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Portals are active onboarding instances launched for a specific company. When you create a portal from a template, it copies the template’s phases and tasks into a live workspace where you track progress, communicate with clients, and manage the onboarding process.

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Launching a Portal

1

Open the Company Page

Navigate to the company you want to onboard and click the Onboarding tab.
2

Start Onboarding

Click Start Onboarding. Select a template from the dropdown — this determines the phases, tasks, and structure of the portal.
3

Add Client Contacts

Add the client contacts who will access the portal. Enter their name, email, and role. Mark one contact as Primary.
4

Activate the Portal

Click Start Portal to activate it. This generates secure access links for each contact and optionally sends invite emails.
You can also create a portal in Draft mode first, make adjustments to tasks and phases, and activate it later when ready.

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Portal Lifecycle

Portals move through these stages:

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The Onboarding Tab

The company onboarding page has five tabs for managing the portal: Overview, Tasks, Documents, Pages, and Activity.

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Overview Tab

The main dashboard showing:
  • Portal status with progress percentage
  • Phase-by-phase progress bars showing completion
  • Task summary with counts by status
  • Quick actions for managing the portal lifecycle
The Overview action bar is also where you open Manage dates (custom milestones and the portal countdown) and link a PSA project. See Custom Dates and Countdowns.

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Tasks Tab

The primary workspace for managing onboarding tasks.

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Status Legend

At the top, a legend shows the four task statuses with their icons:
  • Pending (circle) — Not yet started
  • In Progress (clock) — Work underway
  • Completed (checkmark) — Done
  • Blocked (lock) — Waiting on a dependency
Click a task’s status icon to cycle it forward (pending → in progress → completed). Right-click to choose any status from a dropdown menu.

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Phase Accordions

Tasks are grouped by phase in expandable accordions. Each phase header shows:
  • Phase name and status badge
  • Task completion count (e.g., “3 of 7 completed”)
  • Progress bar
Click a phase to expand it and see all tasks within. Each phase header also has status controls: Start Phase, Complete Phase, Reopen Phase, and Complete All Tasks to mark every task in the phase done at once.
The Tasks tab manages an active portal’s work — task and phase status, assignments, reminders, evidence, and comments. To change the structure (add, rename, reorder, or remove phases and tasks), edit the template before launching the portal.

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Task Rows

Each task row displays:
  • Status icon — Click to update, right-click for all options
  • Task title — With evidence type badge (signature, credentials, meeting, etc.)
  • Owner badge — MSP or Client
  • Due date — Red if overdue, amber if due within 3 days
  • Assigned user — Who is responsible
  • Priority indicator — For high and critical tasks
Click a task row to expand its detail panel, which shows:
  • Evidence content (signatures, credentials, uploaded files, form responses)
  • Task description
  • Comment threads — both client-facing comments and internal notes
  • Checklist items (if attached)

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Task Comments and Internal Notes

Each task has two separate conversation streams:
  • Client-facing comments — shared between your team and the client. Both sides can post and read, enabling back-and-forth without leaving the portal.
  • Internal notes — visible only to your MSP team for tracking work, blockers, or handoff notes. Clients never see these.
A toggle (Client-facing / Both / Internal) controls which stream you’re viewing. A small indicator on each task shows the comment count and who posted last, color-coded by author so you can spot tasks awaiting a reply.

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Task Assignment

Assign tasks to MSP team members individually:
1

Click the Assignee Area

Click the assignee name or “Unassigned” on any task row.
2

Select a User

Search and select a team member from the dropdown.
For bulk reassignment, click Reassign in the toolbar to enter selection mode. Use checkboxes (with shift-click for range selection) to select multiple tasks, then assign them all at once.

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Sending Task Emails

Send task summary emails to client contacts:
  • Send All Tasks — Emails a complete summary of all tasks with status and due dates
  • Send Phase Tasks — Emails tasks for a specific phase only
  • Send Task Reminder — Send a reminder for an individual task
Each email includes task descriptions, status badges, due dates, and a link back to the portal.

