Partner Onboarding

Partner onboarding starts before the invitation is sent. A successful onboarding gives each partner the right contacts, portal rooms, resources, and next steps from their first sign-in.

This guide covers the complete process, from creating the partnership to moving the partner into an active stage.

1. Prepare the onboarding experience

Before inviting a partner, check that the content they need is ready.

Review your portal rooms

Go to Portals and confirm that the relevant rooms are:

Set to Live
Available to the correct partnership type
Available to the partner’s stage, category, tier, tags, or specific partnership
Named clearly for an external audience
Filled with useful instructions or content

Use Partners with Access in the room settings to confirm who can currently see the room.

A partner signs in to the first accessible Live room based on your portal room order. This is not always the Overview room.

Review your resources

Go to Resources and check that the partner’s onboarding material is:

Set to Live
Shared with partners rather than marked Internal
Available to the correct partnership type
Available to the relevant stage, category, tier, tags, or specific partnership

Useful onboarding resources can include:

A partner program guide
Product and service information
Sales presentations
Brand guidelines
Training material
Lead or deal submission instructions
Key contacts and support information

2. Create the partnership

Go to Partners and select Add partner.

Complete the partner details that apply to your program, such as:

Partnership type
Company name
Partner stage
Category and tier
Tags
Custom fields
Internal assigned users
Company domains
Partner contacts

The first configured partner stage is assigned automatically. Review it after creating the partnership and change it if needed.

Partner contacts and assigned users

These two groups serve different purposes:

Contacts are people at the partner company. These are the people who can receive portal invitations.
Assigned Users are members of your own team who own or manage the relationship.

Adding an internal assigned user does not invite them as a partner.

3. Choose how to create the partnership

Journeybee gives you two options.

Send Invitation

Select Send Invitation when the partner should receive portal access now.

This creates a live partnership and sends an invitation to the partner contacts, subject to your Partner invitation notification rule.

Create as Offline Partnership

Select Create as Offline Partnership when you want to create and manage the partner record without giving the partner portal access.

Use an offline partnership when:

The relationship is still being reviewed
Your portal content is not ready
You are recording an existing partner for internal reporting
You want your team to finish the record before inviting anyone

You can invite the partner later when the relationship is ready to go live.

The invitation email includes a Sign In link to the partner portal.

Depending on your portal configuration, partners can sign in with:

Google
Microsoft
A magic link sent by email
A phone verification code

The partner must use the same email address that is saved on their Journeybee contact record.

There is no separate accept or decline step. After verifying their identity, an eligible partner contact can access the portal.

The first page they see is the first Live room they can access based on your room order and access rules. If no configured room is available, Journeybee falls back to Overview.

5. Guide the partner’s first steps

Do not rely on the invitation email to explain the entire program. Give the partner a short, clear path through their first week.

Open the partner from Partners, then use the Tasks section to assign onboarding actions.

A useful first checklist might include:

Review the partner program guide.
Confirm the main contacts for both companies.
Complete required training or certifications.
Download the current sales and brand material.
Review the lead or deal submission process.
Submit a test or first lead.
Book a kickoff call with the partner manager.

Keep each task specific. “Review the program guide” is more useful than “Complete onboarding.”

Use partner stages to track progress

Update the partner’s stage as they complete key milestones.

For example:

Invited: The invitation has been sent.
Onboarding: The partner has started setup or training.
Published: The partner is active in the program.
Archived: The relationship is no longer active.

Use the stage names configured for your own workspace. The important point is that everyone on your team understands what each stage means and when it should change.

6. Check the portal experience

Open the partner and select Go to partner portal.

Confirm that:

The correct branding appears
The intended rooms are visible
Restricted rooms remain hidden
Shared resources are available
Internal resources remain hidden
Quick actions open pages the partner can access
Tasks are clear and current
Required fields and forms are understandable

The Overview room can show Quick Actions, Partner Details, tasks, and lead or deal analytics. What appears depends on your room settings, the partner’s access, assigned tasks, and enabled modules.

7. Track onboarding progress

Open the partner record to review the available activity.

Depending on your plan and enabled features, you can use:

Tasks to track outstanding onboarding actions
Emails to check invitation delivery and failed recipients
Contacts to manage the people who can access the portal
History to review changes to the partnership
Insights to review sessions, page views, time spent, and content activity
Notes to record internal context or follow-up actions

Move the partner to the next stage when they have completed the milestones your team requires.

8. Onboard partners from an application form

Use Settings → Forms if partners should apply to your program before receiving access.

A published partner application form requires a verified custom domain.

When someone submits an application:

Journeybee creates an offline partnership.
Workspace administrators are notified.
Your team reviews the application.
An admin completes or corrects the partner record.
An admin sends the portal invitation when the application is approved.

Submitting an application does not automatically invite the applicant to the portal.

Troubleshooting

The invitation did not arrive

Check:

The contact email address is correct
The person is saved as a partner contact, not an internal assigned user
The partnership is live rather than offline
The Partner invitation notification rule is enabled
The invitation status under Emails

You can resend an invitation to an eligible contact. Resends are limited to once per calendar day for each unlinked contact.

Confirm that the partner is using the same email address stored on their contact record. Also check that the contact is enabled and the partnership is live.

The partner cannot see a room

Confirm that the room is Live and matches:

The partnership type
The partner stage
The category and tier
Any configured tags
Any specific partner restrictions
The required module

Use Partners with Access to check the result of the room rules.

The partner cannot see a resource

Confirm that the resource is Live, shared with partners, and available to the partner under its access settings.

The partner landed on an unexpected page

Journeybee opens the first accessible Live room based on your portal room order. Review the room order and the partner’s access rules.

An application did not send an invitation

This is expected. Partner applications create offline partnerships for your team to review. An admin must send the invitation separately.

You need to remove access

To remove access for one person, disable their contact. To remove access for the whole relationship, make the partnership offline or archive it.

Partner Onboarding