The client portal: what customers and partners handle themselves

What is a customer portal and how does it work in stipt?

A customer portal is a place where people outside your company handle things themselves that would otherwise bounce back and forth by phone or email: picking an appointment, filling in a form, checking where a job stands. stipt covers this with two parts that fit together.

For customers, stipt uses personal links. You send a booking link, form link or quote link and the customer takes care of it in the browser, on any device. No account or password is involved; the unique link handles access.

For people who work with you regularly, such as partners, freelancers and installers, there is the portal: a separate, mobile-friendly app where they see their own appointments, tasks and records. They only see what is linked to them, never your full customer base.

How does a customer book an appointment?

You send the customer a booking link. Every time the page opens, it calculates the five best slots live and shows each option as a date with an arrival window; the customer picks a time window, not an exact time. If none of the options work, the customer can use the button that says they are only available after a certain date, and the page recalculates from that date onwards.

Booking takes one click on the confirm button. If that slot was just taken, the page recalculates and the customer picks another moment. After booking, a confirmation appears with a button to add the appointment to their own calendar app. If a follow-up appointment belongs to it, the customer schedules that right away on the same page.

How to set up and send booking links is covered in the guide on customer self-scheduling.

How does a customer fill in an online form?

Forms also open through a personal link. The title sits at the top and the customer fills in the fields, sometimes spread across multiple pages with a step indicator. Required fields and a valid email address are checked before the customer can continue.

Photos and files can be attached and are uploaded the moment the form is submitted. After submitting, a thank-you page appears and the link stops working, so duplicate submissions cannot happen. The submission is then ready for your team in stipt.

There is more on building and sending forms in the guide on building forms.

Who is the portal for?

The portal is for everyone who works with you but does not belong in your main app: partners, subcontractors, freelancers, installers, sales reps and lead generators. It is a separate, mobile-friendly app that a member can also install as a standalone app via Add to Home Screen.

For each person, you pick a profile that decides what they see and can do. A lead generator only books appointments into a calendar you choose. An executor profile sees their own schedule, tasks and records and manages their availability. A sales profile can additionally plan new appointments in their own calendar.

Whatever someone is allowed to do, the boundary is always the same: only their own appointments, their assigned tasks and the records they are linked to.

How does a partner or freelancer track a job's status?

In the Records tab, a portal member sees the records they are linked to. The list is searchable by name, code or customer name and can be filtered by status, so they see at a glance which job is in which stage.

A record opens with tabs for the customer, documents, products and related records. Files and PDFs open inside the portal itself, so a drawing or datasheet is right there, even on site.

How do appointments, tasks and forms work in the portal?

The Calendar tab shows assigned appointments in a week strip that expands into a month view. For each appointment, the member marks themselves present or absent; for absent, a reason is required, so the office always knows why. Only members with the Sales rep profile can also cancel an appointment, again with a required reason. From the appointment, they open the customer card with buttons to call, email or start navigation.

The Tasks tab combines open appointments with assigned tasks and forms; a badge counts what is outstanding. An appointment shows its related form as the next step, for example a work order or handover form. Forms support drafts and a final submission, which your team then approves or rejects.

How to set up work orders like these is covered in the work orders guide.

How does a portal member share their availability?

Members with their own calendar manage their availability in the portal, under Account. They set fixed weekly hours and block time whenever needed: a full day, several days in a row for a holiday, or a time slot within a day. The reverse works too: opening up an extra day outside the fixed hours, a Saturday for instance. Planners see all of it on the schedule right away.

Members also manage their skills and work area: what kind of work they do and in which postcode areas. Automatic planning takes this into account and only offers jobs that fit.

Do customers and portal members need a password?

Customers never log in. Every booking link, form link or quote link is a unique, personal link that handles access; no account or password is involved.

Portal members receive an email invitation. Through the link in that email they fill in their name and pick their own password once; after that they land straight in the portal. From then on, the portal is available in the browser or as an app on their phone's home screen.

Frequently asked questions