Purpose

The Subcontractor Portal allows subcontractors to manage and report the work they perform on behalf of your company.
This article explains how to set up and manage the portal from a system administrator’s perspective.

Aspire currently supports both the Legacy Subcontractor Portal and Subcontractor Portal 2.0. The legacy portal remains available for a limited time.

What subcontractors can do

Subcontractors can:

View scheduled visits assigned to their routes on the Schedule Board
Add work ticket visits for services set up with subcontractor auto-expense
Add time and material quantities to visits that have been made available in the portal
Manage documentation related to their assignments or account

Setting up the Subcontractor Portal

Enable the portal

Select your Profile icon, then Administration.

On the Administration page, select Configuration, then open the Time Reporting tab.
Toggle Enable Sub Contractor Portal on.
Select Send Invites to add subcontractors to the portal.
- If subcontractors used the legacy portal, select Send Invites to migrate them to the new portal.
- Subcontractors receive an email invite to create their own account in Subcontractor Portal 2.0.

You can also send or resend portal invites from a subcontractor’s Contact record. On the Contacts screen, select the subcontractor you want to invite. In the subcontractor’s contact record, select Send Invite. If they already have an invite to the portal, you can select Resend Invite to send another email.

Additional portal options

Option	Description
Enable tickets to be created from Sub Portal	Allows subcontractors to create work tickets for As Needed services not placed on the Schedule Board.
Enable partial occurrence to be specified from the Sub Portal	Allows subcontractors to specify a completion percentage for partial services.
Allow Sub Portal time after month has been closed

Creating users and contacts for subcontractors

Note: Subcontractor Portal 2.0 does not require you to create contact or user records. Subcontractors create their own account from the invite email. The legacy portal still requires manual setup, and this article applies to the legacy portal.

In order for your subcontractors to use the legacy Subcontractor Portal, a contact record and user record must be created for each subcontractor. For each subcontract you work with, you will need at least one subcontractor user profile created. Any team members under that subcontractor will need a contact record, but they do not need a user profile created.

Decide on naming conventions

Establish a consistent naming rule for subcontractor contacts across all branches.
You can use either real names or functional names (e.g., Crew Leader – GreenScape).

Tip: Consistent naming helps filter and track subcontractors across divisions.

If using functional names, it's suggested to specify the crew member function in the first name, and the name of the subcontractor business for the last name. Examples are below:

Create subcontractor contacts

To create subcontractor contacts, you can:

Mass import contacts (recommended for large lists).
Manually create contacts one at a time.

Upload contacts through mass import

If your company works with several subcontractors and crews, this might be the best option for you. Use the import template and focus on these fields:

First, watch this video on how to mass import contacts.
Focus on the following fields in the import sheet:
- Contact Type: Enter "Sub"
- Contact First/Last: Follow your company's decided naming convention
- Email: Subcontractor’s email for portal notifications
- Company: Enter a value here to best group your subcontractor contacts
- Branch: Assign the branch where the subcontractor works
Import the completed sheet in the Administration module.
Follow the instructions in the section below.

Create a single subcontractor contact

If you are looking to create one or a few contact records, your best option might be to create contacts one by one.

Go to Contacts, then select Create Contact.
In Contact Type, choose Sub.
Optional: Add a Contact Tag such as Snow Subcontractor for easier filtering.
Under Payroll, assign a pay schedule for subcontractors to separate them from employees.

Tip: If you need assistance with creating a new pay schedule for subcontractors, read Pay Code Search List Screen in the User Guide.

Complete additional contact fields as needed, then Save.

The Aspire system will default to the Contact Search screen. Click back into the contact record to begin creating a user as shown down below.

If you need help creating a contact, watch this short training video. We'll be focusing on the differences between a regular contact and a subcontractor contact.

Create a user from a contact

To access the Subcontractor Portal, the subcontractor contact must also have an associated user account.

In the contact record, open the More (⋮) menu and select Create User.
- If a user already exists, the option changes to Update User.
On the User Details screen:
- Enter a PIN.
- Select a Role (for example, Crew Leader).
  1. For more information on how to create a role, see the Defining role permissions in Aspire article.
- Select the correct Branch. This must match the branch selected on the Contact record.
  1. If All Branch Access is selected, uncheck the box and press the X near the branches the subcontractor should not have access to.
Click Save. Click Save again to exit the Contact Details record.

Repeat this process for each subcontractor who needs portal access. You do not have to do this for all contacts if they are not logging time or materials.

Device authorization (Legacy portal only)

Subcontractor Portal 2.0 does not require device authorization.
In the legacy portal, the contractor must authorize each subcontractor’s device the first time they log in.

Provide subcontractors with:

Once they enter this information at https://app.youraspire.com, you can authorize their device in Aspire. Once authorized, the subcontractor sees the following screen to log in:

Logging in to the Subcontractor Portal

Legacy portal: Subcontractors log in with their PIN, or by selecting Click here to use their email and password.
Portal 2.0: Subcontractors log in with their portal credentials and select a company to view work tickets for.

They can switch companies from their Profile menu by selecting Switch Company.

Using the Subcontractor Portal

The Subcontractor Portal includes three levels of data:

Routes assigned to the subcontractor
1. Work ticket visits scheduled for those routes
  1. Time and material entries for each visit

Subcontractors can collapse or expand routes and visits to view details if they have been scheduled on the Schedule Board.
If Enable tickets to be created from Sub Portal is turned on, subcontractors can add visits directly to their routes.

