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Feature Availability

Vtiger Editions: One Growth | One Professional | One Enterprise | One AI

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Click to watch the video on Configuring the Customer Portal.

Introduction 

The Customer Portal in Vtiger CRM allows you to provide controlled access to your customers so they can interact with your business through a self-service platform. By configuring the Customer Portal, you decide which modules and records your customers can access, ensuring they see only the information relevant to them.

Once configured, customers can create cases for issues they face, upload and access documents, and track updates on their requests directly from the portal. For quick assistance, customers can also refer to the FAQs displayed in the portal to find answers to common questions without raising a Case.
Note: You need to create FAQs related to your business and publish them to the Portal. 

Benefits of Configuring the Customer Portal

The benefits of configuring the Customer Portal are:

• Controlled access to customer data: You can define which modules, records, and fields customers can view or update, ensuring data security and relevance.
• Streamlined customer support: Customers can raise Cases, add comments, and upload documents directly from the portal, reducing manual follow-ups and support overhead.
• Improved transparency: Customers can track the status of their Cases and requests in real time, leading to better communication and trust.
• Self-service for quick resolution: By enabling FAQs in the portal, customers can quickly find answers to common questions without creating a Case.
• Consistent customer experience: Customizing the portal layout, permissions, and visibility ensures a structured and easy-to-use interface for customers.
• Reduced email dependency: Portal notifications and updates minimize back-and-forth emails, making customer interactions more efficient.

In this article, you will learn about:

• Configuring the Customer Portal 
• Adding a company logo to the Customer Portal
• Providing Portal access to customers
• Ensuring Email delivery 
• Viewing login and logout activities of customers
• Viewing records created by customers
• Hosting Customer Portal on the server

Configuring the Customer Portal 

You need to configure the following:

• Step 1: Customer Portal Details
• Step 2: Portal Layout
• Step 3: Profile Layout

Step 1: Customer portal Details 

Follow these steps to configure the Customer Portal:

1. Log in to the CRM.
2. Click the User Menu in the top right corner.
3. Click Settings. The Settings page opens. 
4. Select Configuration > Customer Portal. The Custome Portal page opens. 
5. Enter or select the following information: 
   1. Portal URL - This is the URL of the customer portal. It cannot be changed unless you host the portal on your server. 
   2. Default Assignee - Any case your customers create through the portal will be assigned to the selected user by default.
   3. Contact Support Notification (Days before) - Contacts/customers will be notified about their support end date (mentioned in the contact record) prior to the number of days you mention in this field.
   4. Login Details Template - The selected email template will send your customers the portal login credentials. 
   5. Forgot Password Template - The selected email template will send the reset password email when a contact clicks the Forgot Password link while logging in.
   6. CSS URL for custom theme - You can add the URL of your CSS file to change the theme of the customer portal to match the standards of your organization. 
   7. Default Scope - Choose whether to show only the records related to the logged-in customer or their entire organization in the customer portal. The records are shown under the modules in the menu. To learn more about this, click here.
      1. If Mine is selected, only records related to the logged-in customer are shown.
      2. If All is selected, all the records related to the logged-in customer’s organization are shown. 
   8. Inactive Portal Session Logout interval  - Defines the period of inactivity after which a customer is automatically logged out of the Customer Portal.

Step 2: Portal Layout 

Follow these steps to configure the Customer Portal:

