A customer portal built on the system you already have
We build a secure portal where your customers log in to place orders, track jobs, download documents or raise requests, connected to the system your staff already use.
At a glance
- Typical price
- £12,000 to £25,000
- Typical duration
- 6 to 10 weeks
- VAT
- Prices exclude VAT
Who this is for
Businesses whose customers have to phone or email to find out something the system already knows. Where is my order? Can you send that certificate again? What did we buy last year? Each question is small, but they add up to a good part of someone’s day, and the customer still has to wait for the answer.
The information is in your system. What is missing is a safe way to let customers reach their own part of it. Replacing the whole system to get that is rarely necessary. A portal is a separate application that sits on top of what you have and shows only what you choose.
What you end up with
A website on your own domain where each customer contact logs in and sees their own orders, jobs, documents or requests, and nothing belonging to anyone else. The scope lists exactly what they can do there. Whatever they submit arrives in the existing system, so your staff carry on working where they always have.
Two parts of the work decide whether a portal succeeds, and we deal with both before fixing the price.
The first is the connection to the existing system: whether it has an API, whether its database can be used safely, and what the portal should do when that system is unavailable. If the system is old or undocumented, a code audit first can settle how to connect to it.
The second is permissions. Opening an internal system to outside users means every request has to be checked against who is asking. Those checks are written into the acceptance tests, including attempts to reach another customer’s records.
The connection is built as its own layer. If the system behind the portal is later modernised or replaced, that layer changes and the portal stays.
After launch
The portal and its source code are yours. Each project includes a short warranty period for defects against the agreed scope.
A portal is open to the internet, so it needs security updates and monitoring for as long as it runs. We provide that as a separate monthly maintenance arrangement, or your own team can take it on using the documentation supplied. For how the price is agreed and how changes are handled, see how fixed price works.
Talk to us
Describe the system and what you need. You will hear back from someone who can answer technical questions.
Discuss this project 0800 433 7990What is included
- Connection to your existing system
- The portal reads from and writes to the system you already run, through its API or its database, so nothing is typed twice.
- Secure customer logins
- Individual accounts for each customer contact, with invitation by email and password reset.
- Each customer sees only their own data
- Permissions are enforced on the server for every request and tested as part of acceptance.
- The tasks your customers ask for
- Typically placing orders, tracking jobs, downloading documents and raising requests. The scope lists exactly which.
- Notifications
- Emails to customers and to your staff when something is submitted or changes status.
- Administration for your staff
- Screens to invite customers, manage their users and see what has been submitted.
How the project runs
Discovery
We establish what customers ask your staff for most, and how the portal can reach the existing system: an API, the database or files.
Agree scope and price
A written scope listing each thing a customer can do, the permission rules, the acceptance checks and a single fixed price.
Build in visible steps
You see working software regularly during the build, connected to a test copy of your system.
Pilot
A small group of customers use the portal first, so problems surface before everyone is invited.
Launch
The remaining customers are invited and the portal becomes the normal route for the tasks it covers.
What moves the price
- How the existing system can be reached. A documented API is simpler than a database nobody has documented.
- The number of different things a customer can do in the portal.
- How complicated the permission rules are, for example customers with several sites or their own internal roles.
- Sign-in requirements, such as single sign-on with a customer's own directory.
Not included
- Hosting charges and support after the warranty period. These are a separate monthly arrangement.
- Changes to the existing system itself, beyond what the portal needs in order to connect.
- Penetration testing by an independent firm. We recommend it for a portal and will work with the provider you choose.
- Online card payments, unless written into the scope.
A good fit when
- Your staff spend time each day answering questions customers could answer for themselves, such as where an order is or whether a document can be resent.
- Customers are asking to order, track or download online.
- The existing system holds the information but was never designed to be opened to people outside the business.
- You want to keep the system you have and add to it.
Probably not for you if
- The existing system has no API and its supplier does not allow access to the database. We check this before quoting.
- The system behind the portal is about to be replaced. Do that first, or plan the two together.
- You need a public shop selling to anyone. A packaged e-commerce platform is usually the better choice.
Questions we are asked
Our system is old. Can a portal still be built on it?
Usually. If the system has an API or a database we can reach, the portal can sit on top of it. We investigate the connection before quoting, because it is the main unknown.
How do you make sure one customer cannot see another's data?
Every request is checked on the server against the logged-in customer. Hiding a link on the screen is not treated as security. The acceptance checks include tests that try to reach another customer's records and must fail.
Will the portal disturb our existing system?
It is designed not to. The portal reaches your system through one controlled connection, and we test against a copy before it touches the live system.
Can it carry our branding?
Yes. The portal uses your logo, colours and domain name.
What if the system behind it is replaced later?
The connection to your system is built as a separate layer. If the system behind it changes, that layer is rewritten and the portal your customers use stays the same.
Tell us about your system
Say what it does, what it is built on and what is worrying you. We will reply with what we would look at first and whether we are the right people to help.