The quick answer
Open the customer record in Edit mode and go to its Access subtab. Check Give Access to create a login for the customer itself, and check Send New Access Notification Email so it gets a link to set a password. For a contact, check Access and Notify on that contact's row in the Contacts sublist. Leave the row cleared for anyone who shouldn't have a login. Click Save, then check the Access subtab and the Login Access column on the Contacts list.
The screenshots show sample data. Person and operating-company names are fictional. Use your own records and values when following the steps.
Before you start
There are two kinds of login on this subtab, and they behave differently. Give Access at the top creates the customer's own login. Its user name is the Email on the customer record, so whoever controls that mailbox controls the login. The Contacts sublist below creates a separate login for each contact you check, using the email shown on that contact's row. Individual contact logins mean each person has their own password, and you can remove one person later without touching the others.
You need a role that can edit customers and contacts, and the contact has to exist already and be attached to the customer. Checking a row doesn't create a contact. If the customer or the contact is new, save it first and then edit the customer again. Customer Center access also depends on the Customer Access feature being enabled (Setup > Company > Enable Features, Web Presence subtab) and on a Customer Center role being available: the standard one or a custom role based on it. This account shows the role as Customer Center. Yours may be named differently. In some older releases the access controls sit on the System Information subtab instead of an Access subtab.
A new login needs a way to set a password, and there are two ways to do it. The screenshots use the access notification, which emails a password setup link. NetSuite's own note on the subtab recommends that over assigning a password by hand. The alternative is Manually assign or change password, where you enter a password that meets the Password Criteria and pass it to the person yourself. Pick one for each login. If you assign a password, don't send it by email.
Use a different email address for each login, the customer's and every contact's. When two records share an email, NetSuite can link them to one login, and a password change can apply to both. A shared mailbox, like an accounts payable address, also means anyone who reads it can use the login.
The customer's own login also has an Assigned Web Site field. It's blank in this example. If your account has more than one website and the login should be limited to one, set it.
01. Check who can sign in today
Go to Lists > Relationships > Contacts. The Login Access column shows who can already sign in. Here Pinecrest Landscaping Co. has two contacts, Nadia Okafor (Purchasing Manager) and Marcus Hale (Crew Lead). Both show No, so neither can sign in to the Customer Center yet.
02. Open the customer's Access subtab
Go to Lists > Relationships > Customers and click Edit next to the customer, here Pinecrest Landscaping Co. Before you touch anything, look at Email under Email | Phone | Address. In this example it is ap@pinecrest.example. That's the user name the customer's own login will use. If it's wrong, fix it first.
Scroll to the subtabs and click Access. Give Access is cleared and Role shows Customer Center. The Contacts sublist lists Marcus Hale and Nadia Okafor, each with their own email, the Customer Center role, and Access cleared.
03. Give the customer its own login
Check Give Access, then check Send New Access Notification Email, so the customer's mailbox receives a link to set its password. Leave Manually assign or change password cleared. Role stays Customer Center.
04. Give a contact a separate login
In the Contacts sublist, find the contact's row. On Nadia Okafor's row, check Access. Her login uses the email on her row, nokafor@pinecrest.example. Keep her Role as Customer Center and check Notify, so she gets her own password setup link. The role at the top of the subtab doesn't set a contact's role, so check each row. Leave Access cleared on Marcus Hale's row.
05. Save and check the Access subtab
Click Save. The customer opens in view mode. Click the Access subtab again. Give Access is checked and Role shows Customer Center. The Contacts list shows one row, Nadia Okafor, with nokafor@pinecrest.example and the Customer Center role. Marcus Hale isn't listed because he has no access. Depending on your account and release, this sublist may also list contacts with access cleared, so look for the row of the person you meant to grant.
06. Confirm on the Contacts list
Go back to Lists > Relationships > Contacts. Nadia Okafor now shows Login Access Yes, and Marcus Hale still shows No.
Check the result
- On the customer's Access subtab, Give Access is checked and Role is Customer Center.
- The Contacts list on that subtab shows the contact you granted, with the email you expect.
- On the Contacts list, Login Access is Yes for that contact and No for the contact you left out.
Login Access Yes confirms the saved setting. It doesn't prove the notification email arrived, that anyone set a password, or that they've signed in. The person signs in through your account's Customer Center login address, which isn't necessarily the page your employees use. To take a login away later, clear Give Access on the customer or Access on the contact's row and save. The two are independent, so removing one contact doesn't touch the customer's own login.
Common questions
Which email does the customer use to sign in?
The one in the Email field on the customer record. Checking Give Access creates the customer's own login with that address as the user name, so check it before you save. A contact's login uses the email on the contact's row in the Contacts sublist.
What's the difference between Give Access and a contact's Access box?
Give Access at the top of the subtab creates a login for the customer record itself. Access on a contact's row creates a separate login for that one person. Each contact row has its own Role, Notify, and password controls, and the top Role doesn't set them.
Should I send the notification or set the password myself?
Send the notification when you can. The person sets their own password from a link, so nobody on your team has to know it or send it around. If you assign one by hand with Manually assign or change password, give it to them some other way than email. Either way a new login needs one of the two.
Why does each login need its own email address?
So each login belongs to one mailbox. When records share an email, NetSuite can link them to one login, and a password change can apply to all of them. It also makes removing one person without touching the others harder.
Does Login Access Yes mean they can sign in?
No. It means the access setting was saved. It doesn't show that the email arrived, that a password was set, or that the person has signed in. Whether they can sign in can also depend on your account's authentication setup.
Does a Customer Center login use a NetSuite user license?
Customer Center users normally don't use a full user license. Check your edition and contract for limits on external users, because I can't tell you what yours says.
What can a customer do once they're in?
It depends on the role and your account's setup. Common tasks are viewing invoices and statements, entering orders, and viewing cases. Paying invoices online also needs online customer payments set up. This guide only covers granting the login, so it doesn't show any of those screens.