User Guide

introduction welcome to the portal guide! this guide is here to help you navigate portal with ease for a seamless experience with dfs what is the portal? portal is our secure online platform that gives users direct access to their account with dfs portal offers secure file uploads, job approvals and rejections, real time production tracking, and a full postage ledger who is this guide for? this guide is for customers who want to use portal to log in and configure their account manage role groups, permissions, and users view and track work orders review and monitor postage usage and balances place and track inventory orders submit support requests how to use this guide? whether you're a new or returning user, this guide will help you get the most out of your customer portal getting started how to register and log in dashboard overview key sections and their functions account management updating profile details and preferences inventory & postage placing inventory orders, tracking job progress and viewing postage support & troubleshooting submitting tickets, faqs, and common navigation issues getting started how to register? step 1 dfs creates a primary user account current users can also create accounts on behalf of other members of their organizations before you can access portal, dfs must create your primary user account with the default settings to start this process, the user will need to provide the following basic information full name email address once dfs sets up your primary user account, you will receive an email invitation with a link to complete your registration once you complete the registration, you'll receive the last email asking to verify your account how to log in? after your account is active, visit the portal https //portal dfsmail com/ https //portal dfsmail com/ enter your email & password click sign in you will now have access to your dashboard, where you'll see your work orders, inventory, upload, and have the ability to pull reports, plus so much more dashboard overview the home page serves as the central dashboard for your portal here, you can view recent activity on your account access quick links to commonly used features see an overview of pending tasks and job approvals navigate to different sections using the menu job approvals this job approval section allows you to review and approve jobs before they proceed to production and view a history of your approvals jobs pending approval jobs that require your approval before production will appear here list of all jobs awaiting approval, with the ability to filter through you can expect a report(s) and sample(s) from your processed job, along with any customized reporting work order action \<font color="#15803d">green thumbs up = approve\</font> the work order will be released for production \<font color="#c2410c">red thumbs down = reject\</font> the work order will be rejected depending on your preferences, you will receive an email with the rejection details job approval history track all previously approved or rejected jobs view historical approvals and rejections with user details, date and timestamps, and associated reports and samples filter results by date range, job type, or status file upload options portal offers a secure method to upload files to dfs accepts multiple file formats (zip or pgp preferred, but can also accept single file uploads such as pdf, txt, etc when needed) drag and drop or browse to upload files uploading with your provided job id triggers automation at dfs file upload history view a record of all uploaded files ability to view history of past uploads including file name, date submitted, and user who initiated the upload successful file uploads are stored for 45 days manage campaigns manage marketing and operational campaigns from one place create, edit, and track campaigns assign jobs and layouts to campaigns monitor campaign setup and history postage history postage usage track postage expenses and escrow balances for your account with dfs full ledger of postage usage and payments, with the ability to export monitor postage usage by work order or date range view postage rates for your account postage escrow view escrow balance view escrow payments inventory monitor and manage your stored materials view available inventory on hand at dfs view images of your inventory items track inventory usage across all your jobs purchase requests submit requests for inventory reorders to be procured by dfs submit requests for receivers for inventory deliveries to dfs work orders this is where you will have full access to your work order progress at dfs see all approved work orders as they move through production track real time progress of printing and inserting review historical jobs for completion date filters are available to assist with your search work requests this is where you can access the dfs wo request submission process this is a configurable job type that relies on you providing preprinted materials for insertion & mailing wo submission this process is used to submit a work order request to dfs when there is no associated data to process, such as jobs that are picked up for insertion and mailing only provide job details, including deadlines, requested inventory usage, pickup requirements, and special instructions attach relevant documents or sample files if available automated mail confirmation when the work order has been successfully submitted, along with a pickup ticket for courier & tracking through the process wo submission history ability to view past work orders submitted via wo submission, such as who submitted the wo, the wo number associated, and the full pickup ticket with all details submitted permission manager the permission manager within portal allows you to assign roles based on the level of access required for your team all users are assigned the default role initially, which provides access to the permissions that are listed below role name default if the permission is set to 'yes', then that role will have the following access options role permission access approve jobs the user can have access to view the screen, job history, samples, reports, approve/reject, view and limit each of those by job file upload the users can have access to view the screen, upload files campaigns the users can have access to view the screen, view campaign details, create a campaign, and edit campaign postage history the users can have access to view the postage history screen inventory the users can have access to view the inventory screen approve purchase request the users can have access to view the purchase request screen, view pr history, view attachments and approve or reject purchase requests work orders the users can have access to view all work orders documentation the users can have access to view the documentation screen reports the users can have access to view reports work request the users can have access to the wo submission tab here is a look at how the page appears in portal my users the my users tab in portal provides a comprehensive view of all users under your company profile, with the ability to manage each key features