A client portal connected to your CRM: keep customer information separate
Let customers check progress and documents without asking staff each time. Decide which CRM information they can see and how updates are checked.
The workflow illustrates a possible design and is not a client case study.
- Read internal records
- Apply visibility rules
- Collect responses
Where do staff find progress updates?
Staff may need to collect an answer from the CRM, a spreadsheet and a document folder whenever a client asks for an update. Copying that information into a portal can leave it out of date or expose internal notes. Decide what each customer may see and where the current version is maintained.
What can an existing portal handle?
Softr provides tools for client portals and access permissions. Try the existing permission settings with your actual customer relationships and data. Extra development may be needed when approvals, document versions or CRM updates do not fit those settings.
Connect progress, documents and replies
Start with one customer group and one process. Show the status, outstanding information, document version, last update and contact person. Check any information the customer submits before writing it to the CRM.
Test access with two client companies
Use accounts from two client organisations. Try direct links, search, attachments and exports, then remove a user’s access. Check duplicate submissions and a CRM outage too. A hidden page is not enough: every route to another customer’s information must enforce the permissions.
Start with common client questions
List the customer and staff roles, the fields customers may view or edit, the current CRM and the approval rules. Use sample records with personal information removed.