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Documents Tab

The document review queue where you triage files uploaded by clients. Summary tiles across the top show counts for Uploaded (needs review), Approved, Requested (still required), and Rejected. Documents are grouped by phase.
  • Search — find documents by name, phase, or original filename
  • Filter by status — All Documents, Requested, Uploaded, Approved, or Rejected (each shows a count)
  • Review — for an uploaded document, click Review, optionally add notes, then Approve or Reject
  • Download — open the Files panel to download each uploaded file (with uploader and upload date)
Required documents that haven’t been uploaded are flagged so you can see what’s still outstanding.

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Pages Tab

A review view of the Client Pages attached to this portal. The left pane lists the portal’s assigned pages with Visible and Hidden counts and a search box; the right pane previews the selected page. A source badge shows whether a page is still a Shared page (linked to your library) or a Portal snapshot, and the View as dropdown previews a page exactly as a specific client contact would see it. Pages are copied into a portal from the template when it’s created. To change which pages appear, edit the template’s Client Pages before launching. See the Client Pages guide.

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Activity Tab

A complete audit trail of every portal event, with server-side search and type filtering. Events tracked include:
  • Portal and phase status changes
  • Task completions and assignments
  • Document uploads, approvals, and rejections
  • Contact access and invitations
  • Signatures and credential submissions
  • Meeting scheduling
  • Comments and questions
Use the search bar to find events by description, actor name, or email. Use the type filter dropdown to show only specific event categories (Portal, Phase, Task, Document, Contact, etc.).

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Contact Management

Manage who has access to the client portal.

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Adding Contacts

1

Open the Contact List

In the portal overview, find the contacts section.
2

Add a Contact

Click Add Contact and enter the contact’s name, email, and role.
3

Send Invite

Click Send Invite to email the contact their secure access link.

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Contact Roles

Assign roles to help identify each contact’s responsibility:
  • Primary Contact
  • IT Contact
  • Decision Maker
  • Finance Contact
  • Office Manager

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Managing Access

  • Resend Invite — Send the access link again if the contact lost it
  • Revoke Access — Immediately disable a contact’s portal access
  • Regenerate Token — Create a new access link (invalidates the old one)
Contact activity is tracked — you can see when each contact last accessed the portal and how many times.

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Previewing as a Client

Use the View as dropdown (on the Pages tab and in the Settings portals list) to open the live client portal exactly as a specific contact sees it. If a portal has no contacts yet, you can preview by contact role instead. The preview opens a real, time-limited client session in a new tab — a reliable way to check branding, visible pages, and task visibility before you send invites. Previewing requires onboarding write permission.

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Meeting Scheduling

Schedule meetings directly from meeting-type tasks.
1

Click Schedule Meeting

On a meeting task, click Schedule Meeting.
2

Set Meeting Details

Enter the date, time, duration, and optional description. Add a meeting link if using a specific platform.
3

Select Attendees

Choose from portal contacts and optionally add external attendees by email.
4

Send Invitations

Click Schedule to send calendar invitations (ICS) via email to all attendees.

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Credential & Signature Review

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Reviewing Credentials

When a client submits credentials through a credential handoff task:
  1. Open the task detail panel
  2. Click Reveal Credentials to view the submitted values
  3. Credentials auto-hide after 5 minutes for security
  4. For bulk submissions, download the uploaded file

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Reviewing Signatures

When a client signs a signature task:
  1. Open the task detail panel to view the signature image
  2. See signer details: name, email, IP address, and timestamp
  3. If a document was attached, the signed document is also available

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PSA Integration

Link onboarding portals to your PSA to track onboarding as a project, create tickets from tasks, and log time against onboarding work.

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Linking a Portal to a PSA Project

1

Open the Portal Overview

Navigate to the company’s onboarding tab and open the active portal.
2

Click Link PSA Project

In the overview actions, click Link PSA Project.
3

Choose an Option

  • Link Existing: Search for and select an existing project in your PSA
  • Create New: Enter a project name and description to create a new project directly from MSPortal
Once linked, a PSA project badge appears on the portal overview showing the linked project name with a direct link to your PSA.

