Business tool builder

One client portal for status, files
and sign-off on every round.

Describe how your firm delivers work and Netiva’s agent builds a portal where clients follow each project, approve rounds and send back whatever you’re waiting on.

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Starter prompt

Build a client portal web app for a design and marketing agency. Each client company has several contacts who sign in and see only their own file: every project with its stage, target finish and a short note on where it stands; deliverables sent for review, each with a round number and a file; and the open items we need back from them. A client opens a round and either approves it or requests changes with a note, and the app records who decided and when. Our team gets a board of every round in review, longest waiting first.

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Overview

Who this client portal is for

Every engagement generates the same background noise: a client asking where the report stands, a logo round approved somewhere in a thread nobody can find and a list of bank statements or brand assets you have now asked for three times. A client portal built with Netiva gives each client one sign-in — every project with its current stage, every deliverable showing the round it’s on and the decision recorded against it, plus an open-items list they can clear by uploading a file. Your team sees which accounts are waiting on whom.

Key features

What your client portal can do

  • Rounds that end in a decision

    Send a deliverable for review and the client either approves it or asks for changes on the record. Each round is its own entry, so round three reads as round three and nobody argues later about which version was signed off.

    • Approve or request changes, with the reason in the client’s own words
    • Who decided and when, filled in from their sign-in
    • Waiting time counted from the moment the round was sent
    • Earlier rounds kept as superseded, newest first

  • One list of what’s outstanding

    Every document, login or answer you’re waiting on sits on one list per client with a needed-by date. The client uploads a file against the item and it clears — and whatever the client asks you for lands on the same list to triage.

    • Needed-by dates, longest outstanding at the top
    • Client uploads attached to the item they answer
    • Asks raised by the client kept beside your own
    • Saved views per account lead or service line

  • Several contacts, one account

    The finance contact and the marketing lead both sign in with their own accounts and land on the same client file, so an approval doesn’t wait for one person to come back from leave.

    • Each contact signs in with their own account
    • They see their company’s projects, rounds and items and nothing else
    • Opens in a phone browser, with nothing to install
    • Every action stamped with the name from the sign-in

  • Scheduled updates for client and team

    A scheduled email tells each client what sits on their side and tells your team what has gone quiet, so Monday doesn’t start with four people typing the same update into four inboxes.

    • Monday summary per client: rounds to review, items still open
    • A note when a round is sent and when a decision lands
    • A team digest of reviews sitting longer than the days you choose
    • Every email links straight to the page it’s about
Data model

The collections behind it

Netiva keeps your records in built-in collections. Here’s a starting structure — the agent adapts it to your prompt, and you can change it any time.

Clients

One record per client company and the addresses it lets in.

  • Company name (required) Text
  • Account lead (required) Who owns the relationship; groups the team board Text
  • Services Brand, paid media, bookkeeping, tax — however you split your work Text
  • Portal emails (required) One address per line, optionally with the contact’s name and role; matched at sign-in Text
  • Started on Date
  • Status (required) Active, paused or closed Text
  • Standing note Shown at the top of their home screen — billing contact, holiday cover, how to reach you Paragraph

Projects

Each piece of work you’re running, in the words the client reads.

  • Client (required) Relation to Clients
  • Name (required) Text
  • Stage (required) Kickoff, in progress, with the client, final changes or delivered Text
  • Where it stands Two plain lines, rewritten whenever the stage changes Paragraph
  • Started on Date
  • Target finish The date the client sees; move it and say why in the note Date
  • Rounds in scope How many revision rounds the fee covers, so an extra one is visible Number

Deliverables

Everything you hand over for a decision, one record per round of a project.

  • Project (required) Relation to Projects
  • Round (required) 1, 2, 3 — a new round is a new record, so the history stays readable Number
  • File The PDF, deck or export the client opens File
  • Sent for review (required) Starts the clock the team board counts from Date & time
  • Status (required) In review, approved, changes requested or superseded Text
  • Decided by The signed-in contact who approved or requested changes Text
  • Decided on Stamped when the decision is recorded; stops the waiting-board clock Date & time
  • Client notes What to change, in the client’s words, kept against the round it belongs to Paragraph

Open items

What you need from the client and what the client needs from you.

  • Client (required) Relation to Clients
  • Item (required) Short and specific, such as the March bank statement or the logo in vector Text
  • Details Paragraph
  • Raised by (required) Your team, or the client contact who asked, from their sign-in Text
  • Needed by Date
  • Status (required) Open, waiting on us, received or closed Text
  • Attachment What the client uploads against the item File
  • Received on Date

Required field. Types are Netiva collection field types.

Screens

Pages and screens to start with

A typical first version. Ask the agent for more, or annotate the preview to change any of them.

  • Client home

    Where each project stands, what’s waiting on this client’s decision and the items still open on their side, in that order.

    Signed-in users

  • Project

    One piece of work: stage, target finish, the plain note on where it stands and every round delivered so far.

    Signed-in users

  • Review a round

    The file, what changed since last time and two buttons — approve, or request changes with a note your team can act on.

    Signed-in users

  • Open items

    Everything outstanding for this client, longest waiting first, with an upload box on each item and a place to raise a new ask.

    Signed-in users

  • Waiting board

    Every round in review across all clients with the days it has been sitting, plus overdue items grouped by account lead.

    Your team

  • Account file

    Where your team sends the next round, rewrites the stage note and closes items as they come back in.

