Eight steps to take you from your first sign-in to ready to switch. Work through them during the beta, at your own pace. None of it is urgent. All of it saves time later.
1. Access the new platform beta
Use the button in your current interface to open the new platform.
Sign in with the same credentials you use today. There is no new account to create and nothing to re-enrol.
This is your live data. The beta is not a sandbox. Both interfaces share the same data layer, so everything you do in the new platform is real and appears on your live tenant immediately.
Treat it exactly as you treat the platform today. Explore freely, but remember that every action is a live action.
2. Familiarise yourself with the menu and navigation
The functions are much the same. Where they live is different, because the menu is now organised around the tasks you carry out day to day rather than around how the system is structured.
Four things are worth learning first. They apply almost everywhere, so once you have them the rest of the platform follows.
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Click the first column. On any list, clicking the entry in the first column performs the main action for that row. On a list of administrators it opens that person for editing. On a price list it opens the price history. You no longer need to open a menu for the thing you most often want.
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Use the Actions menu for the rest. At the end of each row is an actions menu holding the less frequent options for that record. Some entries appear only when they apply, so the menu is shorter and more relevant than a fixed list of buttons.
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Open the details view before you change anything. Many records now have a focused details view that gathers the current state in one place, such as the current terms and commitment on a subscription. It is a good habit to look there first, then act.
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Switch organization from the top bar. If you are looking at one customer and need the same page for another, change the organization in the top bar and stay exactly where you are. No going back to a list and drilling in again. Sellers can switch between brokers the same way.
Two smaller conveniences are on every page that shows a table. There is an export button that downloads what you are looking at, and a refresh button that reloads it. On Microsoft pages, refresh also triggers a sync and tells you when the last one ran.
Each page also links to the relevant knowledge base article, so guidance is one click away while you work.
3. Set up your branding
Your main brand colours have already been migrated, so nothing looks wrong on day one.
There is considerably more you can control now. The header banner can be shown, hidden or set to a compact style. Highlight colours and button colours are configured separately. Gradients are available. The side menu can be styled independently of everything else, and the page background is configurable too.
It is worth spending some time here rather than accepting the migrated defaults. This is the first thing your customers see, and the new options give you a closer match to your own brand than the old interface allowed.
4. Set up the Organization dashboard
Your existing custom dashboard designs have been migrated across.
Check the links on them before you consider this step done. The link structure of the platform has changed, so any link pointing at a specific platform page may now be out of date and send your customers somewhere unexpected.
Open the dashboard, click through every link, and update the ones that no longer land where you intended.
If you have not customised the dashboard, the default content is used instead and no action is needed.
5. Set up your billing report schedules
The billing report now supports scheduled exports. The reports your finance team relies on can arrive on their own, instead of someone remembering to pull them each month.
Set your schedules up during the beta so they are already running when you switch.
A scheduled export can carry more than the figures shown on screen. You can include cost centres, pricing details, organization details and Microsoft invoice details.
That extra detail is usually what makes a report usable directly in your own finance, invoicing or reporting systems, without someone reshaping it by hand first. It is worth deciding what each recipient actually needs before you set the schedule.
6. Review your branded login page
After the switch, your existing branded login page becomes the access point for the new platform. The address your customers use does not change.
Open it and confirm it looks the way you expect.
If you have set up single sign-on, test it. The platform has a new authentication backend, and while existing SSO configurations carry over, it is worth confirming a real sign-in works before your team relies on it.
7. Update your knowledge base
If you maintain a customer-facing knowledge base, the beta window is the time to refresh it.
Screenshots, menu paths and step-by-step instructions all reflect the old interface. Updating them keeps your customers self-sufficient instead of sending them to your support team.
This matters most if you have rolled out self-service. The easier your knowledge base is to navigate, the more your customers will do for themselves.
8. Tell us how it went
Feedback during the beta shapes what we fix before the general rollout, so please send it even when it is small.
If you are stuck or unsure at any step, ask. We would much rather walk you through something than have you work around it.
Email the platform team at platformsupport@cloudmore.com.