Customer Portal: A Guide – LMN

Within this article you will find a comprehensive breakdown related to your Customer Portal needs!

Select from the list below to jump to its spot within the article!

Customer Portal Guide for Customers
Customer Portal Overview
Customer Portal Testing for LMN Users
Configure Customer Permissions
Portal Settings
- - - Set Up Default Portal Defaults
    - Set Up Color Code Maps
Estimates Overview
Work Requests

The Customer Portal Guide for Customers

Welcome to LMN’s Customer Portal! The Portal is designed to allow Customers to make Payments Online, review, approve Estimates, submit Work Requests, and communicate in real-time with your Contractor.

*Tip: The Customer Portal Guide is now available in PDF and Word attachments. Scroll to the bottom of this article to download and share with your Customers.

To view a the Customer Portal video tutorial, click HERE

To access the Customer Portal, the Contractor will send you a ‘Welcome Email’ to create an account.

Step 1: Create Your Customer Portal Account

Open the email and click the Create Your Account button to create your Customer Portal account to establish a login.
*Note: The registration link will expire in 5 days. If the link has expired, please contact the Contractor to ask them to resend the invite.
Once you click on the link, the contractor has already added your First name, Last name and Email ID, so those will be filled out for you already.
Create a password and repeat it.
Agree to the Services Agreement and click CONFIGURE ACCOUNT*Tip: Once your account is created, Bookmark to your browser for ease of use.
*Note: If you have forgotten your login credentials, please click the Forgot username or password button.

Log in to the Customer Portal to Pay Invoices Online, view Estimates, and submit Work Requests. If applicable, you may add additional Portal users to your account and provide the same or modified access. Setup your profile by enabling email notifications to receive an alert if an Invoice or Estimate has been published to your Portal.

Step 2: Pay Invoices Online

In order to make Payment Online, you will need to add a Payment Method.

In the Customer Portal, navigate to Profile on the menu on the left.
Next to Payment Method click the Add New Payment Method button to add your desired credit card and/or ACH payment.
*Note: Check with your Contractor if they accept ACH
Fill out information
*Tip: Once a Payment Method is added, you can setup auto-charge (instructions below) for recurring monthly invoices.
To make a Payment against an Invoice that has been published to the Customer Portal, click the Invoices tab and select the applicable Invoice.
Once viewed, you can Download the Invoice for your records and click Checkout.
Select Payment Method and click Pay Now.

Setup Auto-Charge

In your Customer Portal Account, select Profile and Add New Payment Method, and select Use for auto-charge.
Enter the limit you want to authorize for auto-charge(s) to your card and Save.

Step 3: Review, Approve and Comment on Proposed Work

Review, Approve, Reject, Request Change, or comment on an Estimate proposed by Contractor, click the Estimates tab:

Step 4: Submit Work Request(s) to your Contractor in the Portal

In the Customer Portal, navigate to Requests > Submit New Request
Fill in the required details of your request:
When finished, click SUBMIT.

To view a video tutorial to Setup your Customer portal, click HERE

Customer Portal Guide Attachment.pdf

Customer Portal Guide Attachment.docx

Customer Portal Overview

As a Customer, your Contractor will invite you to the Customer Portal so you can view jobsite information and pay invoices. After an invite has been sent, you will receive an email with a link to use to activate your portal.
To activate your portal:

1. 1. Go to the link provided in your email invitation
  2. Go Register Account
  3. Click Register Account
  4. Add your name, email, desired username, and password and add the registration code to the field provided. Click that you accept the Terms & Conditions and click Create Account
  5. This will take you back to the main screen, where you can use your Username and Password created in step 3 to login

Dashboard

Your Dashboard will provide you with an at-a-glance view of your last 10 visits. The information found here includes:

- - Photos
  - Jobsite Name/Address
  - Task the crew worked on
  - Time of visit

Jobsites

The Jobsites section will give you in-depth information on the jobsites associated with your portal. Here, we have three tabs which you can navigate through:

1) Jobsites

- - Will give you a map view of any jobsites associated with your portal.
  - This map is color-coded to specify when crews were last onsite at your property.
  - Navigating the map:
    - When the header is white, it means those results will not be displayed
    - When the header has a colored background, it means those results will be displayed
    - Set the circle to the desired space, using the edges to adjust the size
    - The jobs shown on the right hand menu are the jobs in your selected area
    - Click on the headers at the top of the page to narrow down your pins on the map
    - Click on set radius to zoom in on a specific area on your map
    - Search by customer name, address, etc to see a specific jobsites
  - Reviewing your data from the map:
    - Visit Details: Will show you the date and time(s) while the crew was onsite
    - Services & Materials: Will show you any services completed or materials applied while the crew was onsite
    - Visit Photos: Will show you any photos taken by the crew while onsite
    - Click on a pin on the map, or a job from the right-hand menu to see the specifics for the last 5 visits
    - Click the date tabs to navigate between these visits for more information
    - The information available depends on your permission level, but might include:

2) Visit Details

- - Will show you all visits for jobsites associated with your portal, based on date range.
  - Adjusting your search:
    - Default will be for the last month
    - Use the start and end dates to change your search result
    - Search for a specific address or task completed
  - Select the visit you’d like more information on by clicking on the line in your search results
  - The information available depends on your permission level, but might include:
    - Visit Details: Will show you the date and time(s) while the crew was onsite
    - Services & Materials: Will show you any services completed or materials applied while the crew was onsite
    - Visit Photos: Will show you any photos taken by the crew while onsite

3) Visit Schedule

- - Will show you all scheduled work for jobsites associated to your portal, based on date range.
  - Adjusting your search:
    - Will default to next three future months
    - Use the start and end dates to change your search result
    - Search for a specific address or task scheduled
  - The information available here:
    - The status of your scheduled work. Options are as follows:
    - The date the work is on the calendar for.
    - The name of the jobsites associated with your account.
    - The task scheduled for your jobsites for the date specified.
    - Visit Status:
    - Scheduled Date:
    - Jobsite Name:
    - Task:
  - To print this information, click the Print button on the right

Invoices

The Invoices section will allow you to view current and past invoices. Here, we have two tabs which you can navigate through:

1. All Invoices
  - Will show you all invoices for jobsites associated with your portal, based on date range.
    - The list includes invoice status, date, number, total amount, and invoice balance.
    - You also have the ability to search by jobsite or invoice number (top-right section in this tab)
2. Payment History
  - Will show you all payments associated with invoices in your portal, based on date range.
    - The list includes payment date, method, total amount, jobsite, and invoice number.
    - You also have the ability to search by jobsite, transaction, or invoice number (top-right section in this tab)

Users

As an Admin user, you can add and edit users on your portal.
*Note: Only CRM Contacts can be invited to the Portal, to ensure permissions stay clean and secure.

- - To add a new User:
    1. Click the +User button
    2. Add your user’s email address and pick the user type
    3. Click Apply to send an invitation

User Permission Levels

- - Admin
    - Can do everything, except for delete the last Admin.
    - Can access: Timeline (dashboard), Jobsites tabs, Profile, Invoices, Users.
    - Can't access: Can't create Admin Level accounts, can't assign Admin Level to existing accounts, Can't downgrade Admin Level accounts.

- - Accounting and Billing
    - Can access: Timeline (dashboard), Jobsites tabs, Profile, Invoices.
    - Can't access: Users.

- - Basic
    - Can access: Timeline (dashboard), Jobsites.
    - Can't access: Profile, Invoices, Users.

Profile

The Profile tab is where you can change your password and add payment methods.

- Change your password
  1. 1. Click the Change Password button
    2. Type your Current Password in the fields provided
    3. Type your new Password in the fields provided - note: your password must have one lower case letter, one uppercase letter, one number, and one special character.

- Add or Edit Payment Methods
  We will only support one credit card per user - if we feel the need to increase this, we will reevaluate. Customers can also add a credit card on the fly.
  
  In the future, we will have a pre-authorize option “Pre-authorize up to $X”. Customer will enter their comfortable value here for future pre-auth. This will allow contractors to charge automatically for all enabled customers.