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Creating PSA Tickets from Tasks

Convert onboarding tasks into PSA tickets to track them in your ticketing workflow.
1

Open Bulk Create

Click Create PSA Tickets in the portal actions. This opens a dialog listing all tasks.
2

Select Tasks

Check the tasks you want to create tickets for. Tasks that already have linked PSA tickets are shown but disabled.
3

Create Tickets

Click Create. MSPortal creates a ticket in your PSA for each selected task under the linked project. Each task gets a badge showing the PSA ticket number.
Click any task’s PSA ticket badge to open the ticket directly in your PSA.

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Logging Time

Log time entries against onboarding tasks directly from the portal.
1

Click the Clock Icon

On any task with a linked PSA ticket, click the time entry icon.
2

Enter Time Details

Fill in duration, description, and whether the time is billable. Billable defaults are configurable in Settings > Onboarding.
3

Submit

The time entry is created in your PSA under the linked project and ticket.
PSA integration works with Halo PSA, ConnectWise Manage, and Autotask. The portal must be linked to a PSA project before you can create tickets or log time.

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PSA Project Defaults

Set tenant-wide defaults for how onboarding portals connect to your PSA in Settings > Onboarding > PSA Projects (this tab appears only when a PSA integration is active). You can configure:
  • Auto-create tickets — create a ticket for each task when a project is linked
  • Status sync — keep ticket status in sync bi-directionally
  • Default billable — whether new time entries default to billable
  • Provider defaults — the default board/team, priority, status, and ticket type per connected PSA (plus Halo category, impact, and urgency)
All values are chosen from dropdowns populated from your synced PSA data — there are no IDs to type.

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Completing a Portal

When all tasks and phases are complete:
1

Review Completion

Verify all tasks show as completed and all documents are approved.
2

Complete the Portal

Click Complete Portal in the overview actions. This marks the portal as finished.
3

Convert (Optional)

If this client is now fully set up in your systems, click Convert to mark the portal as converted — a final status indicating the client has been migrated to your permanent tooling.

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Managing Portals from Settings

The portal list in Settings > Onboarding > Portals provides a centralized view of all portals across companies. Each portal row has an actions menu (three dots) with the following options:
  • View Portal — Navigate to the company’s onboarding page for this portal
  • Archive — Deactivate the portal and revoke all client sessions. Portal data is preserved but clients can no longer access it. A confirmation dialog explains the impact before proceeding.
  • Restore — Return an archived portal to draft status so it can be reactivated. Only available for archived portals.
  • Delete — Permanently remove the portal and all associated phases, tasks, documents, and contacts. This action cannot be undone. A confirmation dialog requires explicit approval.
Archiving revokes all active client sessions immediately. Clients will lose access to the portal until it is restored and reactivated. Deleting is permanent and removes all portal data.

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Dashboard Integration

Your MSP dashboard shows onboarding information in two places:
  • Active Onboarding Banner — Quick-link pills showing each active portal with company name, portal name, and a progress bar. Click to jump directly to the portal.
  • My Onboarding Tasks Widget — A card showing your personally assigned onboarding tasks across all active portals, ordered by phase and task order. Click any task to go to its portal.
Both are visible only when you have onboarding permissions and there are active portals.

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Best Practices

Create portals in draft mode first. Review the tasks, adjust descriptions for the specific client, and add contacts before activating. This avoids sending premature invitations.
Assign MSP tasks to specific team members as soon as the portal goes active. This ensures tasks appear in everyone’s dashboard widget.
Check the activity feed regularly to stay informed about client progress. You can see exactly when contacts access the portal and complete tasks.
Don’t wait for clients to log in. Use the email features to send task summaries and reminders, especially for overdue items.
Clients see document status in their portal. Leaving documents in “pending review” for too long creates a poor experience — aim to review within 24 hours.