What Do the Words in the Customer Portal Mean?
This page explains the words you see on the Customer portal's screens and in its help pages, in the order you are likely to meet them. Where people often use another word for the same thing, such as "job" for a call or "appointment" for a visit, the other word is given too.
What does "Customer portal" mean?
The Customer portal is the website where you, as a customer of your service provider, see your calls, the engineer visits booked at your site and your account. Its name, Customer portal, is at the top of the menu. Your service provider gives you its address and sets up your sign-in; some people call it the customer login, the client portal or the service portal.
What does "your service provider" mean?
Your service provider is the company whose Customer portal this is: the company that services your equipment or site and sends the engineers. The help pages call them "your service provider" and their people "the service team". They create your sign-in, decide what it may see and do, book the visits and keep your account details.
What does "the office" or "the company" mean in the Customer portal?
When a Customer portal message says "the office" or "the company", it means your service provider. For example, The office can turn that on. means your service provider can give your sign-in that permission, and The company has to switch it on. means only they can switch your sign-in on. The office is handling this one on a visit means the service team, rather than a named engineer, has the visit.
What does "sign-in" mean in the Customer portal?
Your sign-in is your own way into the Customer portal: your email address and your password. Your service provider creates it, links it to one or more of your accounts and decides what it may see and do, so two people from the same business can see different things. People also call this a login, a log-on or a user account; "signing in" is the same as logging in. You cannot change your sign-in email address or your name in the Customer portal; ask your service provider, who can.
What does "switched off" or "inactive" mean for a Customer portal sign-in?
A sign-in that is switched off, or inactive, cannot be used to sign in to the Customer portal until your service provider switches it back on. The sign-in page then says Access has not been granted for that sign-in. The company has to switch it on. It happens when your service provider turns a sign-in off, and every time somebody uses Forgot password, so that your service provider can check the new password was really chosen by you. There is nothing to do in the portal until they switch it back on, so contact them and ask; after that, you sign in with your email address and the password you last chose.
What do "Set your password" and "Forgot password" mean?
Set your password and Forgot password are the two buttons under Sign in on the Customer portal sign-in page. Set your password is for your first visit, when your service provider has created your sign-in but nobody has set a password for it yet: you choose one and are signed straight in. Forgot password lets you choose a new password when you no longer know yours, and switches your sign-in off until your service provider switches it back on. The portal never emails you a reset link. The only rule for a new password is at least eight characters: no capital letter, number or symbol is needed. The rule is checked only when a password is set, never at sign-in, so an older password shorter than eight characters still lets you in.
What does "account" mean in the Customer portal?
An account is one customer of your service provider, such as your business, one of its sites or one branch, with its own name, account code and address. Your sign-in may be linked to one account or to several, and the Customer portal always shows one at a time, named at the top of the menu. Account is also the menu item that shows that account's details and balance. People also say site, branch, location or customer. There is no view of all your accounts together: switch between them with the account name at the top of the menu.
What does "account code" mean?
The account code is the short code your service provider uses for your account in their own system. The Customer portal shows it under the account's name at the top of the menu, on Choose an account and on the Account and Account history pages. The Search box on Choose an account finds an account by its code as well as its name or address.
What does "Choose an account" mean?
Choose an account is the Customer portal page that lists the accounts your sign-in is linked to, so you can pick the one to look at. You see it after signing in when your sign-in has more than one account, and whenever you select the account name at the top of the menu to switch. With only one account, the portal skips it and opens your account straight away. The portal does not remember the account you chose last time, so a sign-in with several accounts starts on Choose an account each time you sign in; a bookmark of one account's Home page takes you straight to that account.
What does "call" mean in the Customer portal?
A call is one request for service on your account: a fault reported, a repair or a visit asked for, logged by you in the Customer portal or by your service provider. Each call has a call number, a kind (its type), a status, and the visits and notes that follow it until the work is finished. People also call it a job, a ticket, a service request, a fault report or a work order. Your Calls list holds the account's calls that your sign-in may see, whoever logged them, but the Customer portal never shows who at your service provider logged a call or is dealing with it; ring them and quote the call number to find out.
What does "call number" mean?
The call number is the number that identifies one call. The Customer portal shows it in the Call column of your Calls list and in the heading of the call's page, after the word Call. Quote it whenever you phone or write to your service provider about a call; you can also type part of it into Search your calls to find the call again.
What does "Log a call" mean?
To log a call is to report a new problem or ask for a visit, so that your service provider can arrange an engineer. In the Customer portal, Log a call is the button at the top of Home, Account and Calls, and Log the call sends the form. People also say raise a ticket, report a fault, open a job or book a repair. The button appears only if your service provider lets your sign-in log calls. If it is missing, ask them to allow it, then sign in again. No confirmation email is sent after you log a call, so note the call number the portal shows you.
What does "Logged" mean?
