Customer Self-Service
Opening inquiries, tracking status, documents, and knowledge base.
Experience Cloud
A portal for customers, partners, or suppliers—with clear authorization boundaries.
Building Portals on Experience Cloud: Self-service, requests, documents, and statuses, all on the same data model and subject to the same sharing rules—without opening a back door to information.
Capability Map
What's Included and in What Order
This map illustrates the work layers in this service, from infrastructure to user-facing capabilities.
Experience Cloud — Capability Map
Customer Self-Service
Opening inquiries, tracking status, documents, and knowledge base.
Partner Portal
Leads, deals, deal registration, materials, and approval processes.
Supplier Portal
Requests, documents, approvals, and payment status.
Permissions model
Sharing Sets, profiles, and field-level security.
Identity and Authentication
Registration, login, password reset, and SSO option.
Branding and User Experience
Brand alignment, accessibility, and mobile support.
The Background
What Truly Matters Here
A portal is an extension of the permissions model, not a separate website. Every exposed field is evaluated against the question of who is authorized to see it and what happens if it is exposed accidentally.
The value of a portal is measured by the reduction of manual inquiries. If the customer still calls to check status, the portal hasn't solved the problem but merely added another channel.
A successful portal starts with no more than three key scenarios, expanding after actual usage has been measured.
Areas of Work
What we actually do
Partner Portal
Leads, deals, deal registration, materials, and approval processes.
Supplier Portal
Requests, documents, approvals, and payment status.
Permissions model
Sharing Sets, profiles, and field-level security.
Identity and Authentication
Registration, login, password reset, and SSO option.
Branding and User Experience
Brand alignment, accessibility, and mobile support.
Decision Matrix
Decisions that determine the outcome
| Decision | Option A | Option B | What is Decisive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licensing Type | Guest Access | Authenticated User | Is personal information required? |
| Sharing Model | Access to associated records only | Sharing by account hierarchy | Customer or Partner Structure |
| Initial Scope | Self-service only | Full process portal | Process maturity in Salesforce |
| Identity | Local Authentication | Corporate SSO | Existence of an identity provider in the organization |
Licensing Type
- Option A
- Guest Access
- Option B
- Authenticated User
- What is Decisive
- Is personal information required?
Sharing Model
- Option A
- Access to associated records only
- Option B
- Sharing by account hierarchy
- What is Decisive
- Customer or Partner Structure
Initial Scope
- Option A
- Self-service only
- Option B
- Full process portal
- What is Decisive
- Process maturity in Salesforce
Identity
- Option A
- Local Authentication
- Option B
- Corporate SSO
- What is Decisive
- Existence of an identity provider in the organization
How We Work
Execution stages
- 01
Define audience and scenarios
Who enters, what they need to do, and what is considered success.
- 02
Permissions model
What is exposed, to whom, and under what conditions.
- 03
User experience design
Short paths, accessibility, and mobile.
- 04
Process connection
Inquiry, request or approval that continues in Salesforce.
- 05
Security checks
Actual exposure check before going live.
- 06
Measurement
Usage, reduction of inquiries and abandonment points.
Continue from here
Related services and guides
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a portal endanger organizational information?
The risk exists when permissions are derived from design rather than the model. When sharing is planned in advance and actual exposure is checked before going live, a portal is no more dangerous than any other authenticated interface.
How long does it take to set up a portal?
A focused self-service portal with two-three scenarios is significantly shorter than a full process portal. The most influential factor is not the design, but the maturity of the processes and data behind it.
What is the difference between a portal and a website?
A website displays general information, a portal displays personal information from within the system and allows action to be taken on it. The fundamental difference is authentication and the permissions model, not appearance.
Is it possible to connect an AI agent to the portal?
Yes, but only after it has been precisely defined what data the agent can access and what it is permitted to do. In an external portal, this requirement is stricter than for internal use.
The Next Step
Portal Planning
We will define audience, scenarios, and exposure limits — and build a portal that truly reduces manual work.