected, there are several actions the customer can take.
Note: Only those actions that are specifically mentioned under the Status of the Order Items, like Awaiting Proof Approval, are necessary to complete. The other actions are optional.
a. PDF Estimate or Invoice - Clicking this will take your customer to a PDF view of the Estimate or Order Invoice.
b. Pay Now - Click this to bring up a pop-up that allows payment information to be entered on this Invoice.
Note: This option is only available on Orders.
c. Approve Multiple Items - This opens a pop-up that allows the customer to approve multiple line items at one time.
Note: See below for example.
d. View / Add Comments - Clicking this opens a pop-up allowing the customer to either read previously entered comments, or to type one of their own.
e. Upload / Download Files - Clicking this brings up a pop-up to either upload a file to the portal, or to select a file already present that can be downloaded.
f. Change Request - Clicking this will open a pop-up that allows your customer to explain the change they are requesting.
Note: See below for example.
g. Approve - Select the Approve button to select individual Line Items.
Note: See below for example.
Approve Multiple Items
For Estimates or Orders with multiple line items, there is an option to approve multiple items at one time.
1. Check the items they would like to approve.
2. Check they have read and accept the Approval Terms.
Note: This is required in order to submit.
3. Select Submit Approvals.
Change Request
1. Fill in the text box with the changes they would like made.
2. Select Submit Change Request.
Approval
1. Check the box stating they have read and approve of the terms.
2. Click Submit Approval.
Open Orders
In this section, your customers can view any Orders that are currently being worked on.
Note: Closed orders will move to Order History.
Note: The blue person icon to the left of an Order indicates there is an action is needed.
Selecting one of the Orders from the list opens a screen with several options.
a. PDF Estimate or Invoice - Clicking this will take your customer to a PDF view of the Estimate or Order Invoice.
b. Pay Now - Click this to bring up a pop-up that allows payment information to be entered on this Invoice.
c. Approve Multiple Items - This opens a pop-up that allows the customer to approve multiple line items at one time.
Note: See below for example.
d. View / Add Comments - Clicking this opens a pop-up allowing the customer to either read previously entered comments, or to type one of their own.
e. Upload / Download Files - Clicking this brings up a pop-up to either upload a file to the portal, or to select a file already present that can be downloaded.
f. Change Request - Clicking this will open a pop-up that allows your customer to explain the change they are requesting.
Note: See below for example.
Note: See below for example.
g. Approve - Select the Approve button to select individual Line Items.
Note: See below for example.
Note: Options for Approvals and Change Requests may not show on every Order.
Approve Multiple Items
For Orders with multiple line items, there is an option to approve multiple items at one time.
1. Check the items they would like to approve.
2. Check they have read and accept the Approval Terms.
Note: This is required in order to submit.
3. Select Submit Approvals.
Change Request
1. Fill in the text box with the changes they would like made.
2. Select Submit Change Request.
Approval
1. Check the box stating that they have read and approve of the terms.
2. Click Submit Approval.
Open Estimates
This section allows your customers to view all Estimates that are currently being worked on.
Note: Completed Estimates will move to the Open Orders section.
Note: The blue person icon to the left of an Estimate indicates there is an action needed.
Selecting one of the Estimates brings up a screen with several options.
a. PDF Estimate - Clicking this will take your customer to a PDF view of the Estimate.
b. Approve Multiple Items - This opens a pop-up that allows the customer to approve multiple line items at one time.
Note: See below for example.
c. View / Add Comments - Clicking this opens a pop-up allowing the customer to either read previously entered comments, or to type one of their own.
d. Upload / Download Files - Clicking this brings up a pop-up to either upload a file to the portal, or to select a file already present that can be downloaded.
e. Change Request - Clicking this will open a pop-up that allows your customer to explain the change they are requesting.
Note: See below for example.
f. Approve - Select the Approve button to select individual Line Items.
Note: See below for example.
Note: Options for Approvals and Change Requests may not show on every Estimate.
Approve Multiple Items
For Estimates with multiple line items, there is an option to approve multiple items at one time.
1. Check which items they would like to approve.
2. Check that they have read and accept the Approval Terms.
Note: This is required in order to submit.
3. Select Submit Approvals.
Change Request
1. Fill in the text box with the changes they would like made.
2. Select Submit Change Request.
Approval
1. Check the box stating that they have read and approve of the terms.
2. Click Submit Approval.
Make a Payment
This section allows the customer to see which Orders need to be paid.
Note: Certain settings must be enabled before payments can be taken through the Customer Portal. For more information on these settings, please see Customer Portal in Settings.
Customers can easily pay for one or more orders directly from this screen.
1. When hovering over the line for an order, a checkmark box will appear on the left. Select one or more orders to submit a payment.
2. Hovering over this question mark will bring up a pop-up showing more payment information. Here, they will have the option to select either Pay Balance in Full or Partial Payment. If Partial Payment is selected, simply type in the amount desired in the Payment Amount Box to the right.
3. When the necessary payment information has been filled in, click Apply.
History
Clicking on the History section gives your customer the option of selecting one of three subsections including Order History, Estimate History, and Payment History. Selecting anything from the list will bring up more detailed information.
Note: This section and related subsections are optional and must be enabled in order to show in the Customer Portal. These settings can be managed at any time in Settings / Customer Portal / Customer Portal Options. For more information on Customer Portal Settings, please see Customer Portal in Settings.
Reorder from the Order History Subsection
When this Subsection is enabled, your customers will have the option to quickly and easily reorder a product using the Order History Subsection of the Customer Portal. This option can be managed at any time in Settings / Customer Portal / Customer Portal Options. For more information on how to enable Reordering, see Customer Portal in Settings.
1. When hovering over the line for an order, an Ellipsis will appear on the far right. Click on the Ellipsis.
2. Click on Reorder. This will bring up a pop-up.
3. Click on Continue. This will create a new order in your system based entirely on the order your customer chose to reorder.
My Profile
This section is for your customers to fill out. They can choose to provide as much or as little information as they would like. The only fields that are required are their first and last names.
Note: If their time zone is different than yours, they should use their own time zone.
Passwords and Usernames cannot be reset from this screen.
Sign Out
Clicking Sign Out will immediately sign your customer out of their Customer Portal.
Note: If you click on this, it will sign you out of your system as well.
Using Invoices and Statements
Using the Customer Portal, customers have the ability to view Invoices and can access them in two ways.
Within the Customer Portal, navigate to the Open Orders or Closed Orders sections.
Accessing an Invoice from the Open Orders or Closed Orders Screen
1. Hover over the item and click the Ellipses that appears on the right.
2. Click on Print Invoice.
Note: When you access an Invoice using this method, you will also be given the opportunity to fine tune the document details and options on the Invoice using an options menu that appears to the left of the Invoice. Your customers will not have access to this menu when they click Print Invoice.
Accessing an Invoice Within a Specific Order.
1. Select the Order from the Open Orders or Closed Orders sections.
2. Click on Invoice.
Both of these methods will bring up the Invoice in a new tab where there is the option to print, or download the Invoice.
Note: The icons for printing and downloading the invoice are located in the top right corner of the screen.