Logged is the date and time a call was recorded. The Customer portal shows it in the Logged column of your Calls list and on the call's page, and the date buttons above the Calls list, such as This month, pick calls by when they were logged. Logged this month on Home counts the calls logged on your account since the first of the month. Apart from the days and times of its visits, Logged is the only date a call shows: the Customer portal does not show when a call's status changed or the date it was finished, so ask your service provider if you need it.
What does "What is it about" or "Type" mean?
What is it about is the box on the Log a call and Edit call forms where you choose the kind of call, and the same thing appears as the Type of a call on your Calls list and on the call's page. The kinds are your service provider's own, in their own words, and the list only offers the kinds your sign-in may log. If the kind you need is missing from the list, choose the closest one and say what you need in In one line, and ask your service provider to add that kind to your sign-in. People also call it the call type, the category or the kind of job.
What does "In one line" or "comment" mean?
In one line is the short description of the problem you give when you log a call, up to 300 characters, and it must be filled in. The Customer portal calls it the call's comment: it is the second line under each call on your Calls list and the line under the heading of the call's page. Search your calls looks inside it, so a word you remember from it finds the call. Search your calls looks only in the call number, In one line and Your reference, never inside the Details.
What does "Details" mean on a call?
Details is the full description of the problem on a call, the one given when the call was logged, with any formatting, lists or pictures; when you log a call in the Customer portal, it is what you write in the box headed Anything else we should know. On a call's page it is read-only; on the Edit call page, while the call is not finished, you can add to it or correct it. The Note button adds a line stamped with your name, the time and the date, so your service provider can see what you added and when. Spell checking is switched off in the Details box, so misspelt words are not underlined; read your text over before you select Log the call or Save changes. A web address you type becomes a link by itself.
What does "What was done" mean?
What was done is the engineer's report of the work on a call, which some people call the resolution, the job report or the engineer's notes. It is on the call's page in the Customer portal with a padlock, because it is written by your service provider and you can read it but never change it. The notes show as soon as your service provider adds them, which can be before the call is finished. Until then it says "Nothing yet. The engineer’s notes appear here when the work is finished." It is the one write-up for the whole call: the engineer's notes for each separate visit are not shown, and there is no reply box. To ask about the work, contact your service provider and quote the call number. If your sign-in may change calls and the call is not finished, you can also add a Note on the Edit call page, but nobody is alerted when you save it.
What does "PO number" mean?
PO number is your purchase order (PO) number: the number your own business uses to approve the work, up to 30 characters. You can give it when you log a call and correct it on the Edit call page, and it shows in the PO number column of your Calls list and on the call's page. Search your calls does not look inside it. If your number is longer than 30 characters, give it in full in Anything else we should know.
What does "Your reference" mean?
Your reference is your own reference for a call, or for a line of your account history, in whatever form your business uses, up to 100 characters on a call. On a call you give it when you log the call, and Search your calls finds it. It cannot be changed on the Edit call page; tell your service provider if it is wrong.
What does "Who to ask for" mean?
Who to ask for is the person the engineer or the service team should ask for about a call, with the Phone and E-mail beside it. On the Log a call form it starts with your own name and the email address you sign in with, and you can change them if someone else should be contacted. They cannot be changed on the Edit call page. Phone starts empty and has nothing to fall back on, so a call logged with it empty has no phone number; add the number to the call's Details with Edit, or tell your service provider.
What does "status" mean on a call?
A call's status says where the call stands, for example new, being worked on, closed or cancelled. The Customer portal shows it as a coloured label in your service provider's own words, and your service provider changes it; you cannot. The standard statuses are coloured by meaning (new or open blue, being worked on amber, closed green, cancelled red), and statuses your service provider added themselves keep a steady colour of their own. Your sign-in may be set to show only calls in some statuses. The portal shows only a call's current status, never a history of when it changed; if a status looks wrong, contact your service provider and quote the call number.
What does "finished" mean for a call?
A finished call is one that is closed, matched or cancelled. A finished call can no longer be changed through the Customer portal, so it has no Edit button, and if somebody tries, the page says "This call is finished, so it can no longer be changed. Please ring the office if something is still wrong." If a problem comes back after a call is finished, log a new call.
What does "visit" mean in the Customer portal?
A visit is one time an engineer is booked to come to your site for a call, with a date, a start time, usually an end time, and the engineer's name. People also call it an appointment, a booking or a site visit. The Customer portal shows visits on the Visits page, under Coming to your site on Home, on a call's Visits card and in the Next visit column of your Calls list, if your sign-in includes visits. A visit shows the engineer's name, its status, the day and the time; it does not show the engineer's notes for that visit, their phone number or where they are.
What does "booked" mean for a visit?
