Using the BMC Helix Digital Workplace guest portal for self service

The BMC Helix Digital Workplace guest portal allows users to access self-service features without prior registration. A guest portal serves as a user-friendly gateway to information, services, and resources without requiring users to log in or disclose their personal identity. It is designed to provide stakeholders with easy access and quick transactions for public services. The anonymous access to the guest portal could be an opportunity for guests to experience the organization's portal, boosting brand exposure.

Required license

BMC Helix Digital Workplace Advanced

Guest portal overview

Guest users can access the portal directly via the URL without logging in with any credentials.

The following image shows an example of a guest portal interface.

Guest portal user interface

The following user roles are involved in the guest portal administering and usage:

Super administrator—Assigns company to configure the guest portal.
Guest administrator—Configures the guest portal URL, customizes appearance, and sets up the guest portal for the guest users.
Guest users—Access the portal anonymously to submit requests without registration and find useful information in the helpful how-to articles.

How guest portal is different from the external portal

External portals allow users outside an organization to access specific information, services, or applications typically used by business partners and customers. External users log into the portal with their own credentials and submit the requests. For example, contractor employees log into the organization's external portal to submit requests for workplace allocation or IT assets.

The guest portal does not need any credentials to access it. The guest portal provides public access to specific information and limited services that are common and do not need registered users or disclose personal identity. For example, parents can access the school guest portal and send a request for the new admissions and fee structure, or citizens can post a request for fixing malfunctioning streetlights on the local government's public portal.

Scenarios of the guest portal

Scenario of requesting fee structure information

Paul, a guest user, visits the school's public portal and accesses the BMC Helix Digital Workplace guest user console. As a parent of a prospective student, he wants to understand the fee structure before moving forward with the admission process. However, he cannot find detailed information about the fees on the website, so he decides to submit a request for the fee structure.

He navigates to the the studio page named Parent Support and finds the catalog service Request Fee Structure.

Actions on the portal:

Paul opens the Request Fee Structure request.
He enters the following details in the questionnaire:
- Grade: 5
- Description: I would like to know the complete fee breakdown, including tuition fees, transport, and other applicable charges for Grade 5.
- Preferred Mode of Response: Email/ phone
Paul submits a request without registering with any credentials and receives acknowledgement.

Scenario of posting a request anonymously in a good faith

Bill, a vendor who regularly delivers office diaries to the procurement department encounters unprofessional and rude behavior of the housekeeping staff member frequently. Feeling disrespected, the vendor believes that such behavior can undermine the company's professional environment. With concern about maintaining a respectful workplace for both visitors and employees, the vendor decides to report the incident in good faith through the company's public guest portal.

Actions on the portal:

Bill opens the Feedback and suggestions service available on the company's portal.
He enters the following details in the questionnaire:
- Date
- Location/ Department details
- Feedback description
- Suggestion for improvement (Optional)
- Contact for correspondence (Optional)
In order to foster a respectful and positive environment, Bill submits a complaint anonymously in good faith through the company's guest portal without having to register.

Capabilities available to guest users

Supported	Not supported
Catalog-native services/ Bundles How-to articles Catalog page Studio pages, Search views Search supported for catalog-native items and How-to items Contact IT for general help if it is configured Rebranding Label customization Privacy policy Localization Navigation Manager Reports	Quick links Knowledge articles from BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management, BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround, BMC Helix Business Workflows My Activity page, My Stuff page Service health items BMC Helix Innovation studio pages On-behalf-of requests or Request as someone else Email, push, and bell notifications Surveys Adding collaborators to the catalog requests Locations, Appointments Social User preferences and user profile Employee Navigator powered by BMC HelixGPT SRDs

Supported

Not supported

Catalog-native services/ Bundles
How-to articles
Catalog page
Studio pages, Search views
Search supported for catalog-native items and How-to items
Contact IT for general help if it is configured
Rebranding
Label customization
Privacy policy
Localization
Navigation Manager
Reports

Quick links
Knowledge articles from BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management, BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround, BMC Helix Business Workflows
My Activity page, My Stuff page
Service health items
BMC Helix Innovation studio pages
On-behalf-of requests or Request as someone else
Email, push, and bell notifications
Surveys
Adding collaborators to the catalog requests
Locations, Appointments
Social
User preferences and user profile
Employee Navigator powered by BMC HelixGPT
SRDs

To submit service requests from the guest portal

The guest portal offers limited service requests that can be made anonymously.

Click the guest portal URL and access the BMC Helix Digital Workplace console for the guest users.
From the Catalog page, search for the service request that you want to submit.
Open the required service and click Request Now.
Fill in the details and respond to the questionnaire.
Click Submit request.

To view the privacy policy

Click the profile thumbnail icon.
Click Privacy Policy to view the privacy policy description.

Click here to expand...

Important

Guest users do not see the privacy policy before entering the console and they don't need to accept it for accessing the portal. It is provided for their reference.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Cause
After clicking the guest portal URL, it shows the following error message: This site has been temporarily disabled by the administrator. Please try again later.	The URL might have been temporarily disabled by the administrator due to configuration changes. As a result, guest users cannot access the portal during this time. Once the guest administrator completes the updates and enables the URL setting, guest users can access it again.