Branch preview. This page previews the upcoming experience. The new navigation will appear when the update is enabled for your organization; until then, continue using your current workflow.
Why we’re making this change
Onboarding often involves the same people and work as project delivery: phases, tasks, due dates, and client input. Bringing them together gives your team one place to find that work while keeping the client-facing onboarding experience available. You’ll be able to find onboarding work from Projects, using the Onboarding projects category filter, open its linked project, and manage the portal from that workspace. Project types will identify which workflows use onboarding features.What will move
The destinations you see depend on your role and the project. The available sections are Overview, Project Plan, Team & Contacts (or Team), Client Portal, Collaboration, and Files & Forms. On phones, swipe the navigation rows to reach every available destination.
Existing staff bookmarks to company onboarding pages will open the corresponding project section once that portal has a linked project and the update is enabled. Onboarding settings bookmarks will redirect to their new location under Settings > Projects.
What happens to your existing work
Onboardings already linked to a project
An existing link to a PSA or MSPortal project is retained. The migration uses that project rather than creating a replacement. Your onboarding portal remains attached to it.Onboardings without a linked project
MSPortal automatically creates and links an MSPortal project using the portal’s name and company. It brings across the portal’s phases and creates project tasks for MSP-owned onboarding tasks that don’t already have a ticket link. Client-owned tasks stay in the onboarding portal. This can make additional projects appear in your portfolio. These are the project counterparts of existing onboardings. The automatic migration does not create projects or tickets in your external PSA. For these newly created projects, completed, converted, or archived portals produce closed projects. If you’re looking for historical onboarding work, include Closed or All in your Projects view.Portals, templates, and progress
The migration retains the existing portal records, contacts, task progress, submissions, and portal configuration. Your reusable templates remain available through the shared template library. You do not need to export and reimport your onboarding data or recreate active portals. Normal portal lifecycle rules still apply: a completed or archived portal does not become active again because it appears in Projects.What your clients will experience
The main navigation change is for your team. Clients can continue using their existing onboarding links and completing work in the onboarding portal. This migration does not require them to create a new account or receive a replacement invitation. Existing link expiry, revoked access, and portal status restrictions still apply. If a client already cannot access a portal, the migration does not restore that access. Moving onboarding into Projects does not give clients access to every project or staff workspace. Company access, role permissions, and portal invitations continue to control what they can see.Project files and client uploads share one Documents workspace. Open Files & Forms > Documents to manage files and requests. Document permissions and visibility continue to control access; uploading a staff file does not automatically share it with clients.
How to prepare now
There is no manual data migration for your team to perform. We recommend these checks before the navigation changes:- Brief the people who manage onboarding. Share this page with project managers, onboarding coordinators, and administrators. Highlight the new locations for day-to-day work and reusable settings.
- Identify the active onboardings you will check afterward. Note the company, portal name, and any linked project so your team knows what to look for in Projects.
- Review your staff roles. Confirm who needs to view projects, run a client portal, and edit reusable onboarding settings. These are separate capabilities; project access alone does not grant every onboarding administration action. Keep existing onboarding permissions in place.
- Identify internal instructions that need updating. Check your runbooks and saved staff bookmarks for references to Settings > Onboarding or the company onboarding workspace. Use the table above when updating them after rollout.
- Keep active client onboarding running. Continue using current portals and invitations. There is no need to pause an onboarding or ask clients to start again for this change.
What to check after the update
1
Find an existing onboarding
Open Projects, using the Onboarding projects category filter, select the relevant company scope, and find one of your active onboardings. Open its project and check Overview > MSP Dashboard and Client Portal.
2
Review the work in progress
Confirm the portal name, contacts, phases, task progress, and client submissions. For a portal that previously had no project, expect an MSPortal project with the same portal name. Use Closed or All when checking historical work.
3
Check templates and settings
Open Settings > Projects and locate your templates, forms, and client portal settings. Review Project Types to confirm which types should use onboarding features.
4
Verify access with your usual staff role
Check that the people responsible for onboarding can find and manage the portal. If a tab is missing or an action is unavailable, have an administrator review the relevant project, portal, and onboarding-settings permissions.
5
Update your team's instructions
Update staff bookmarks and runbooks to use the new locations. Existing client onboarding links can stay in place.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need to migrate anything ourselves?
Do we need to migrate anything ourselves?
No. MSPortal handles linking existing portals and creating MSPortal projects where a portal has no linked project. Your team’s preparation is to review navigation and access, then check active work after the update.
Do we need to rebuild our templates?
Do we need to rebuild our templates?
No. Existing templates remain available in Settings > Projects > Templates. Review their project type when you next edit them so they use the intended onboarding or regular-project workflow.
Will this create duplicate projects in our PSA?
Will this create duplicate projects in our PSA?
The automatic migration creates no external PSA projects or tickets. Already-linked portals keep their project link. Unlinked portals receive an MSPortal project. Any later PSA linking or creation you choose is a separate action.
Will every project become an onboarding?
Will every project become an onboarding?
No. Regular projects remain regular projects. Onboarding features are associated with linked onboarding portals and project types configured for onboarding.
Why can't I see an onboarding after the update?
Why can't I see an onboarding after the update?
Check the selected company, search and filters, and whether the project is closed. Open the relevant project section and swipe the destination row on phones. If the work is still missing or access is denied, ask your administrator to review your permissions or contact MSPortal support with the company and portal name.
We only use Projects. Does this affect us?
We only use Projects. Does this affect us?
You’ll see the consolidated settings available to your role. You don’t need to create onboarding portals to keep using regular projects. The onboarding-specific migration applies to existing onboarding portals.
Can we keep using the current workflow until rollout?
Can we keep using the current workflow until rollout?
Yes. Continue using the navigation currently available in your organization. This page describes the upcoming experience, so your menus may not match it yet.