A visit is booked when your service provider has arranged an engineer and a time for a call, which some people call scheduling, assigning or allocating an engineer. You cannot book or choose a visit in the Customer portal: you log the call, and your service provider books the engineer. Until then, a call's Visits card says "Not booked yet. The office will arrange a time." You cannot move a booked visit in the portal either; ask your service provider to rebook it.
What does "engineer" mean?
An engineer is the person your service provider sends to your site to do the work, whom some people call the technician, the fitter or the service person. The Customer portal shows the engineer's name on each visit. When a visit is with the service team rather than a named engineer, the portal shows The office is handling this one or The office instead of a name. The portal gives no phone number or email address for an engineer and no way to message them; contact your service provider and quote the call number.
What do "Coming up" and "Earlier" mean on the Visits page?
Coming up and Earlier are the two halves of the Customer portal's Visits page. Coming up lists the visits still to come, including one that has started but is not yet due to end; Earlier lists visits whose booked end time has passed, up to your fifty most recent. A visit moves to Earlier because its time is over, not because anyone confirmed the engineer came. For visits older than those fifty, open the call from your Calls list and read its Visits card, which lists every visit on the call.
What do "Next visit" and "Not booked" mean?
Next visit is the column of your Customer portal Calls list that shows when an engineer is next due on each call, with the engineer's name. It says Not booked when no visit is still to come on that call, which is normal for a finished call. A visit your service provider cancelled can still show until its booked time has passed, so open the call to see how each visit stands. If every call says Not booked, your sign-in probably does not include engineer visits. Ask your service provider to include visits if you need to see them.
How does the Customer portal write dates, times and amounts of money?
The Customer portal writes every date day first, as day/month/year, so 03/04/2026 is the third of April 2026, never the fourth of March. It does this whatever language or country your browser or computer is set to, so you and the service team always read a date the same way. Times use the 24-hour clock: 14:30 is half past two in the afternoon. Logged on your Calls list and on a call shows the date and the time together; Account history, Last receipt and the Visits card on a call show the date alone. The Visits page writes each day in words instead, with the day of the month beside the month and weekday.
Amounts of money, on the Balance due card, on Home and in Account history, are plain numbers with two decimals and a comma between the thousands, such as 1,250.00, with no currency sign such as € or £. A minus sign in front of an amount, which payments and credit notes usually have in Account history, means it reduces what you owe. The currency your account is kept in is shown on the Account page, in the Account information card, as Currency, when your service provider has filled it in.
What does "Balance due" mean?
Balance due is how much your account owes your service provider. It appears as a figure on Home and as a card on the Account page, if your sign-in may see balances. On the card it is split by age into Current, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months and 4+ months, with Total due and Last receipt, the last payment received and its date. People also call it the outstanding balance, the statement balance or aged debt. You cannot pay it in the Customer portal; pay the way your invoices ask. If the figure is missing, your sign-in does not include balances; ask your service provider to include them.
What does "Invoices go to" or "head office" mean?
Invoices go to, on the Customer portal's Account page, names the account your invoices are sent to when your account is billed to another one, such as a head office. In that case the Balance due shown is the head office's, because that is where the money is owed. Account history does not follow the head office: it lists this account's own lines, so the two are not expected to add up.
What does "Account history" mean?
Account history is the Customer portal page that lists the invoices, credit notes, payments, memo notes and journals on your account, newest first, twenty-five at a time. People also call it the statement, the ledger or the transaction history. Each line shows its date, type, references, description, Total and Outstanding, and the Document column holds any copy to download. It appears only if your sign-in may see the account history. It has no search, date filter or sorting, so page with Previous and Next. If it is missing from your menu, ask your service provider to include it.
What does "Outstanding" mean in the account history?
Outstanding is the column of the Customer portal's Account history that shows how much of a line is still unpaid, in bold, or a dash when nothing is outstanding. Total, beside it, is the amount of the whole line; payments and credit notes usually show as minus amounts, because they reduce what you owe.
What does "Document" mean in the account history?
Document is the column of the Customer portal's Account history that holds a copy of an invoice or credit note, such as a PDF, when your service provider has one attached to the line. Select the file name to download it. A line may have no document, or several, each downloaded separately. The downloaded file is named from what your service provider stored with it, so a file called "Document" and a number is still the right one. For a line with no document, ask your service provider for a copy.
What does "Where we come to" mean?
Where we come to is the map card on the Customer portal's Account page. Its pin marks the place your service provider has recorded for your account, where their engineers are sent, with the address underneath so you can check the two agree. You cannot move the pin; tell your service provider if it is in the wrong place.
What does "not one this sign-in reaches" mean?
"That call is not one this sign-in reaches." and "That customer account is not one this sign-in reaches." are Customer portal messages meaning the call or account you tried to open is outside what your sign-in may see. It usually happens after following an old bookmark or a link someone else sent you. The message offers a link back to your own accounts; open Calls from the menu to see the calls you can reach. If you think your sign-in should reach it, ask your service provider, quoting the call number or the account's name.