Everything you want to know about Web Portals

Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ for Dynamics 365 Power Platform Web Portals

What are the advantages of using a Microsoft web portal?

Microsoft Portals offer a streamlined approach to content management, integrating with CRM and Dataverse to ensure data is accessible and secure.

Process driven web portals provide stakeholders with round-the-clock convenience, allowing them access to information whenever they need it.

This accessibility significantly reduces service costs by empowering people to manage their accounts and find answers through a wealth of online resources, including knowledge articles.

Portals can also nurture an environment where users share insights, fostering a vibrant, engaged community.

Young business man browsing a web portal on his mobile phone.

Will portals work on a range of devices and browsers?

Our portals are fully responsive and work across all major browsers and devices, and meet accessibility standards.

What authentication methods are available?

A range of authentication options are available. These include:

  • Anonymous access
  • Local authentication (credentials stored in CRM)
  • Azure AD
  • Facebook
  • Google
  • and others

Can I brand my portal easily?

Your portal branding can be changed without the need for code, as your website will be a full content management system.

A content management system (or CMS) enables administrative users of a website to manage and control content, including branding, without technical training. This includes managing pages, text and media which can be formatted and published for website visitors.

What are the advantages of using a Microsoft Power Pages vs a Custom Solution?

You can reduce reliance on development by using standard portal features. Microsoft Power Pages runs on the Power Platform and provides inbuilt features to handle many requirements, such as authentication, form building, workflow automation, and auditing access.

Implementing a Power Pages website will will be quicker than a bespoke solution and require fewer testing resources.

Building a custom portal duplicates existing functionality in Power Pages and will incur higher support and development cost due to new operating systems and browsers.

Custom-developed portals do not tend to include a content management system, so even routine change require a development and test cycle.

By contrast, Microsoft portals already provide most of what is typically needed.

We have worked on many projects to migrate custom-developed portals to use the Microsoft platform, where some API calls have changed and become unsupported, preventing a client from upgrading their system due to the custom portal dependency.

How can The Portal Company help?

We are a Microsoft-certified cloud partner, highly experienced in implementing client-facing portals that are driven by data and business processes integrated with Microsoft Dynamics 365.

Our website projects have included solutions for diverse organisations including HSS Hire, Mitie, Cycling UK Capita, TechUK, Police Now, Tellimer, Pool Re and Healthcare RM.

We use agile software development principles to implement Microsoft-powered portals, enabling us to accelerate deployment timelines.

How long does it take to implement a portal?

This will depend upon the complexity of your requirements.

The timelines for our website projects typically range from three weeks up to three months.

When could you start?

typically, our team can start a portal project within 2-3 weeks following approval.

Are there any examples of portals you can share?

The Portal Company considers our client’s security of the utmost importance. We are committed to modern security standards and regulations therefore, our client’s web portals are not accessible to the public.

However, we do have limited access to examples that we show to prospective clients’ access. The following are fully implemented using Microsoft portal technology:

Can web portals connect to data not stored in Microsoft?

Yes. It is very common to surface data from outside the Microsoft Power Platform.

An example of this is when a website integrates and displays information from an accounting system, such as invoices and orders.

The flexibility of Microsoft portal technology enables us to connect data from various sources so can adapt to your infrastructure.

Can I receive electronic payments with the web portal?

Almost all payment service providers have web portal APIs for card payments, including PayPal, Stripe, Sage Pay, and Worldpay.

Can you provide ongoing portal support?

Yes, we can provide support for your website via our dedicated UK support desk. We would be happy to talk to you for further details to discuss how we can provide ongoing help and consultancy to support your future requirements.

Any other questions?

If you have a query that we haven’t covered or want to discuss your website requirements, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Contact Us

+44 0203 884 3804

Merlin House, Brunel Road, Berkshire, RG7 4AB, UK

Monday-Friday: 8am - 5pm

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