Custom client portals

Give clients a clear place to get things done.

A client portal can turn scattered emails, files and status requests into a focused journey for customers and the team serving them. We design that journey around the work it needs to support.

Discuss a client portal

Where it can help

One shared process.
Different views.

A portal is useful when clients repeatedly need to send information, check progress or complete a next step, while staff need to manage the same work from their side. The goal is a dependable process, not a login screen for its own sake.

Depending on the project, this could involve onboarding, document requests, approvals or service updates. We agree which tasks belong in the first release before deciding how the interface should work.

Possible workflows

Start with the task people need to finish.

These are examples for scoping, not a fixed feature list or a claim about every portal we deliver.

Requests and documents

Give clients a clear place to see what is needed, provide information and follow the status of a request.

Progress and next steps

Show the right updates and actions to each user, with a separate working view for your team.

Connected workflows

Assess how a portal should exchange data with the systems you already use, rather than duplicating records by default.

Before the build

Define the boundary of a useful first release.

A project begins with the real workflow and the systems around it. Scope, ownership and support are then agreed in writing.

Users and permissions

Identify who needs access, what each role may see or do, and how invitations and account recovery should be handled.

Information and integrations

Map the data involved, its source, any privacy or retention requirements, and the APIs available to connect existing systems.

Delivery and handover

Prioritise the core journey, review it with representative users, test the important paths and agree what further development or maintenance will cover.

Choosing the approach

Use what fits the work.

If an existing portal product covers the required tasks and permissions, configuring it may be the more practical choice. A custom portal becomes worth exploring when the client journey, staff workflow or connections to existing systems cannot be accommodated well by that product.

We review the options before proposing a build, including what information has to move, who will maintain the system and what the first release actually needs to do.

Scope and delivery

Agree the steps before committing to a build.

Discover and define

Map the current process, users, permissions and available integrations. Agree a first-release boundary and how it will be reviewed.

Design, build and test

Work through the client and team journeys, then test the agreed tasks and handoffs with representative users.

Plan the effort

Price and timing depend on the number of roles and journeys, data migration, integration quality, privacy requirements and review cycles. We discuss these factors before giving a project-specific proposal, rather than publishing a generic quote.

Built by the studio

See a product workflow in context.

PracticeComply is our own product for UK accounting practices. It connects a practice workspace with a separate client portal for document requests and responses. It shows how two sides of a process can work together; it is not a commissioned client project or a template for every new portal.