I NEED ADVICE: Need Web Software for customers to access backend

[Francisco_Meza]

I have a prospect in the credit repair industry. Does anybody know of some software where the clients can log into their own accounts to see the progress?

The feature I am looking for is like a Real Estate website where the brokers can create their own accounts and upload their own properties.

[icecarats]

I'm not a Wordpress expert, but theoretically any CMS that supports user accounts and permissions can do this, and the rest would configuration/custom development.

Would the information mostly be files/data from other sources (e.g. spreadsheets and word documents)? You might be able to get away with an FTP/SFTP solution if that's the case.

If actual information (e.g. from your own database) and interaction is needed then you're definitely going to have to do something custom; I don't think there's an 'out of the box' solution that will do what you want. The amount of work involved would be relatively small though I'm guessing, probably 3-4 days for a good programmer depending on the platform/database/desired functionality.

Speaking personally, I wouldn't be a fan of Wordpress for a financial application, it just seems like every quarter there's a new exploit. Another thing to watch out for is your hosting; when I'm doing PCI upgrades/certification/audits shared/virtual hosting can be something of a pain to work around. I don't know if the applicable standard for your task would be more or less strict.

[Francisco_Meza]

I'm thinking O would have them pull the file like through a web connect (like my quickbooks) or they import the file using a spreadsheet once per month. Yes, compliance can be a big thing. Thank you for sharing your input.

[KeriMorgret]

Francisco, you've probably thought about this, but be sure to look at all of the banking rules about privacy and sharing of information as you build this. When I worked at an agency, I remember how it would take weeks of turnaround to get a simple banner ad approved, as all of the wording had to go through legal, and how resistant another bank was to even install Google Analytics on some of their https pages.

I'm taking my experiences there and thinking there must be a lot of rules regarding how a site is to be secured so that type of information isn't hacked, how to ensure proper information displays for each level of person accessing the system, etc. Cost of compliance may be something to consider, and I don't know if WP would be quite compliant enough out of the box.

[Francisco_Meza]

Basically the site will be built from the ground up, of course using a CMS. The owner would give access to subscribers. It is a credit management service. Currently the owner of the company gets referrals from the banks for people who were turned down for a mortgage or something large. These people/clients will need to get their credit repaired.

All information will be on the subscribers dashboard in their respective accounts. Banking information will be pulled from banks accounts and FICO scores will be pulled from credit reporting agencies. There would be target goals to get a FICO score above a certain goal amount.

I primarily use WordPress and Magento. I have seldom used Joomla and Drupal, but I am familiar with them. Although I have used WordPress many times, I have never heard of any plugin that can create a backend for subscribers. I can't think of anything that is out of the box. The cost of having custom program applications may be too expensive for the prospective client.

@Ryan, You say "This functionality is offered with most any CMS.". Are you saying that WP has a feature where a paying subscriber can have their own account? I have that in Magento, but it's more about tracking packages, orders, subscriptions. I guess it may work in Magento, but I would have to hack everything. Is there something a little more out of the box?

Thanks guys. I always try helping people in this Q&A forum. Good to know there are pros here, not all beginners.

[RyanKent]

I agree with Valery.

I would also request more details about the nature of how the site will be used. It sounds like the site owner wishes to upload content (credit reports, etc) then restrict access so only specified users (i.e. the client, the client's employees, etc) would have access to the content. This functionality is offered with most any CMS.

If something further is required, we would need to see something along the lines of a Requirements Document to offer better feedback.

[icecarats]

It really depends on the underlying architecture. If you're using a custom developed solution (e.g. in .net or .php or the like) then you'd likely have to also create a matching interface for author/editor access.

Some CMS solutions like Joomla, Wordpress, Drupal etc. have pretty robust back end controls that you can control access to, create accounts, etc. But each of them have their own foibles. I think to get a real answer we'd need to know how things are set up on the backend. For example, is it database driven? What kind of database? What language is the site developed in? That sort of thing.