The image below shows the Subcontractor Portal 2.0 screen for a subcontractor with four routes set up in Aspire:

Julia Route
Hospital/Clinic Route
Construction Route
Snow Route

Only the first level is shown in the screen below. This is what it will look like if four visits were scheduled for the subcontractor’s routes by your company.

Levels within the hierarchy may be collapsed or expanded by clicking the small arrow(a) to the right of each route or work ticket/visit or in the header.

The Export(b) option exports the full contents of the displayed day to an Excel spreadsheet.

Adding visits, materials, and time

Add a visit

When Enable tickets to be created from Sub Portal is on, subcontractors can:

Expand a route and select Add Visit.
Choose a service(c) from the dropdown.

Services for contract opportunities are shown if:

A subcontractor auto-expense for the subcontractor has been established on the opportunity-service in an estimate for an existing opportunity, AND…
The associated opportunities are won, AND…
The date specified on the Subcontractor Portal screen is between the start and end dates of the opportunity, AND…
The opportunity service is either an As Needed service or has one or more tickets in open or scheduled status. The text of each combo-box option(d) consists of the property name followed by the opportunity service display name.

Note: If the Enable Tickets to be Created from the Sub Portal option is disabled, then the Add service option is disabled. The subcontractor can add additional visits for services they are set up to perform as described below.

Add time and materials

The Add item provides a drop-down list containing options including:

Material(f) - Any item identified by the contractor as a valid Subcontractor Expense for the selected service.
Crew Member(g) - All contacts in the system that are tied to the subcontractor’s company that have no time on the selected work ticket during the specified day.

Add materials

Select Add Item(e) next to a visit, then Material.
Choose a material item.
For the item(k), Enter the Quantity.
Select Submit(l) to save.

Subcontractors can delete or resubmit entries as needed. The quantity must be submitted before the subcontractor logs out or the value is lost.

Add time

When a crew member(h) is added to a visit, the subcontractor can specify the time that the crew member spent.

Select Add Item next to a visit, then Crew Member.
Choose a crew member from the list.
For the crew member(h), enter Start and End times or type the total Hours.
Select Submit(i) to save.

Note: Unsubmitted entries are lost when logging out.

If a subcontractor adds a crew member by mistake, they can remove the entry immediately by selecting the delete icon(j).

Note: If a time entry includes a date that falls within a closed accounting period, the portal prevents the subcontractor from saving it.

Once the subcontractor submits time, the Time Entry becomes available in Aspire.

Subcontractors can also approve or delete multiple material items and time entries at once by using the Submit or Deleteicons at the route or visit level.

Entering time or materials in a closed month

You can configure Aspire to allow the subcontractor to enter time in a closed month. It's important to communicate with your subcontractors whether this is enabled or disabled.

This option affects how Aspire behaves when the subcontractor sets the date at the top to a closed date.

Option	Behavior
Disabled	Subcontractors cannot add or edit time or materials for closed months.
Enabled	Subcontractors can enter hours but not start or end times for closed periods.

When the option is disabled, and a subcontractor sets the date at the top of the screen to a month that is closed, the screen will be disabled so that they cannot add time or materials.

If this option is disabled and the subcontractor sets the date at the top to an open month, but enters a Start or End time that falls within a closed month, Aspire disables the unavailable dates in the calendar(q). This prevents the subcontractor from saving time to a closed period.

When the option is enabled, and the subcontractor sets the date at the top of the screen to a closed month, the screen is enabled.

Reviewing and rejecting time or materials

When subcontractors submit time and materials, contractors can review and either accept or reject all entries for a given day.

If rejected:

Subcontractors see notes(u) from the contractor explaining the reason for rejection(v) on that route on the specific day(w).
Rejected entries become editable so they can correct and resubmit.
Aspire can also send rejection email notifications automatically.

Note: Aspire sends the email using the contact's email. A subcontractor does not have to sync their email for this to occur.

Managing partial occurrences

For Per Service invoice types, subcontractors can specify a completion percentage using the Partial Occurrence icon(x).

This value is made available to office staff to provide guidance when setting a partial occurrence value for the work ticket.

Uploading documents to Subcontractor Portal 2.0

Subcontractors can upload and manage documentation directly in the portal.

Uploaded files display both in their Aspire Contact record and the portal’s Documents screen.

Subcontractors can upload two types of documents:

Type	Description
Attachments	General documents or images related to routes or tickets (max 10 MB).
Certifications	Subcontrator certificates with type, effective and expiration dates, and optional document number. Aspire populates this information when the subcontractor uploads or edits their documents.

Aspire displays warning messages for documents nearing expiration. These messages remain in their Notifications for 30 days. Subcontractors can edit their documentation by selecting the edit icon, or they can delete documentation by selecting the delete icon.

Signing out of the Subcontractor Portal

To sign out:

Select the Profile icon(y).
Choose Sign Out.

If unsubmitted time or material entries exist, Aspire displays a warning message.

Once submitted, entries display on the Time Entry screen in Aspire Cloud for your company’s review.

Training your subcontractors

You can share Aspire’s training article to help subcontractors learn how to use the portal.

Send them the link to the Subcontractor Portal Training Guide for step-by-step instructions.

Setting up and using the Subcontractor Portal