    Your team
How it works

From prompt to a live client portal

  1. Describe how work reaches the client

    Tell Netiva what you hand over, how many rounds a fee covers and what you chase clients for. The agent drafts collections for clients, projects, deliverables and open items, then wires the portal screens to them.

  2. Load one live account

    Type a real client, its projects and the items you’re waiting on into the collection grid, or ask the collection assistant to draft the rows from your notes and tidy the wording before you keep them.

  3. Walk the approval path yourself

    Sign in as a test contact in the live preview, request changes on a round, then send round two. Annotate anything that reads wrong — the button wording, the order of the home screen — and the agent rewrites it.

  4. Publish and invite one client

    Publish in one click and put the portal on a subdomain such as clients.yourfirm.com from the Starter plan, then send a friendly client their sign-in. Every later change is checkpointed, so an edit can be rolled back.

Why Netiva

Netiva vs a traditional build

Building a client portal with Netiva compared with a traditional build
Criterion With Netiva Traditional build
Approving a round A decision taken on the round itself, with the name, the time and the change notes kept on the record A PDF sent round and approved in a reply that says it looks good, three threads deep
Chasing paperwork One open-items list the client can see and clear by uploading, with reminders that only name what’s still open A private checklist of what’s missing, retyped into a follow-up email every week
Getting started Describe what you need in chat and watch it take shape in a live preview Hire developers, or stitch together templates, plugins and a hosting plan
Content and data Built-in collections with nine field types, bound straight to your pages Set up and connect a separate database or CMS
Making changes Ask the agent; every change is checkpointed and reversible File a ticket, wait for a sprint, redeploy
Hosting and domain Global hosting and automatic SSL; connect a custom domain from the Starter plan Buy hosting, then install and renew SSL certificates yourself
Code ownership Clean production code you own and can export Locked into a template, plugin or agency setup
Examples

Ways teams use it

  • A 12-person brand agency

    Two revision rounds are in the fee. When a deliverable reaches round three the waiting board flags it, so the account lead quotes the extra work rather than absorbing it quietly.

  • A bookkeeping practice at year end

    Every client gets the same opening list — statements, loan documents, payroll reports — each with a needed-by date. The practice can see which files are still missing before the deadline week, and the draft accounts go up as a round for the owner to approve.

  • A two-person consultancy with large clients

    One client company has a sponsor, a project manager and a finance contact. All three sign in, read the same stage note and any of them can approve, so a decision doesn’t depend on one person’s inbox.

Good to know

Before you build

  • An approval is a record, not a signature

    The portal stores who clicked approve and when, which settles what was agreed. Anything that has to be signed, such as an engagement letter or a statement of work, still goes through your signing tool; the countersigned PDF comes back as a file on the project.

  • Everyone at a client sees that client’s file

    Contacts at one company share the same projects, rounds and items. Netiva apps don’t give people inside a client different access levels, so anything for one person belongs in a direct email. Your team’s board sits on screens the portal never links to — the app’s only boundary.

  • Reminders go out by email

    Apps built with Netiva can send email and run jobs on a schedule. There are no text messages or push alerts, so a client who ignores email still needs a phone call — the portal just tells you exactly which item to call about.

  • Client records come with duties of their own

    The FTC’s Safeguards Rule treats tax preparation firms as financial institutions and requires a written information security program; the IRS points preparers at the same rule. A portal holding client statements is one place that program has to cover, and writing it is your job.

FAQ

Questions about building a client portal

Can two people at the same client both sign in?

Yes. Each contact signs in with their own account, and the app matches the address to the client record it belongs to, so a sponsor and a finance contact land on the same file. Either of them can approve a round, and the portal records which one did. Try it in the live preview with two sample contacts before you invite a real client.

How does the client portal handle revision rounds?

Each round is its own record with a round number, the file you sent and a status. When a client requests changes, their notes stay on that round, and it moves to superseded the moment you send the next one. The project page lists rounds in order, so months later you can see what was approved, when and against which version.

Can clients upload the documents we ask for?

Yes. Every open item has a file field, so the client attaches the statement, the vector logo or the signed form to the item it answers instead of replying to an old email. Once the item is marked received it drops off their list and out of the next reminder. Large video files are better left in your own drive, with the link in the item details.

What happens when a client asks for work outside the scope?

The ask goes on the same open-items list, marked as raised by the client, so it stops living in a chat message nobody can find. Your account lead picks it up from the waiting board, answers in the details and either folds it into the current project or turns it into a quote in whatever tool you quote with. The date asked and the answer given both stay on the record.

Does a client portal replace our project management tool?

No, and it shouldn’t try. Internal tasks, briefs and time tracking stay where your team already works. The portal is the client-facing layer over the few things a client cares about: where the work stands, what needs their decision and what you’re waiting on. If your project tool offers a REST API, you can ask the agent to pull a stage across using your own key, stored securely.

What does a client see the first time they sign in?

Their home screen opens with the standing note you wrote for them at the top, then each project with its stage, the rounds waiting on their decision and the items still open on their side. Nothing from another client is on it. When an engagement ends, mark the client closed and take that address off the record, so the next sign-in finds no file to open. What you publish is clean production code you own and can export.

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Drafted with AI assistance from Netiva’s product pages and reviewed by the Netiva team. Example data models, screens and prompts are illustrative starting points, not customer projects.

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