Solution
Customer and supplier portal
Some enquiries ask for information the management system already holds. A portal exposes views and actions through an API, with permissions, validation and logging. It doesn’t open the ERP to the internet.
The customer checks their own file
Fewer calls for information you already hold
Where the order stands, which invoice is open, which delivery note matches. The question still arises, but it finds its answer without you.
A view reconciled to source
The API reads or syncs only the data the portal needs, within load and availability constraints. Freshness, caching, failures and reconciliation stay visible.
Everyone sees only their own file
Named accounts, a written scope and proportionate authentication get tested profile by profile. Authorisation errors, exports, logs and dormant accounts stay watched.
Documents become self-service
Invoices, certificates and notes become available within the agreed window. The pilot measures which enquiries disappear and which still need a person.
In practice
- A mediating API with minimal views, using cache or synchronisation only where load and availability justify it
- Separate accounts per customer or supplier, with two-factor authentication
- A declared scope per account: what is visible, and what never is
- Downloadable documents: invoices, delivery notes, certificates
- Document upload by the partner, with format checks on receipt
- An access log, so you know who looked at what and when
Systems involved
- ERP and management software, read over APIs
- Accounting, for invoice status
- Document management systems
- Mail, for notifications
- Your directory, when your own staff need access too
Service lineApplications and integration →
Which exchanges
The same work, against each sector’s own constraints. Every card opens the full sector.
Logistics and supply chain
Tracking portal for shippers
Shipment status, delivery notes and invoices readable by the partner directly, read from the system rather than from a copy.
Retail and e-commerce
Portal for resellers and suppliers
Orders, availability and invoices readable by the partner, with a declared scope per account and an access log.
How it runs
Scope
What a partner may see or do, excluded data and export paths. This decision shapes the API, controls and tests.
Access
Accounts, authentication matched to the risk, and opening and closing procedures. Reconciliation verifies each removal, and exceptions get an owner.
Read
The screens that answer the most frequent questions, wired to the ERP, tested by a handful of willing customers.
Opening up
Gradual rollout, with document upload added once reading has settled.
Dependencies and next steps
Test the fit: Customer and supplier portal
Describe the context, constraints and decision you need to make. The first conversation qualifies scope, boundaries and the next useful step.
Describe the situation