1. 1. 1. Click Add Payment Method
    2. Add Payment Method
    3. Click Save Payment Method

Customer Portal Testing for LMN Users

As a Contractor, in order to better understand what your customers will see in the Customer Portal, we recommend that LMN Users test it for themselves. This test will allow you to take a glimpse at the information that is visible to your client base as you have it set up.

Invite Yourself to the Customer Portal

To get things started, create yourself as a Contact within the CRM.

In LMN navigate to CRM > Contacts
Click +New
Create your company as an Internal Contact using your business information and email address.
Click on your name within CRM contacts to ensure details are correct
Navigate to the Customer Portal tab to invite yourself.
Click Send Customer Invite
*Tip: Below, learn how to enable the Customer Portal on behalf of your Customers by adding their Credit Card & setting up autopay for payment processing
Once Invite is sent, open the email sent from LMN Customer Portal and click the registration link to Create Your Account:
Fill in the required information, check off the agree box and then click CONFIGURE ACCOUNT
Click SIGN IN and enter your Customer Portal Username/ password.
*Note, these are not the same credentials that you use to log into LMN
Log into your customer portal to see what your customers would see using your Portal Defaults. These settings can be changed at the Customer Level under the Permissions tab.

Publish/ Email an Estimate to the Portal

Create an Estimate (or copy an existing one and link to your Internal Customer) to publish to the portal.
Check your Inbox for email notification and the option to view attachment and/or log into Customer Portal.
Log in to the Customer Portal to view, comment, approve, reject Estimate(s)

Publish an Invoice to the Portal

*A Merchant Account is required to Publish Invoices to the Customer Portal.*
Next, create a Job (or copy an existing one and link to your Internal Customer)
Activate the Job for Invoicing.
*Tip: The easiest test Invoice example is to create an Invoice Contract, however, you can test Per Visit and Hourly by setting up and punching into, then submitting Timesheet.
Navigate to Invoice > Generate
Click the + Invoice Run button to run the test Invoice(s)
To publish to Customer Portal, go to Invoices > Invoice List, select the invoice(s) and click Update Invoices > Send/Publish Invoices in bulk or one at a time
View Published Invoice(s) in the Customer Portal.
*Tip: Add a Payment Method and test making a payment of i.e $1 against the Invoice.

To view a video tutorial about Sending Invoices to your customer, click HERE

Enable the Customer Portal on behalf of your Customer & Manage Credit Card Payment Methods & Autopay within the CRM Contact

Skip ahead with the LMN User Customer Portal Testing and set yourself up for the Portal automatically without creating a Portal account to start. Follow the instruction below, you can Invite Yourself to the Portal without accepting the invite! This will allow you to test Payments faster and invite customers to sign up for the Portal to pay Invoices, without ever logging into the Portal. Down the road, should they wish to, they can log into their Portal account to view Invoices, Submit Work Requests & view 'select' Jobsite Activity.

Navigate to CRM > Contacts
Select the Customer Portal tab. By default, when new contacts are added to CRM, the Customer Portal is turned ON.
Click the Send Customer Invite button.
On the Send Portal Invites pop-up, invite yourself by checking the box next to your name, select Permission type, and when finished, click Send.
The Customer (You, for testing purposes) will receive an email that they have been invited to the Portal but are not required to log in.
Once Invite is sent, in the Customer Portal tab, click the Portal Users tab
Click the +Add button under Payment Method
Fill in the required fields to manually add your Payment Method for testing purposes. All transactions that you process, can be voided and/ or refunded
Now that a Payment Method has been added, you can send the Approved Invoice to the Portal and make Payment by running the card on file.
*Tip: For effort-free monthly recurring Invoices, we recommend enabling Autopay- that will allow you to automatically process payments via Payment Runs.

For more information on Customer Portal features, log into the Academy Online - Learning Plan 9.0

Configure Customer Permissions

As an LMN User, configure what your Customers can have access to when viewing the Customer Portal.

