User Roles and Portal Access

This article explains how access works in the Tai TMS: that access is role-based, that a broker's staff and a broker's customers see different parts of the system, and that customers get their own portal with a view scoped to their own business.

Overview

The Tai TMS is used by two broad kinds of people: the freight broker's own staff, who run the business day to day, and the broker's customers (shippers), who work with the broker. The system is role-based, which means what each person can see and do is determined by the role assigned to their login rather than being the same for everyone. Staff work in the broker's operational workspace (often called the "back office"), while customers sign in to a separate customer portal (the "front office") that shows only their own shipments and account information. This separation keeps each customer's data private to them while giving broker staff the full operational picture.

How it works

When someone signs in, the Tai TMS identifies who they are and what organization they belong to, then grants access based on their role. There are two main experiences:

Broker staff sign in to the back-office workspace. This is where staff quote, book, dispatch, and track shipments, manage carriers and customers, handle billing and accounting, run reports, and configure the system. Within staff, roles further tailor what each person can reach — for example, whether someone can work with accounting screens — so a broker can give each team member access appropriate to their job.

Customers (shippers) sign in to the customer portal. The portal is a self-service experience scoped to that customer's own account. From it a customer can view a dashboard, create and track their own shipments, keep an address book and product catalog, pay invoices, run reports, and manage their account settings. A customer only ever sees data that belongs to their organization.

Some capabilities inside the customer portal are turned on or off per customer. For example, a customer's ability to pay invoices online, or whether carrier-related information (such as a carrier-performance view) is shown to them, can be enabled or hidden depending on how the broker has set up that customer's account. When a capability is turned off for a customer, the corresponding page or action simply is not available to them.

Business rules & limits

Access is role-based, not one-size-fits-all. What a person can see and do depends on the role tied to their login and the organization they belong to. Two people signing into the same system can have very different experiences.
Staff and customers use different areas. Broker staff work in the back-office workspace; customers use the customer portal. They are distinct surfaces of the same platform, not the same screens with different data.
Customers see only their own data. The customer portal is scoped to the signed-in customer's organization. A customer cannot see other customers' shipments, invoices, or account details.
Portal features can be enabled or hidden per customer. Capabilities such as paying invoices online or viewing carrier information are configurable for each customer account, so not every customer sees the same set of options.
Some pages require the customer to accept terms first. Depending on setup, a customer may be asked to accept terms and conditions before continuing into the portal.
Signing in is required for account-specific work. Certain public links (for example, a one-time invoice payment or viewing a shared report) can be opened without a full login, but seeing or managing account data requires signing in with an appropriate role.

Frequently asked questions

Who can log in to the Tai TMS, and do they all see the same thing?

The Tai TMS is used both by a freight broker's own staff and by the broker's customers, and they do not see the same thing. Access is role-based: the broker's staff work in an operational back-office workspace, while customers sign in to a separate customer portal scoped to their own account. What each person can view and do is determined by the role assigned to their login.

What is the customer portal in the Tai TMS?

The customer portal in the Tai TMS is the self-service, customer-facing side of the platform (sometimes called the "front office"). It lets a broker's customers sign in to view a dashboard, create and track their own shipments, manage an address book and product catalog, pay invoices, run reports, and manage account settings — all limited to that customer's own organization's data.

Can a customer see other customers' shipments or invoices in the Tai TMS?

No. In the Tai TMS the customer portal is scoped to the signed-in customer's own organization, so a customer sees only their own shipments, invoices, and account information. They cannot view data belonging to other customers of the broker.

Why can one customer pay invoices online in the portal while another cannot?

In the Tai TMS, certain portal capabilities — such as paying invoices online or viewing carrier-related information — can be turned on or off for each customer account. If a customer does not see the option to pay invoices, it means that capability has not been enabled for their account by the broker; when a feature is turned off, its page or action simply is not shown.

What is the difference between the back office and the customer portal?

In the Tai TMS the back office is the broker staff's operational workspace, used to quote, book, dispatch, track, bill, and report across all of the broker's business. The customer portal is the customer-facing self-service experience, limited to a single customer's own account. Staff use the back office; customers use the portal.

Do all broker staff have the same access in the Tai TMS?

Not necessarily. In the Tai TMS, staff access is role-based, so a broker can tailor which parts of the system each team member can reach — for instance, whether someone can work with accounting screens. This lets brokers align each person's access with their responsibilities rather than giving everyone identical access.