A client with their own login places orders themselves and approves hours on Monday morning, instead of you chasing a signature on Thursday.
Summary
Access belongs to a person, so it starts with a client contact. Open the contact and, in User Account, click Create User Account. NextCrew emails them the portal link and how to set their password. Your agency may create logins for every contact automatically, so check first. Before the first client signs in, decide what client users can see and do, such as pay rates or editing clock-in times. What goes wrong: a client thinking their approval is the last step. A client approval shows as Client Approved, and your team still gives the final approval.
How to do it
- Open the client in CRM › Clients and find the person under Contacts, or add them. Check their email is right.
- Decide whether they need a login: the people who book staff and approve hours usually do.
- Open their contact record and, in User Account, click Create User Account.
- Tell them the email is on its way, what they can do in the portal, and to call you, not NextCrew, if something doesn't work.
- Send them Welcome to NextCrew: Your Quick Start as a Client.
The User Account panel on a contact
Once a login exists, the contact's User Account panel shows the username and the date they registered. If you see this and nobody on your team made it, your agency creates client logins automatically, so there's nothing more to do. Locked and Disabled are the two switches to check when someone can't sign in. Turn on Disabled to take a login away.
What your client sees when they sign in
This is your client's own NextCrew. They place orders, see who's coming on the Calendar, approve timesheets and download invoices themselves, so your team stops retyping orders and chasing signatures. The numbers show where each part lives: 1 Home, 2 Calendar, 3 Timesheets, 4 Invoices, 5 Support, 6 notifications and tasks.
That's them in. Read on for what they can do, and what to check before they sign in.
On this page
Check whether logins are created for you
Open any client contact and look at User Account. If it offers Create User Account, logins are made by hand. If an account is already there and nobody made one, your agency creates them automatically. That's the Automatically Create Client User from Client Contact setting in Site Configuration › CRM.
Who should get a login
| The person | Login? |
|---|---|
| Books staff each week | Yes. Saves the most phone calls. |
| Approves the hours | Yes. |
| Pays the invoices | Yes, if they want to download their own invoices. |
| Signed the contract but isn't involved day to day | Probably not. Easy to add later. |
What clients can do in the portal
- Place and change orders, and see their jobs on a color-coded calendar.
- See who's coming and who's on site, and download a staff list.
- Approve or decline timesheets, one at a time or in bulk, and download them.
- View and download invoices.
- Rate the Crew after a job.
- Create tasks and build a dashboard on their home page.
Each of these has a client guide you can send them. See Your Quick Start as a Client.
Decide what they can see and change
These are permissions, set once for all client users. Decide before the first login, not after a client mentions something you didn't expect them to see. See Control What Each Person Can See and Do.
| Worth deciding | Why |
|---|---|
| Bill and pay rates on jobs | The difference is your margin. |
| Editing clock-in and clock-out times | They can change hours, not just approve them. |
| Confirming Crew themselves | Confirming books the person. Requesting only asks you to. |
| Changing job privacy | Decides who can see the job. |
One person, every site
A contact on a parent client can see every site under it. Give someone access to the whole group by adding them at the head office. See Set Up Parent and Child Clients.
Why give clients a login
| Without a login | With a login |
|---|---|
| Orders by phone and email, retyped by your team. | Orders typed by the person who knows what they need. |
| "Who's coming tomorrow?" calls. | They can see it. |
| Chasing timesheet signatures. | They approve in the portal. |
If something isn't working
| What you see | Check this first | Who fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| The client never got the welcome email | The email on their contact, and their spam folder. Then check your sending domain is set up. | You |
| They see something they shouldn't | Client permissions, and whether they're on the parent client. | Your NextCrew admin |
| They can't do something they should | Client permissions for that action. | Your NextCrew admin |
| They can't sign in | User Account: Locked or Disabled? Or have them use Forgot Password. | You |
Questions people ask
Is the client's approval the final one?
No. It shows as Client Approved. Your team still gives the final approval.
What's the portal address?
Your own NextCrew address, such as yourcompany.nextcrew.app.
How do I take a login away?
Open the contact and turn on Disabled in User Account.
Other ways people ask this
- How do I give a client access to NextCrew?
- How do clients log in?
- Can clients approve timesheets?
- How do I create a client user?
- Why didn't my client get the login email?
Related guides
- Add and Manage Client Contacts — the person behind each login
- Welcome to NextCrew: Your Quick Start as a Client — send this to new client users
- Orient New Clients to Use NextCrew — the first conversation
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