The Vendor Portal allows vendors to view and manage assigned work orders directly from their mobile device. Before inviting a vendor, you’ll need to configure your Vendor Board and ensure the proper fields are set up.
Step 1: Prepare Your Vendor Board
Vendors can be synced from your property management system or created directly in Aptly. Before sending an invite, you’ll need to configure the Vendor Portal view within the card detail.
Create a Vendor Portal Card View
- Navigate to your Vendors Board
- Click Advanced Settings
- Select Card Options
- Click Card Detail
- Create a new view (recommended name: Vendor Portal)
Add Required Widgets
Within your new card view:
- Add the Vendor Portal Access widget
- (Recommended) Add a Contact Information widget to simplify the invite process
Suggested fields to include:
- Vendor Contact Name
- Phone Number
- Address
- Website
- Status
⚠️ Important: The Email field on the vendor card must be filled out. Having an email only under the contact is not sufficient to send an invite.
Step 2: Send a Vendor Portal Invitation
Once your card view is set up:
- Open a vendor card
- Click into the Expanded Card View
- Select your Vendor Portal view
- Choose 3rd Party Vendor or Internal Team
- Click Send Invite
The vendor will receive an email invitation to access their work orders in your company’s portal.
Step 3: Vendor Accepts the Invitation
Vendors must accept the invitation using their mobile device.
What the Vendor Experiences:
- They click the Accept Invitation button and see an “You’re Invited” screen
- They are prompted to download the mobile app
- After installing the app, they can:
- Return to the invite page, or
- Click the invite link again
This will open the app and complete the connection.
Account Setup Notes:
- The link automatically logs them in
- No need to create an account once accepting the invitation
⚠️ Phone Number Formatting Tip:
When creating an account, vendors must include +1 before their phone number for it to process correctly.
Step 4: What Vendors Can See
Once accepted:
- Vendors will only see work orders assigned to them
- If no work orders are assigned yet, their view will appear empty
- As soon as a work order is assigned, it will populate in their app