Portal for external users

As a BMC Helix Digital Workplace administrator, you can create an external portal as a subtenant of your regular BMC Helix Digital Workplace application. By using this option, you achieve the following goals:

Manage internal and external business processes separately.
Configure and customize regular and external BMC Helix Digital Workplace tenants separately.

An external portal is used by end users who are not internal to your organization (referred to as external users) and is primarily managed by a BMC Helix Digital Workplace administrator of an external portal (referred to as an external administrator).

As a BMC Helix Digital Workplace administrator, you can assign an external administrator to configure, manage, and expose an external portal to external users. External users have limited access to the BMC Helix Digital Workplace features and can use the external portal to request simple services.

Important

We recommend that you review the data privacy regulations that apply to your end users, and leverage the privacy notice feature to share the required details.

You cannot enable this feature if you have a BMC Helix Digital Workplace deployment where the managed service provider (MSP) mode is enabled.

External users cannot view or request services from the regular BMC Helix Digital Workplace application unless the Global permission is set for services and articles.

The following video (3:19) explains the benefits of using an external BMC Helix Digital Workplace portal and provides an overview of the features that are available to external users:

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https://youtu.be/OeoJnMbJ21A

Related topics

Orientation

Preparing an external portal for external administrators

Configuring an external portal for external users

Managing access for external users

Scenarios for using an external portal

The following scenarios explain how external users can use an external BMC Helix Digital Workplace portal.

Scenario 1

Stefan and Paula are citizens of San Diego. Stefan is a driver who notices a dangerous pothole on the road. Paula accidentally becomes a witness of a night traffic failure. Both Stefan and Paula can log in to an external BMC Helix Digital Workplace portal and raise their requests to resolve the road issues noticed in their city.

Scenario 2

Mary is a citizen of Philadelphia. On her way to the office, she decides to send an email by using Wi-Fi in a public Wi-Fi zone. Mary cannot establish a Wi-Fi connection due to a service outage. By using an external BMC Helix Digital Workplace portal, Mary can raise a complaint against the Wi-Fi outage.

Scenario 3

A-Services is a private company that works as an external contractor for a state governmental organization. The state governmental organization can prepare special services with adjusted pricing for the external staff and configure an external BMC Helix Digital Workplace portal according to the business need. A-Services employees can use this portal to request services required for their work.

How external users register and login

External users register in an external BMC Helix Digital Workplace portal by completing a short web registration form.

Then, external users confirm their registration by using an auto-generated confirmation email, as shown in the following example:

If users do not receive the auto-generated confirmation email and hence cannot confirm their registration, these users can use the option of re-sending the confirmation code.

Important

If external users confirm their registration successfully, and the accounts are approved either automatically or manually by an external administrator, the users are automatically registered in BMC Helix ITSM and BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog. For more information about managing registered external users, see Managing access for external users.

Registered external users log in to an external portal by providing their email addresses and passwords in a short login form.

Important

If an external user attempts to log in by using an incorrect password more than two times, the user's account is locked for 10 minutes. The user can request password reset instructions by clicking Forgot password and providing a valid email address.

Features available to external users

The following table lists the BMC Helix Digital Workplace features that are available to external users in an external portal:

Feature	Description
Catalog	A BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog administrator adds services that are available on the Catalog page of an external portal by using a virtual marketplace in BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog. For more information, see Preparing an external portal for external administrators. By default, the Catalog page is set as the landing page of an external portal. External users can perform the following actions with their service requests: Open Cancel Add comments and attachments External users can use the Browse categories option on the Catalog page.
Global search	External users can search for services and knowledge articles. Additionally, they can provide feedback about articles.
My Activity	The My Activity page displays active and past events of a user. This allows the user to track the statuses of the submitted requests.
Cart	External users can add enhanced catalog items to a cart to request all items at the same time, instead of submitting individual service requests one at a time. For more information, see Requesting multiple enhanced catalog items by using a cart.
Preferences	On the Preferences page of an external BMC Helix Digital Workplace portal, external users can view their profile information, edit notification settings, and change passwords to their accounts.
Notifications	External users receive in-app (bell) notifications about the requests that need attention in the following cases: When someone comments on their requests. When approvals are needed (if external users are the approvers). When requests are approved or rejected. External users receive email and push notifications if they enable these options on the Preferences page. Newly registered external users receive email notifications when their accounts are approved. Inactive external users receive email notifications when an external administrator reactivates their accounts. External users who were previously blocked and are unblocked by an external administrator, receive email notifications with the confirmation code to reactivate their accounts. External users receive email and bell notifications about the requirement to reset their passwords if an external administrator configures this option. For more information, see Configuring an external portal for external users.

The following illustration shows the Application Features section in the Admin console of an external portal and a limited set of features that an external administrator can enable for external users.

Other regular BMC Helix Digital Workplace features are not available in an external portal and cannot be configured for external users. For more information about configuring an external portal, see Configuring an external portal for external users.

Required licensing

BMC Helix Digital Workplace Advanced customers with the BMC Helix Digital Workplace Advanced – Self Registered User license are entitled to this feature.

Where to go from here

Administering an external BMC Helix Digital Workplace portal

Portal for external users

Scenarios for using an external portal

How external users register and login

Features available to external users

Required licensing

Where to go from here

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