CustomerGate 365: manual

Before you start

1. Business Central online, version 28.0 or later.
2. A website that uses the CustomerGate 365 web services, built by Van Oosten Software or by another developer.
3. Two Microsoft Entra app registrations: one the website uses for requests and the customer portal, and one for the catalog synchronization.
4. A Business Central e-mail account to send from.
5. SUPER permissions for whoever runs Repair Permissions.
6. Optional: iFacto Steel 365. Without it the app works with standard Business Central quantities.

Setting up

Open Assisted Setup and choose Set Up CustomerGate 365. The guide takes you through the Steel 365 module, connecting the website, e-mail and the customer portal, and in its last step it can repair the permissions straight away. Everything the guide asks is also on the CustomerGate Setup page, where you can change it later.

The setup page

CustomerGate Setup holds the number series, the retention period, the e-mail settings, the portal settings and the permissions. Its status lines show what is ready and what is not:

1. voaPortal Web Service: whether the web service the website calls is published.
2. E-mail Account: whether there is an e-mail account the app can send from.
3. Mail Job Status and Cleanup Job Status: whether the two job queue entries are set to Ready. On hold means nothing is sent or erased; Turn On Both Jobs starts them.
4. Website Permission Baseline: whether an account of the website also has D365 BASIC, which it must not.
5. Tenant Permission Sets and Assignments: whether the permission sets exist and are assigned to the website's applications.
6. Steel 365 Module and Document Archive: whether iFacto Steel 365 and DXSteel Doc Archive are installed in this environment.

Permissions for the website

Fill in Website Client ID and Synchronization Client ID with the application (client) IDs of the two Microsoft Entra applications, then choose Repair Permissions. The app registers the applications in Business Central if needed, creates the permission sets the website needs and assigns them. This requires SUPER. Run it again after copying an environment. Do not give the website's applications D365 BASIC: that would let them read far more than the website needs.

Web requests

Quote requests from the website arrive with their lines in Web Requests, with the status New. Start Processing shows colleagues that you are on it. A request from a signed-in customer is already linked to that customer; for other requests, choose Link Customer. Process Request then creates a sales quote, or a sales order for a counter visit, and opens it. The document is not released: check the prices and release it yourself. Reject and Mark as Spam deal with the requests you do not take on.

Delivery addresses

When a request names a ship-to code, confirm it with Confirm Delivery Address before you process the request. The same short code exists for many customers, so the app does not convert a request with a ship-to code nobody has checked.

Account requests

Visitors who want a portal account send an account request, which arrives in Account Requests. Choose Select Customer to link it to an existing customer, then Approve. The app asks which role the person gets: Buyer, who requests quotes on behalf of the customer and can accept them, or Viewer, who can only look. Approving creates the portal user and sends an e-mail that the account is ready. Reject turns a request down.

Portal users

Portal Users lists who has access to which customer. Deactivate revokes access immediately, including sessions that are still open; the portal user is kept, so you can still see who had access and when. Reactivate gives access back.

The customer portal

Customers sign in on your website with a one-time code sent by e-mail; there are no passwords. They see their own requests, quotes, orders, shipments and document lines, download PDFs and can accept a released quote. An acceptance appears in Website Quote Acceptances and as a cue on the Role Center of inside sales. Session Duration (Min.) and Maximum Session Age (Hours) on CustomerGate Setup set how long a session stays valid without use and how long it lasts at most. Portal Address is the address the e-mail about an approved account request points to.

Documents in the portal

With Portal Documents from Reports switched on, the portal offers PDFs of quotes, orders, shipments, invoices and credit memos, printed with the reports Business Central already uses, following the report selections and the document layouts per customer. Where iFacto DXSteel Doc Archive is installed, the portal shows the archived documents instead, limited to the categories on the Archive Categories page; Insert Default Categories fills in a starting set.

E-mail

A job queue entry sends the e-mails through the standard Business Central e-mail accounts: a confirmation to the requester, in the requester's language, and a notification for inside sales to the address in Notification E-mail. A failed e-mail is retried up to Maximum E-mail Attempts, and the error is shown on the request. Send Pending E-mails Now sends them straight away instead of at the next run of the job queue.

Retention and cleanup

Retention Period (Days) sets how long personal data is kept, counted from the day a request was received. After that the cleanup job anonymizes completed quote requests and rejected account requests. Awaiting Cleanup shows how many requests are past their retention period and still hold personal data; it should be zero. Clean Up Personal Data Now runs the cleanup straight away.

Export and erase per e-mail address

Export Personal Data creates one JSON file with all personal data the app holds for an e-mail address, for a request under GDPR article 15 or 20. Erase Personal Data erases it. Both actions are on Web Requests, Account Requests and Portal Users.

The Steel 365 module

Where iFacto Steel 365 (DXSteel) is installed, the module switches itself on: steel quantities in pieces, meters and kilograms on the portal lines, profiles, grades and item types for the website catalog, and the document archive. The Steel 365 Module line on CustomerGate Setup shows whether it is on. Without Steel 365 the app works with standard Business Central quantities.

Closing temporarily

Refuse Requests, under Emergency Stop on CustomerGate Setup, makes the app turn down new requests for a while. The website then receives a clean error message.

When something does not work

Start at CustomerGate Setup: a status line that is not in order usually names the cause. No e-mails going out means the mail job is on hold or there is no e-mail account. If every sign-in to the portal fails, check whether the voaPortal web service is published and whether the permissions are in order; Repair Permissions sets them again. For a job queue entry in Error, Job Queue Entries shows the message.

Getting help

Send an email to info@van-oosten.nl with the name of your environment, the company and, where it applies, the request number. You will usually have an answer within one working day.