Navigate to CRM > Contacts
Select the Customer Portal tab.
*Note: By default, when new contacts are added to CRM, the Customer Portal is turned ON.
Select the Permissions tab and make any changes to data configuration of the portal account - once complete.
When finished, click Save Changes (top right)
After you have configured what you want your customer to see, click the Send Customer Invite button
- Add the emails for the customers you would like to invite to this specific account’s portal.
  *Tip: As a rule of thumb, we typically suggest inviting your main point of contact. They will have the opportunity to add their colleagues/family/friends from the portal, specifying user permission levels there.
After the invite has been sent, your customer will receive an email with a link to enter their portal. *Note: Links will expire in 5 days, due to security purposes.

Portal Settings

Set Up Portal Defaults

Before you, an LMN User, begin granting your Customers access to the portal, go to Settings > Account > Portal & Payments to determine what you will show the majority of your customers. You will be able to adjust portal options at the customer level as well if you have a customer who requires more or less access than your default settings.

Show Scheduled Dates + Info: Show your customers when you are scheduled to be onsite. Will show scheduled visits and status.
Show Actual Dates + Info: Provide your customers with a variety of options so they can see what is happening on their job site. This information will be driven by your field employee’s timesheets. Note: we recommend you notify your field employees of what information will be shown to customers in the portal. It will be important that your crews send accurate timesheet data as it becomes present in the portal in real-time, as soon as it’s selected on a timesheet.
Show GPS Location
- Do not show GPS locations
- Show GPS location of punch in time
- Show GPS location of punch out time
Show Crew Notes: Yes/No
Show Weather Notes: Yes/No
Show Equipment Notes: Yes/No
Show Punch In Time (Punch out will automatically be shown by default INTERNAL: we do this because we want the map to show more recent status - will look like the contractor is more responsive): Yes/No
Show Services Completed: Yes/No
Show Timesheet Photos: Yes/No
Show Timesheet Photo Comments: Yes/No

Set Up Color Code Maps

This section can be accessed in LMN under Settings > Account > Portal & Payments. It allows you to determine what color pins show on your customer's maps, giving them an at-a-glance look at when their properties were last serviced. Based on the time of year or type of customer, you might want shorter time periods for snow season and longer time periods for the green season.

Scroll down to Live Map Color Settings
Fill in the space provided with the time frame in hours

Estimates Overview

Customers can review and approve their proposals through the Customer Portal. This feature will help Contractors communicate better with your customers as they can review proposals, request changes, and ask questions in real-time.

If you'd like to review a video tutorial on this process from both your view in LMN and your customer's view in the Portal, please click HERE.

Once your Customer is logged into the portal, they can click on Estimates on the left-hand side.
- This is where your customer will be able to see all the estimates that you have published to the Portal along with the status of those estimates, creation date, when it was last modified, the estimate description, and the version number.
To review: Click on one of the existing Estimates. On the Estimate page, your customer will see the estimate details at the top of their screen.
- They will be able to view the Estimate that you have shared with them by clicking View Proposal.
- Estimate will be downloaded as a PDF document and your customer can review the proposal that you have created.
- Uploaded files or photos for your customers to view along with their proposal, will be visible under the Attachments section.
- In the History section, Customers will see when the Proposal was shared and whether any changes have been requested with the respective date and time.
- The Comments section is perfect for communicating with your customer.
  For example, if your customer has a question they wanted to ask you about the Proposal, they can type it into the comment section which will be sent to you directly.
- The biggest action here is the option to Approve, Reject, or Request Change on an Estimate.
  - If your customer clicks to Reject the estimate (which we hope doesn’t happen), then they have the option to select a reason why and add a comment which will be sent to you to review.
  - If instead, they Request Change, they can simply add a comment as to what that change is.
  - If the customer has reviewed the Proposal and they are happy with the pricing that was presented – they can go ahead and click the Approve button.
    - Here they can enter:
      - Their name
      - The system stamps the date and they can digitally sign to approve the estimate.
      - If they have any comments that they want to send back to you e.g. “looks good, when can you start”

Once the Customer clicks the Confirm button, you will receive an email notification with the proposal attached, to let you know that you have an approved estimate from this Customer.
The Customer Portal will also update with any comments made as well as the customers signature so that there is a full record of the approval process.

To view a video tutorail about Estimate Approvals, click HERE

Request Work

Below, see how a Customer can make Work Requests through the Customer Portal.