Client Portal Access Provisioning and Permission Review (Onboarding)

Client Portal Access Provisioning and Permission Review (Onboarding)

1. 01

   Map every client contact to a named role before any workspace is created

   Separate approvers, day-to-day reviewers, and finance contacts. A portal built for a single generic client login collapses the moment two people need different permissions.

2. 02

   Define the permission tiers your agency will support and freeze them for the engagement

   Three tiers cover most retainers: approver (sign-off and billing visibility), collaborator (files and comments), and observer (read-only dashboards). Write the tiers into the SOW so scope creep in access requests has a reference point.

3. 03

   Stand up the workspace under the agency's own domain and branding

   White-label portals such as Clinked and Assembly support custom domains and branded mobile access, which keeps the client inside your identity rather than the vendor's. Confirm the vendor's domain setup lead time before promising a launch date to the client.

4. 04

   Load the baseline content set: contract, current deliverables, and billing history

   An empty portal trains clients to keep emailing. Seed it with the signed agreement, the active project board, and the last two invoices so the first login demonstrates value.

5. 05

   Run a live walkthrough with the primary client contact and record it

   Twenty minutes on screen share beats a PDF guide. Capture the recording and place it in the portal itself as the permanent reference for future client staff.

6. 06

   Send individual invitations with role assignment, never shared credentials

   Shared logins destroy audit trails and make offboarding guesswork. Every seat should trace to one human and one role.

7. 07

   Schedule the first permission review 30 days out and put it on the account calendar

   Access drifts as client staff turn over. A recurring review cadence is the only thing that keeps the permission model honest.