A: Hi typerory,

This can also be done keeping them as Staff, but only if you want to go that way (let me know and I can help).

But if you want to keep them on the external side as you've already planned, that works perfectly too. The terminology we use for roles is just to fit the majority of business purposes - you can kind of leave aside that the word "Client" is used - just think of this pathway as "externals", and you're choosing to use this pathway because the available workflows meet your needs. Here's what I'd recommend:

1. Create a Circle called "Employees"
2. Set up a Custom Field Category associated with employees and connect that to the Circle (this can all be followed in the documentation: https://help.suitedash.com/article/518-custom-field-categories

From there, you can easily filter by that Circle, interact with people in that Circle, and control their experience. In their profiles, you can limit the Custom Fields that show to only the ones associated with the Custom Field Category you connected to them.

What this means is that if you have a unique set of Custom Fields for employees versus clients, when you look at an individual employee record you'll only see the Custom Fields related to that Employee Circle - and vice versa for clients. This capability extends infinitely so you can control Custom Field visibility across many Circles. This can be used to expand the external CRM to accommodate any type of model, including vendors, collaborators, etc.

In all of our onboarding pathways, there is an option for you to NOT send a portal access invitation - in which case they never know the portal exists and won't be invited unless you explicitly do so.

And just to add - most of our Toolkits are designed so that even if you don't invite them to the portal (meaning they never get a username/password and never login), there is a method for you to use the portal tools with them via email only. You can send them documents to sign, you can invoice them, and many other parts of our functionality will work without them ever needing a username and password.

Hope that helps!

Thanks,

Mike