This article walks a new company from signing up to its first job: creating
the account, the two onboarding screens, finishing the company profile,
inviting the team, adding customers, scheduling the first job, putting the
phone app on your drivers' phones, and the guided walkthroughs. Each step
links to the full article.
A new account starts empty. PortaPro does not load sample customers, units
or jobs; everything you see is data you or your team entered. The guided
walkthroughs work on an empty account and help you create real records
instead.
1. Create your login
portaprosoftware.com, or trial.portaprosoftware.com).
provider such as Google.
People who join an existing company never use this page. They are invited
from Team Management and join through the invitation email (see step 5).
After setup, everyone signs in at app.portaprosoftware.com. Your company also
has its own address (for example yourcompany.portaprosoftware.com), which
forwards to your company inside app.portaprosoftware.com.
2. Tell PortaPro about your business
The first screen reads Welcome to PortaPro! and asks four things:
| Field | Required |
|---|---|
| Company Name | Yes |
| City | Yes |
| State | Yes |
| Business Phone | Optional |
| Company Website | Optional (type it without `https://`; PortaPro adds it) |
When you submit, PortaPro shows Setting Up Your Workspace while it
creates your company and makes you its admin.
Your time zone is set from your city and state. PortaPro looks up the
town you typed and picks the matching zone, so a company in El Paso starts
on Mountain time even though most of Texas is Central. If the town can't be
looked up, it uses the main zone for your state. You can change it any time
in Settings → Company → Address & Hours. See
3. Choose your plan and start the trial
The next screen is Choose Your Plan: Starter, Core and
Growth (Growth is marked Most Popular). Pick one and click
Start Free Trial. You enter a card with Stripe, and the screen says when
the first charge happens: the trial is 7 days, and you can cancel any time
before then.
Running several yards or branches? The Multi-Location / Enterprise bar
under the plans has Schedule a Call and Send a Note instead of a
self-serve checkout.
Until checkout finishes, your company has no active plan and Settings shows
only Subscription. Plans are explained in
Subscription Plans.
4. Finish your company profile
Open Settings → Company. Signup filled in your company name, city,
state, phone and website. Before you send anything to a customer, add:
card needs street, city, state and zip to save). Your address prints on
invoices, quotes, receipts and statements.
Contact Details.
The Setup Guide task Complete your business profile checks off when your
Legal Business Name is filled in. That field is under Settings →
Finance → Tax & Compliance, next to your EIN.
Full details: Company profile and
5. Invite your team
(Admin, Dispatcher or Tech / Driver), and click
Send Invite.
Each person gets one email branded with your company name and logo, with an
Access Account button. Invitations are sent from the start, before any
other customer email is switched on. A whole roster can be invited at once
from Team Management → Bulk Operations → Import & Invite.
Every plan includes unlimited users. See
6. Add your customers
One at a time: go to Customers and click Add Customer. The
Add New Customer form asks for Company Name, Customer Type and a
default site address (Street Address, City, State,
ZIP Code), plus optional email, phone and a first contact. Click
Create Customer. The address becomes the customer's first site.
Your whole list: on Customers, open the ⋮ menu and choose
Customer Import. You can paste your list in any format, upload the
spreadsheet you already have (.csv, .xlsx, .xls), or click
Download Template to see every supported column. PortaPro walks you
through anything it needs to confirm (duplicates, matching your equipment,
billing and tax questions) before it imports. Each import is listed under
Recent imports, where Roll back undoes it.
Recurring billing for a site is set in the site's Service Plan, on the
customer's Sites tab. See Customers and
7. Schedule your first job
the dashboard or a customer's profile).
Job Details, Location, Assignment, Items & Pricing and
Review.
the assigned driver's app.
Recurring rate-card service jobs are not made in the wizard; PortaPro
generates them from the site's Service Plan. See
Creating a job and
8. Put the app on your drivers' phones
PortaPro Field Operations is PortaPro's phone app, free on the App Store
(iPhone and iPad) and Google Play (Android).
jobs and schedule changes reach the phone.
Drivers can also use PortaPro in any phone browser at
app.portaprosoftware.com; the app adds push notifications, the Face ID or
fingerprint lock, and the phone's camera and scanner. Trucks with one shared
iPad can use a truck login with a PIN for each driver; see
Shared devices. Full details:
The PortaPro Field Operations app.
9. Use the Setup Guide and walkthroughs
asks What do you need to get started? and builds a checklist from your
answer. Tasks check themselves off from real data. See
Start tour on any of them: Welcome tour,
Add your first customer, Schedule your first job,
Set up recurring site billing, Find invoices fast and
Dispatch a route. The customer and billing tours create a real
customer with you when you have none yet. Tours need a window at least
1024px wide.
When you are ready to run real work, use the