One of the most challenging issues many clients face is finding a secure and simple way to share project information with external contractors.
The issue becomes even more pressing with many construction organizations moving to Microsoft 365 and wanting to keep their information within their Microsoft 365 tenant. Read on to discover how the Lydon Solutions’ Contractor Portal solves this issue and more.
The old ways of sharing project information with contractors
Organizations using Microsoft 365 have three ways to share project information with external contractors. Each method comes with pros and cons:
- Guest access – You could add guest users to your tenant and share Microsoft SharePoint sites and even Power Apps with contractors.
- Pro – This method enables you to grant contractors access to SharePoint sites and other applications such as Power Apps.
- Con – Setting up a guest user takes a few steps, which can be administratively cumbersome with large numbers of contractors.
- Share files and folders – You could share the records directly on a per folder or file basis with specific external contractors or even anonymous users.
- Pro – Easy to share files and folders.
- Con – Isolated to specific files or folders, not applications. This method becomes administratively cumbersome with many file locations.
- Licensing a user – You could provide Microsoft 365 user licenses for contractors.
- Pro – Contractors can access just about anything based on their permissions.
- Con – There is a monthly cost per user depending on the Microsoft 365 plan. Also, access management can be challenging if the proper permissions controls aren’t in place.
How Lydon Solutions’ Microsoft 365 Contractor Portal solves the problem
With the Lydon Solutions Microsoft 365 Contractor Portal, we have solved the access challenges for contractors while providing a means to securely receive and share information within your Microsoft 365 tenant.
Our new Contractor Portal reduces the administrative burden of adding new contractors by allowing them to self-register, including the option to register with their secure social accounts (e.g., Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Yahoo, Google, and LiveID).
If you need more control over registration, you can send invitations to specific contractors, ensuring only known entities have access. Two-factor authentication provides additional security if required.
The new Lydon Solutions’ Microsoft 365 Contractor Portal is your one-stop shop for managing external contractor access in your Microsoft 365 tenant, providing secure file sharing, and delivering Microsoft 365 Power Platform solutions such as RFIs, Submittals, Invoices, POs, and other contractor-related processes.
Lydon Solutions has been delivering Microsoft-based IT solutions to the construction industry for over 14 years. To learn more about Lydon Solutions’ Contractor Portal or if you need help with your Microsoft 365 environment, you can request a free one-hour consultation request here. For a turnkey PMIS solution for Microsoft 365, check out Construction Viz here.