1. Log in to the CRM.
2. Click the User Menu in the top right corner.
3. Click Settings. The Settings page opens. 
4. Select Configuration > Customer Portal. The Custome Portal page opens. 
5. Go to the Portal Layout tab. 
6. Click Portal Layout. The CRM displays the following sections.​
7. Enter or select the following information:
   1. Portal Menu -  Displays a list of available modules. Enable the Checkbox if you want to display the module in the Customer Portal.
   2. Portal Home Layout
      1. Announcement - When you have an announcement to make or a notification to send to the customers, you can write it in the Announcement block.
      2. Greeting Widget -
         1. Standard greeting - The standard greeting is Welcome to Portal.
         2. Time-based greeting - Good morning Emma, etc., are examples of time-based greetings.
      3. Charts -
         1. Open Cases by Priority – Shows the number of open cases categorized by priority.
         2. Case Resolution Time by Priority – Displays the average resolution time for cases based on priority.
         3. Projects by Status – Shows project distribution by status.
            1. Note: Pie charts in the Customer Portal use the colors configured in Picklist Settings.
      4. Analytics - If a Contact record has Analytics data, the corresponding Analytics information will be displayed in the Customer Portal only when the required options under Contacts or Organizations are enabled in the Portal.
      5. Recent Case Record Widget - Shows the most recently created or updated case records associated with the customer.
      6. Recent Tickets Record Widget - Displays recently created support tickets raised by the customer.
      7. Account Representatives Widget - Must be enabled along with Assigned To so that the logged-in customer can see the name of the sales rep handling their organization.
      8. Shortcuts - These shortcuts are available by default on the homepage of the portal:
         1. Add Document   
         2. Create Ticket  
         3. Open Tickets  
         4. Create Case  
         5. Open Cases 
      9. Recent Cases Record Widget - If enabled, the Recent Cases widget is shown on the homepage of the portal. The widget shows the cases that your customers reported recently
      10. Recent FAQ Record Widget - If enabled, the Recent FAQ widget is shown on the homepage of the portal. The widget shows the documents that your customers uploaded recently.
   3. Actions on Individual Modules - Click on a module available in the Portal Menu to customize the following permissions.
      1. Read Only - Toggle to Read Only for the required fields in the module so customers can only view those fields without the ability to edit them.
      2. Read and Write - Toggle this option to allow customers to view and edit fields within the module.
      3. Add Fields - Click to add more fields into the module and enable the toggle between Read Only and Read and Write access for those fields.
      4. Records Visibility - Displays records from the selected module that are associated with customer contacts or customer organizations.
      5. Related Information - Displays information from related modules. The modules that are enabled here will be shown in the record summary view in the portal record.
      6. Record Permissions - Enable Create Record to allow customers to create records and Edit Record to let them modify existing ones.
   4. Note: Only fields marked as Read/Write or Read-Only, along with enabled Comments and Updates, will appear in the exported PDF. 

Step 3: Profile Layout

The Profile Layout defines the structure of a customer’s profile page, showing specific fields like contact info and company details, and setting permissions for which fields can be edited.

Follow these steps to configure the Customer Portal:

1. Log in to the CRM.
2. Click the User Menu in the top right corner.
3. Click Settings. The Settings page opens. 
4. Select Configuration > Customer Portal. The Custome Portal page opens. 
5. Go to the Profile Layout tab. 
6. Click Profile Layout
7. Enter or select the following information to configure the portal:
   1. Customer Contact
      1. Read Only -  Toggle to Read Only for the required fields in the module so customers can only view those fields without the ability to edit them.
      2. Read and Write - Toggle this option to allow customers to view and edit fields within the module.
      3. Add Fields - Click to add more fields into the module and enable the toggle between Read Only and Read and Write access for those fields.
   2. Partner Organization
      1. Read Only -  Toggle to Read Only for the required fields in the module so customers can only view those fields without the ability to edit them.
      2. Read and Write - Toggle this option to allow customers to view and edit fields within the module.
      3. Add Fields - Click to add more fields into the module and enable the toggle between Read Only and Read and Write access for those fields.

Adding a Company Logo to the Customer Portal

You can customize the Customer Portal by displaying the logo of the customer’s company. 

Follow these steps to upload and display the customer's company logo:

1. Log in to the CRM.
2. Click the User Menu in the top right corner.
3. Click Settings. The Settings page opens.
4. Go to Settings > Configuration > Company Details. The Company Details page opens. 
5. Click Edit. The Edit page opens. 
6. Click the Upload option.
7. Select and upload the company logo.
8. Click Save.

The uploaded logo will appear on the Customer Portal's login screen

Providing Portal Access to your Customers

Enable the Portal User field in the Contacts module to give your customers access to the Customer Portal. When you do this, your customers will receive credentials at their contact email address, using which they can log in to the customer portal.

