The Customer Portal is a great tool that puts the power of account management into your clients' hands. The Customer Portal is a link on your website that allows your clients to login to their account, make updates, pay their balance, register for classes, request changes, and see news updates that you post. You control what your portal offers.

To look around inside a "sample" portal, go to our Customer Portal Demo Login      Demo User ID: parent1     Password: 12345678

Setting up your Portal

To access Customer Portal instructions and set-up, go to TOOLS > CUSTOMER PORTAL:

1st Tab - Getting Started Tab: Points you to this site.

2nd Tab - News & Announcements Tab: Use this page to communicate to all existing clients (seen the next time they log into their portal) about upcoming events, birthday parties, etc. Individual/Personalized family messages can also be created! Personalized Messages can be sent by going to the FAMILY > CONTACTS RECORD > MISC TAB.

3rd Tab - Settings Tab: Use this Tab to SET UP your portal. Customize the information your customers can access and the functions you will allow them to perform from within your portal. Make your selections by checking the boxes. Save changes!



Let's take a closer look at the 3rd tab - Settings - as it controls what your customers will see and what they can do:


The small menu in the upper left is where you choose what tabs will be available for your customers inside the portal - hover over the ? for description of tab. We recommend all tabs be available but you may remove any that you do not wish to utilize. The main body of this page is where you can control what your customers can DO. ACTIVATE the portal by checking the top box! Check the remaining boxes appropriately based on your specific organization's needs. Don't forget to SAVE CHANGES before exiting.


Now let's look at the bottom of the Settings screen:



1 -- The Class Search Options - Here is where you may hide the DROP-DOWN lists that are used for Filtering. The actual Columns will still be shown, this only takes away the filtering ability. You may also RE-LABEL the names of the Categories....Learn more about this in the "Classes and Registration" page.

2 -- Login Page Message - This is the text under your logo on the Login page. You can post important news or announcements here.

3 -- Registration Pop-up Message - When the customer selects the Registration Tab, text you enter here will pop-up giving them instructions to proceed.

4 -- Inactive Family Message - Text entered here will display to Inactive families trying to register, IF you are holding Priority Registration and have checked the box for Only Allow Active Families to Register for Classes on your Setting page.

5 -- Policies Agreement Prompt - When the customer logs in and needs to re-agree to your Legal Policies (should you have new ones, or if you want new signatures annually), they will be prompted with this custom message. (If this text box is left blank, the default message is "In order to use this portal, please agree to the following policies").

6 -- Go to Tools > Settings > Organization Defaults and at the bottom make sure your Time Zone and Daylight Savings Time is entered correctly. This is necessary to ensure that portal transactions are given the correct day and time stamp by the system.




Once you have your desired Settings saved, we suggest you check your work:

1. Create a test family in Jackrabbit.
2. Assign a Billing Contact with a valid email address that is your own.
3. Reset the Portal Password by using the reset password button on the billing contact page, or by selecting the "I don't know my password" on your customer portal login (remember - you can access your portal from within your database BEFORE it is placed on your website by going to TOOLS > CUSTOMER PORTAL, then clicking the "Go to Customer Portal Login Page" in upper left corner).
4. Login just as your customers would and look around. Notice how your SETTINGS affect the layout and functionality of the portal.
5. Continue to make and save changes to your SETTINGS until you are happy with the results.
6. Now you are ready to add the Portal link onto your web pages!