Customer Portal Overview

Before You Use This Article

• Access needed: Load Manager login and permission to use this screen, report, setting, or workflow.
• Use this article when: you are working with billing, customer records, accounting, settlements, reports, or dashboard results inside the Load Manager account your company already uses.
• Use a different article when: you need document or dispatch direction for a specific company type; brokers should use Rate Confirmation Layout and Features, dispatch services should use Dispatch Report Overview for Dispatch Services, and trucking companies should use Dispatch Report Overview for Carriers and Trucking Companies. For full setup order, start with Freight Brokers, Carriers, Owner-Operators, and Trucking Companies, or Dispatch Services.

Use the Customer Portal to give a customer or shipper their own login to view load information and, when allowed, submit new loads. Portal access is managed from the customer profile in Load Manager.

The Customer Portal is for customer or shipper visibility. It is separate from driver, carrier, mobile dispatch, and tracking app workflows.

Before You Start

• Confirm the customer record is the correct payer or shipper record for the loads they should see.
• Review whether the customer should only view loads or should also be allowed to submit or copy loads.
• Decide which load statuses the customer should be able to see.
• Review public notes and stop instructions before making them visible to customers.

Review Customer Portal Options

Company-wide portal options are managed from Settings >> Configuration Options. These options control what customers can see and do in the portal.

• Hide Customer Rate: Hides customer rate amounts in the portal.
• Hide Public Notes: Hides the Notes-Public field from the portal.
• Hide Load Stop Instructions: Hides pickup and delivery instructions from the portal.
• Allow Add/Copy Loads: Allows customers to submit new loads or copy existing loads when that workflow is enabled.
• Allow Open Loads: Gives the customer a more limited load overview when your company uses that workflow.
• Show Billing Docs: Allows billing documents to be visible in the portal when your workflow uses that option.
• Show Arrive/Depart Times: Allows arrival and departure times to be visible in the portal.
• Show Quote/Invoice: Allows quote or invoice documents to be visible in the portal when available for the load.
• Configure Viewable Load Statuses: Controls which load statuses are visible to customers.

Create Customer Portal Logins

Portal logins are created from the customer's profile. The Portal tab is available for customer payer records.

1. Go to the Customer tab.
2. Open the customer that should have portal access.
3. Click the Portal tab.
4. Enter a Login and Password.
5. Click Add New Login if the customer needs more than one portal user.
6. Click Save.

Choose Which Load Statuses the Customer Can See

Use the Load Status Selection section on the customer's Portal tab to control which statuses are visible to that customer.

• Use Settings/Load Status configuration: Uses the company-wide customer portal load status setup.
• Use Load Status selections below: Lets you choose specific statuses for this customer.

If you choose specific statuses, select at least one status before saving. A common setup is to show active, booked, dispatched, loaded, delivered, and completed loads while hiding statuses your team uses for internal billing or cleanup.

Share the Customer Portal Link

The Portal tab shows the customer's portal link and includes tools to share it.

1. Click Copy Link to copy the Customer Portal link.
2. Click Send Invite to send the portal invitation from Load Manager.
3. Ask the customer to sign in using the company code, login, and password assigned to them.

When testing the Customer Portal yourself, open the portal link in a private browser window or a different browser so you do not replace your active Load Manager session.

Review the Portal Invitation Email

Customer Portal settings include a Customer Portal Alert Email template. This controls the default subject and message used when inviting a customer to the portal.

The default invitation can include the portal link, company code, username, and password. Review this template before sending portal invites so the customer receives clear sign-in instructions.

What Customers Can Do in the Portal

The customer's available options depend on the portal settings you enable.

• Sign in from a computer or mobile device.
• View loads assigned to their customer profile.
• Submit new loads when load entry is allowed.
• Copy existing loads or templates when that workflow is allowed.
• View or add public notes when public notes are enabled.
• View billing documents, quote documents, or invoice documents when those options are enabled.
• View arrive and depart times when that option is enabled.
• View route maps or GPS information when tracking data is available and visible for the load.

Customer-Submitted Loads

When customers are allowed to submit loads, new loads created from the Customer Portal enter Load Manager for your team to review. Your team can then accept the load into the normal workflow or reject it, depending on your process.

Customer-submitted loads should be reviewed before your team dispatches, bills, or reports on them. Confirm the customer, stops, dates, rates, notes, and any copied template details.

Public Notes and Customer Visibility

If public notes are visible in the portal, customers may be able to read notes your team enters in the public notes area. Do not put private, internal, pricing-sensitive, or carrier/driver-only information in customer-visible public notes.

GPS and Map Visibility

When tracking data is available and visible to the customer, the portal can show route maps or GPS location information for a load. If a customer cannot see location information, review the load's tracking setup, the driver's location permissions, and the customer portal visibility settings.

Troubleshooting

• The customer cannot sign in: Confirm the company code, login, password, and portal link were sent correctly.
• The customer does not see a load: Confirm the load is assigned to the correct customer record and that the load status is visible to that customer.
• The customer sees the wrong customer loads: Check for duplicate customer records and confirm the portal login is on the correct profile.
• The customer should not see rates: Turn on Hide Customer Rate in Customer Portal options.
• The customer should not see public notes or stop instructions: Turn on the matching hide options before sharing the portal.
• The customer cannot submit loads: Confirm Allow Add/Copy Loads is enabled and review any customer-specific portal settings.
• The invitation email is missing details: Review the Customer Portal Alert Email template in Customer Portal settings.

Related Articles

• Customer Information Page Overview - Stops
• Settings >> Load Status Overview
• Why is my Driver's GPS Location not Tracking?