of the my users tab include a complete list of current and past users details on each user's last session history, including login timestamps assigned roles and corresponding access levels a record of user activity within the portal, ensuring transparency and security this feature helps maintain efficient user management by providing insights into portal usage and access control documentation the documentation tab in portal, when used, can be useful to store contracts, sops, and other generic documents and processes related to a specific customer reports the reports tab in portal provides powerful reporting tools, allowing users to generate detailed data on postage usage, work order details, inventory usage, all filtered by date reports can be accessed and downloaded in pdf or excel formats for easy analysis and record keeping ability to pull data for postage used by dates ability to pull wo detail reporting ability to pull inventory usage by date ability to pull an entitlement report for all users under your account entitlement report sample configuration the configuration tab in portal allows users to view and update notification settings for their jobs, inventory, and postage additionally, it provides access to the holiday calendar, which displays scheduled closure days for dfs a portal user can subscribe to receive system notifications and/or dfs product news this is extremely important as it gives you, the customer, visibility on all aspects of your job and if used correctly, can be a great asset to be proactive and engaged when working with dfs holiday calendar any dfs observed holidays are noted here for visibility faq's how can i reset my password? accounts are locked out when there are 5 unsuccessful login attempts to reset your password, simply click "i forgot my password" below the login fields, and follow the prompts enter your email, and you'll receive a link to reset your password why is my file not processing? if your file is not processing, here are some scenarios to check for before uploading again file name is incorrect or missing job id followed by a dash is it a zip file? internal contents of the zip file could also be named incorrectly if it's part of your setup to have designated file names is your file format correct? how do i approve my job? to approve your job, navigate to portal/pending approval tab, you will see a list of work orders that require your attention, to approve the work order, click on the green thumbs up option how do i reject my job? to reject your job, navigate to portal/pending approval tab, you will see a list of work orders that need your attention, to reject your work order, click on the red thumbs down option how do i check on the status of a work order? to check on your work order status, click on the button below here you'll find a list of your jobs with real time progress updates where can i upload my file? to upload your file with your approved format & job id, access the link below and follow the prompts how can i see my file upload history? to view past history of jobs that have been uploaded via portal, click here how do i create a campaign in portal? please refer to the how can i create a campaign? docid vvl8hlnepir7afpds49b for more detailed information where can i see my postage balance and transactions? to view postage balances and past transactions, click here how can i view my current inventory levels stored at dfs? if you have inventory stored at dfs and would like to know how much is on hand, view artwork, place an order, view past usage history, click here how to request a work order review? do you have questions about a past job? request a wo review via account services to ensure we can thoroughly review a completed job, we kindly ask you to submit a ticket by using the links below please also add the requested information when submitting a ticket providing detailed and accurate information will help our team assess your concerns and determine the best course of action submit a ticket add the following information in the ticket customer name work order number file name or other identifiable marks in the file like a case number photos of full mail contents and envelope, including all edges, please do not crop images exact description of the issue as reported to you (if applicable) how can i pull/hold my job from production? you've approved your job, but need to make changes? you can put in a request to pull or hold a job by submitting a ticket to account services although dfs cannot guarantee a job pull/hold after approval, providing the information below as soon as you've noticed an issue, will help us expedite your requests work order number request type pull and cancel / pull and hold our production team makes every effort to accommodate your request; it all depends on how far in the process the job is in cases where materials have been produced, a written request to destroy will be required to understand the cycle a work orde goes through, see work order life cycle docid\ fvilt6hykc puptx wu7a have questions about your job mailing on time or mail not being received with the end recipient? we strongly recommend you view your work order history and details to check when the job in question mailed mailed dates are displayed in real time we also invite you to visit the usps website for more resources on mailing timelines how can i submit a work order request for insertion and mailing only? if you need your printed job to be picked up for insertion and mailing, please check out our work order request/wo submission process work order request docid\ iod1phfz jezoixmxkdmr how can i grant access to an ew user? to add a user to your account, navigate to portal/my users tab click add user enter a valid email address for the user you are attempting to invite choose what access roles you'd like them to have access to they'll receive a registration email where they'll need to fill out some basic information to access portal create a support ticket if you need further assistance, send a ticket into our system by using the button below roles and responsibilities name role responsibilities natalie griffel project manager measure and verify project scope facilitate scope change requests facilitate impact assessments of scope change requests organize and facilitate scheduled change control meetings communicate outcomes of scope change requests update project documents upon approval of all scope changes account services team member/user manage user access, troubleshoot issues, and oversee portal configurations provides technical assistance, resolves user issues, and escalates issues with it when needed developers team member maintain and enhance the portal's functionality based on feedback and evolving requirements customer users user responsible for accessing and utilizing the portal's features according to their role based permissions revision history version date updater name description february 4, 2025 angelica gonzalez initial draft february 12, 2025 deanna dockter edits for flow and content november 10, 2025 angelica gonzalez updates to screenshots may 4, 2026 angelica gonzalez updates to document steps