Allowing users to create additional users
On the Portal Users form, the Can Create Users setting controls an option for adding new users from the portal. This option can be provided to any type of portal user—customer, partner-customer, partner-vendor, or partner-employee—however, only customer users can be added from the portal.
The Can Create Users setting also controls an option to register new customers from the portal. This option can be provided to only partner users.
The difference between adding new users and registering new customers is that new users are associated with an existing customer record in the back office, and registering a new customer creates a new customer record in the back office.
Adding users: How it works for customers
If this setting is selected for a portal user who is only a customer, the button and User list are displayed on that user’s Account Management page on the portal.
The customer can click the button to open the Create User Account form, where new user information is entered. Once submitted, new records are created in the back office on the Users and Portal Users forms. New users are automatically associated with the customer who added them. No new contacts are created on the back office Contacts form.
The customer who created the user must communicate the user ID, password, and portal URL to the new user, and then that user can access the portal.
The customer can edit or inactivate any new user account he or she created by selecting it in the User list on the Account Management page and then using the options provided.
Adding users: How it works for partners
If this setting is selected for a user who is a partner-customer, the button and User list are displayed. If this setting is selected for a partner-employee or partner-vendor, this option is not provided.
When the partner-customer specifies and submits new user information, new records are created in the back office on the Users and Portal Users forms. The new user is automatically associated with the active customer record. No new contacts are created on the back office Contacts form.
The partner must communicate the user ID, password, and portal URL to the new user, and then that user can access the portal.
The partner can edit or inactivate any new user account he or she created by first selecting the associated customer and then the user on the Account Management page.
Registering new customers
When you select the Can Create Users setting for any partner user, the button is included on that partner's Account Management page and Customers page on the portal. The partner can click the button to open the Register a New Customer form, where new customer information is provided.
Once submitted, these new records are created in the back office:
- A user record on the Users form.
- A customer record on the Customers form.
- A user record on the Portal Users form.
- A ship-to record on the Customer Ship-Tos form. Also, the Service Partner field is set automatically to the partner who registered the customer, which makes this the preferred partner for this customer.
Billing and shipping contacts must be added for the new customer. This can be done by the portal user in the Billing Information and Shipping Information sections of the portal Account Management page. For required customer record information, refer to the "Portal customer record requirements" topic in the portal administration guide.
An alert is published for subscribers to the NewCustomerCreatedAlert to let them know a customer record has been created in the back office.