Customer Onboarding Portal

An auto parts manufacturer in the southern part of the country operated with a manual process for integrating new clients. Each new partner received printed documentation, access to an FTP server, and a set of instructions sent via email. As the number of clients grew to over 40 active entities, the volume of configuration errors and repetitive questions became a daily task for the engineering team.

The main problem was not a lack of competence, but fragmented information. A new client spent an average of three weeks before having all the correct access data, certificates, and technical specifications. During this time, the supplier's production line remained on hold, and the costs of missed deadlines accumulated.

What Was Analyzed

We started by mapping the actual flow: from contract signing to the first delivered order. We identified seven separate contact points (sales, technical support, logistics, quality, IT, procurement, management). Each department sent different, sometimes contradictory, documents. For example, the technical specifications in the quote did not always match those in the equipment's user manual.

We interviewed five existing clients and analyzed 30 support tickets from the last six months. The result: 60% of the questions were about configuration steps that could be automated or clearly documented in a single place.

The Approach Taken

We proposed building a dedicated web portal, accessible with authentication, to centralize all necessary resources for each client. Not a simple PDF repository, but a tool to guide the user step by step: from account creation and digital certificate upload to testing the connection with production servers.

We chose a modular architecture, with separate microservices for authentication, documentation, notifications, and monitoring. The front-end was built with a React framework, and the back-end on Node.js, with a PostgreSQL database. Integration with the existing ERP system was done through a secure REST API.

• Two-factor authentication (2FA) for access to sensitive data
• Automatic generator of specific configurations for each equipment type
• Real-time notifications about documentation updates or expired certificates
• Activity log for auditing and debugging

Effective Implementation

The project took place over four months, in three main sprints. In the first phase, we built the portal skeleton and migrated existing documentation into a structured format (Markdown with metadata). The second phase brought the authentication and configuration generation modules. The last sprint was dedicated to testing with a pilot group of five clients and final adjustments.

The team included a project manager, two full-stack developers, a DevOps specialist, and a system engineer from the client side. We used Git for version control and Jenkins for continuous integration. Automated testing covered 85% of the code, and load tests simulated 200 concurrent users.

An unexpected obstacle was digital certificate compatibility: some partner companies used old formats (PKCS#12) that were not directly supported by our library. We solved this by adding an automatic conversion module, with validation before saving.

The Final Result

After launch, the average integration time for a new client dropped from three weeks to four days. The number of support tickets related to configuration decreased by 75% in the first three months. Existing clients reported higher satisfaction, and the internal engineering team recovered approximately 10 hours per week that were lost to repetitive questions.

The portal also became a sales tool: during the quotation phase, potential clients receive a demo account with relevant documentation, which reduced the sales cycle by about two weeks. The total project cost was amortized in less than a year, through reduced errors and waiting times.