Note: For customers to receive their login credentials, the Primary Email field in the contact record must contain the customer’s current and active email address.

Follow these steps to give a contact access to the Customer Portal: 

1. Log in to the CRM.
2. Click the main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials.
4. Click Contacts. The Contacts List View opens. 
5. Select and open a Contact record for which the customer portal must be enabled.
6. Click the Details tab on the right sidebar.
7. Look for the Portal User field and enable it. 
8. Enter a valid Support Start Date and Support End Date. 
   1. Note: Customers will not be able to log in to the customer portal beyond the support end date.
9. Click Save.

Ensuring Email Delivery

To ensure that the email with portal credentials is delivered to the customers, you must enable a setting in the CRM.
Follow these steps to ensure email delivery:

1. Log in to the CRM.
2. Click the User Menu in the top right corner.
3. Click Settings. The Settings page opens. 
4. Select Configuration > Email Settings. The Email Settings page opens. 
5. Click Edit.
6. Scroll down to the Required Opt-in for Email Delivery section.
7. Enable the checkbox for Allow sending workflow emails to Contacts that have opted out
8. Click Save.

Viewing the Login and Logout Activities of your Customers

When your customers log in to or log out of the customer portal, it is recorded in the CRM in their contact record.
Follow these steps to view your customers’ login and logout activities:

1. Log in to the CRM.
2. Click the main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials. 
4. Select Contacts. The Contacts List View opens. 
5. Open a Contact record that has portal access. The Summary View opens. 
6. Click Filters in the Activity section in the Summary View.
7. Enable Customer Portal under Customer Touchpoints. 

Enabling the portal under the Touchpoints will display the customer activity log in the Customer Portal.

Viewing Records Created by Customers

When customers add records, such as cases, feedback, or requests, through the Customer Portal, these records will automatically appear in the respective modules in your CRM. Additionally, if a customer adds comments to a record (e.g., a case), those comments will be visible within the record's summary view. Any reply or comment added from your end will also be visible to the customer in the Customer Portal.

Example:

When a customer creates a record, like a Case titled Login Issue, their name shows in the CreatedByExt field. If they update the description to Occurred during password reset, their name appears in the ModifiedByExt field. For comments, like an Issue reported by multiple users, the comment and their names are shown in the Comments Section. Replies from you will also be visible to the customer in the Customer Portal.

Follow these steps to view records:

1. Log in to the CRM.
2. Click the main Menu.
3. Go to the respective module (e.g., Cases, Feedback, Requests). The List View of the module opens.
4. Open the record created by the customer. The Summary View of the record opens.
5. View the following details in the record added by the customer:
   
   1. View customer comments
      1. Go to the Activity section in the record's Summary View.
      2. Review comments added by the customer. Each comment will display the customer’s name and timestamp.
   2. View replies to customer comments
      1. Go to the Activity section in the record's Summary View.
      2. In the Activity section, view the reply made to the customer’s comment.
         
   3. CreatedByExt 
      1. Click Details. The Details View of the record opens.
      2. Go to the CreatedByExt field.
      3. This field will display the name of the customer who created the record.
   4. ModifiedByExt 
      1. Click Details. The Details View of the record opens.
      2. Go to the ModifiedByExt field.
      3. This field will reflect the name of the customer who last updated the record.

Note: If the customer contact who created or last modified a record is deleted, the system will display strike-through text in place of the CreatedByExt or ModifiedByExt fields.

Hosting the Customer Portal on your Server

You can host the customer portal on your website or server. Click here to download the ZIP file. 
After the download is complete, you must make the following changes in the config file (/portal/config.inc.php):

• $site_URL: This is the CRM instance path.
• $CompanyName: This is the page title that appears on the browser tab.
• $logoPath: The organization’s logo with the name and extension ‘logo.ico’ must be placed in the path mentioned here.

Note: 

• You can also refer to the Help.txt file in the ZIP file for more instructions about the configuration.
• The maximum PHP version supported is 8.2. 

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