Section 1
Purpose & vision
A client's home base with CRAFT. From the moment they're onboarded, the portal is where they:
- see where their project stands and what's next,
- communicate with their CRAFT team,
- access onboarding guidance, training, and best practices,
- book calls,
- get reports and give feedback,
- find answers and get support,
- view their agreement and billing.
It replaces the "everything scattered across email and DMs" experience with one consistent, branded place — and it makes our lifecycle communications (see the Communications Map) deliverable and, where useful, automated.
Section 2
Users & access
- Who
- The client's primary contact, decision-maker, and named team members.
- When granted
- At Closed-Won / start of onboarding (front-end Stage 7 → Delivery Phase 1).
- Primary contact / decision-maker
- Full client-side access; can approve and book.
- Team members
- View + participate; limited approval rights (configurable).
- Internal side
- Craft team (Derek, devs, Clinton) manage from the Craft Brain side; the portal reflects the same records.
Section 3
Access by lifecycle stage
The portal evolves with the relationship.
- Onboarding
- Welcome, what-to-expect, onboarding checklist, kickoff booking.
- Build
- Project tracker, weekly updates, action items, change-order status, pulse checks.
- Launch
- Acceptance, training materials, go-live info.
- Managed infrastructure
- Reports, NPS, bookings (optimization / QBR), support, billing.
Section 4
Modules — what's in it
4.1 Home / Dashboard
Status at a glance: current phase, next milestone, key locked dates (kickoff, build end, Managed Infrastructure Start Date), point of contact (Derek), and quick links. Outstanding action items surfaced up top.
4.2 Onboarding & What-to-Expect
Welcome, the timeline, how we work together, roles, and the client's responsibilities with due dates (pulled from the SOW). Interactive onboarding checklist with completion status.
4.3 Communication Hub
Announcements / updates, weekly progress posts, milestone notifications, and a message thread with the CRAFT team.
Open decision
Does this replace the per-client Slack channel, mirror / complement it, or integrate with it? (See Open Decisions section.)
4.4 Project / Build Tracker
Milestones and progress, what's needed from the client (action items with due dates), and change-order status. Driven by Craft Brain.
4.5 Resources & Training (the best-practices hub)
How-to guides and video tutorials for the system we built them, documentation, and ongoing best-practice / optimization content. The client knowledge base Clinton wants — available from onboarding and growing over time.
4.6 FAQ / Self-Serve Support
Common questions, troubleshooting, and how to raise an issue (ticket or Slack), with the response-time expectations stated. Reduces repetitive questions.
4.7 Bookings
Book calls directly (kickoff, check-ins, optimization, QBR) via cal.com integration.
4.8 Reports
Monthly performance summaries and ROI / metrics (managed infrastructure); pulse and NPS surveys delivered here.
4.9 Billing & Documents
View the signed SOW, invoices and payment status (Stripe), update payment method, and access signed documents.
Section 5
What clients do
- Complete onboarding tasks and upload / provide required items.
- See status and action items; approve milestones and final acceptance.
- Read updates and message the team.
- Access training / resources and FAQs; raise a support request.
- Book calls.
- Submit pulse / NPS feedback.
- View agreement, see invoices, update payment.
Section 6
Integrations & source of truth
- Craft Brain
- The core; the portal is its client-facing view. Source of truth for status, dates, tasks, health.
- cal.com
- Bookings module.
- Stripe
- Billing module (status, invoices, payment method); funds settle to Mercury.
- Lovable
- The signed SOW shown in Billing & Documents.
- Slack
- Current client comms channel; decide how it relates to the portal Communication Hub (see Open Decisions).
Section 7
Automation hooks (driven by Craft Brain events)
- Onboarding
- Auto-grant access at Closed-Won; checklist nudges until complete.
- Build
- Milestone-complete notifications; weekly update draft; action-item reminders.
- Managed infra
- Monthly performance summary; NPS at 30 days + quarterly; QBR scheduling prompts.
- Billing
- Payment-failure reminders (dunning) and status.
Cross-ref
These mirror the "What to automate first" list in the Customer Lifecycle Communications Map.
Section 8
Suggested phasing
Phase 1 — MVP (biggest experience win)
Dashboard, Onboarding & What-to-Expect (with checklist), Communication Hub, Bookings, and Resources / Training. Plus auto access-granting at Closed-Won.
Phase 2
Project / Build Tracker with action items, Reports, and pulse / NPS in-portal.
Phase 3
FAQ / Self-Serve Support, Billing self-service (invoices, payment method), and deeper automation.
Section 9
Open decisions (add to the Decisions checklist)
- Portal vs Slack for client communication: does the Communication Hub replace the per-client Slack channel, complement it, or integrate with it?
- Notifications: in-portal only, or also email / SMS? Default suggestion: email notifications that link back into the portal.
- Access management: how clients are invited, how team-member seats work, and offboarding (revoke portal access — ties to the Offboarding SOP).
- Branding: white-labeled to CRAFT; confirm look / feel and domain.
- Document / credential handling: portal shows the SOW and invoices; client secrets / credentials are NOT stored here (keep in the secure system per the Client Record note).
References
Cross-references
- Delivers the touchpoints in → Customer Lifecycle Communications Map.
- Pulls client data from → Client Record / Account Brief (and Craft Brain).
- Onboarding / training content sourced from → Delivery & Onboarding Playbook.
- Stack & source-of-truth → Roles (RACI) & Tool / System Map.