Web portals for customers and staff. The right view for each.
A portal is where people sign in to book, pay, upload documents and check progress without ringing you. We build them with single sign-on, roles checked on the server and a full audit trail, so they pass your security review as well as your customers’ patience.
One portal. Three different views.
Everyone signs in at the same address. What they see depends on their role, and that is enforced on the server for every request, not just hidden in the browser. Switch between the roles to see it.
- Customer
- Bookings, documents, invoices and messages for their own account, and nothing else.
- Staff
- A shared queue with an owner, a due time and the full history on every request.
- Admin
- Users, roles and permissions, single sign-on settings and the audit log.
- Initial assessmentThu 16 Oct · 10:00 · Durham clinicConfirmedReschedule
- Proof of address.pdfUploaded Monday · checked by our teamAccepted
- Invoice 1042Paid by card · receipt emailedPaidDownload
- Amira Khan · change of bookingDue 14:00 · assigned to youIn progress
- Leo Hart · document checkDue today · unassignedDue today
- Priya Shah · refund requestWaiting on finance since TuesdayWith finance
| Role | Bookings | Records | Exports | Settings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customer | Own | Own | – | – |
| Staff | Team | – | – | |
| Manager | – | |||
| Admin |
Audit log 09:12 · Jo Reid changed Leo Hart’s role from Staff to Manager
What changes when the portal goes live
Most portals pay for themselves in the hours your team stops spending on the phone and in inboxes.
Fewer “just checking” calls
Customers see status, documents and next steps for themselves, at any hour. Your team stops answering the same question ten times a day and spends the time on work that needs a person.
Nothing falls through the cracks
Every request arrives complete, with the right fields and files, and gets an owner and a due time. Anything overdue rises to the top of the queue on its own.
Evidence when you need it
Who changed what, and when, is recorded as it happens. When a customer disputes a date or an auditor asks a question, the answer is one search away.
What we build into every portal
Sign-in that suits each audience
Email and password with two-step verification for customers, or Google and Microsoft accounts. Staff use your organisation’s single sign-on, so joiners and leavers are handled by IT in one place.
Roles and permissions
Role-based access control, checked on the server on every request. Scope people to a team, a site or a client when one role is not enough.
Requests, bookings and forms
Forms that check answers as people type, take file uploads and move through clear statuses, so every request arrives ready to act on.
Documents, both ways
Customers and staff swap files securely instead of emailing attachments. Files are stored privately and shared through links that expire.
Payments and invoices
Card, Apple Pay and Google Pay through Stripe Checkout, with invoices customers can download. Card details never touch your servers.
An audit trail
Every change to a record is logged with who, what and when. It cannot be edited from the portal, and you can export it for an auditor.
An admin area
Your team manages users, content and settings without a developer, and sees what is open, overdue and done.
Built to be accessible
Customers on phones, screen readers and keyboards can all use it. We design and test to the public-sector standard.
Sign-in your IT team will approve.
Staff sign in with the accounts they already have. When someone leaves, IT switches off one account and their portal access goes with it. Customers get their own secure accounts, kept completely apart from your staff directory.
- StaffYour identity provider
- The portalChecks the role on every request
- Your dataOnly what that role may see
- Joiners and leaversGroup membership in your directory decides who gets which role. No second list of users to keep up to date.
- Two-step for customersCustomers can turn on an authenticator app. We can make it mandatory for accounts that hold sensitive data.
- Sessions that endSecure, HttpOnly cookies with an idle timeout, and a “sign out everywhere” button.
500+ staff across nine NHS services sign in to a platform we built this way, each seeing only their own service’s clients. Read the case study
Often paired with a mobile app on the same accounts, the business system it reads and writes, integrations with your accounts and calendars and our security pack.
Portal questions
Something else? hello@echticstudios.com
Can customers sign in with Google or Microsoft?
Yes. Customers can use Google, Microsoft or an email address and password, with two-step verification if you want it.
Can our staff use their Microsoft 365 accounts?
Yes. We connect to Microsoft 365 (or Google Workspace, Okta and others) over SAML 2.0 or OpenID Connect. Roles can follow the groups your IT team already manages.
Can it work with the system we already have?
Usually, through its API. Where there is no API we agree a safe import and export with you, and tell you honestly what will be reliable.
How long does a portal take?
Usually two to three months, delivered in stages, so customers can start using the first part sooner. Your quote sets out each stage and its timeline.
How do you price a portal?
After a free consultation we send a fixed quote, split into stages. Each stage has its own fixed price, and you can stop after any stage.
Who owns the code and the data?
You do. The code is yours once paid for, and the data sits in a database you can take with you.
Tell us who needs to sign in, and what they need to do.
A free consultation, then a fixed quote in stages. You can stop after any stage.