The verdict in three sentences
A custom order tracking portal costs EUR 30,000 to 54,000 for a 70-employee office furniture manufacturer in Berlin, plus EUR 8,500 to connect the production ERP, delivered in 4 months. It removes most of the 60 weekly calls from clients asking where their project stands and speeds up drawing and finish approvals. The direct gain is about 15 hours a week for sales administration, and the indirect gain, often larger, comes from shorter approval times.
Where the 60 calls a week come from
The managing director of a Berlin manufacturer delivering 300 fit-out projects a year (open-plan areas, meeting rooms, reception desks) watches her 4-person sales admin team spend days on the phone. Clients, often facility managers or interior architects, want to know whether drawings are approved, whether production has started and when delivery is scheduled. Each call triggers an ERP lookup, a check with the workshop and a callback: 15 minutes on average.
The second friction point is approval of drawings and finish proofs: sent by email as 20 MB attachments, marked up on paper, sent back scanned. A project waits 9 days on average for client sign-off.
| Metric | Before portal | After portal (6 months) |
|---|---|---|
| Where-is-my-order calls per week | 60 | 12 |
| Sales admin hours on follow-up | 18 h | 3 h |
| Average drawing and proof approval time | 9 days | 3 days |
| Projects delivered late | 14% | 7% |
| Finish disputes at delivery | 6% | 2% |
| Client satisfaction (survey) | 7.1 / 10 | 8.6 / 10 |
Detailed 2026 budget
| Work package | 2026 range (EUR) | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery and UX | 3,200 to 5,500 | Workshops with sales admin, design office, 3 pilot clients |
| Client area and project dashboard | 8,500 to 15,000 | Milestones, documents, contacts, multiple users |
| Online drawings and proofs with markup | 7,500 to 14,000 | PDF and DWG viewer, comments, time-stamped approval |
| Notifications and delivery scheduling | 4,300 to 7,500 | Email at each milestone, installation slot booking |
| Sales admin back office | 3,300 to 6,500 | Account management, message templates |
| Testing, training, go-live | 3,200 to 5,500 | 3-week pilot |
| Portal subtotal | 30,000 to 54,000 | 4 months |
| Production ERP connection | 8,500 | Production order status, planned dates |
| Monthly maintenance | 550 to 950 | Hosting, backups, fixes, small enhancements |
The ERP connection is the core of the project: without it, sales admin must update statuses by hand and the portal becomes one more chore. With a common industrial ERP (SAP Business One, proALPHA, abas, Microsoft Dynamics), EUR 8,500 is usually enough to read production order statuses and planned delivery dates. Hosting in Germany and GDPR-compliant data processing agreements are included.
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| Criterion | Custom portal | ERP client portal | SaaS project management tool |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | EUR 38,500 to 62,500 | EUR 5,500 to 16,000 | EUR 0 to 3,000 |
| Annual cost | EUR 6,600 to 11,400 | EUR 2,200 to 6,500 | EUR 3,000 to 9,500 (guest licenses) |
| Automatic production status | Yes | Yes | No, manual entry |
| Drawing and proof markup | Yes | Rarely | Basic |
| Brand experience | Full | Weak | Weak |
| Suited to architects and facility managers | Yes | Technical UI | Decent |
Mini case study
Katrin, managing director of an office furniture manufacturer in Berlin, invests EUR 41,000 in the portal and EUR 8,500 in the ERP connection, EUR 49,500 in total, plus EUR 750 a month in maintenance. Sales admin wins back 15 hours a week, 690 hours a year over 46 weeks; at EUR 40 loaded hourly cost, that is EUR 27,600. Approval time drops from 9 to 3 days, cutting late deliveries from 14% to 7%, or 21 projects a year without penalties; at EUR 850 average penalty or goodwill gesture avoided, that is EUR 17,850. Annual gain: about EUR 45,450 minus EUR 9,000 of maintenance, or EUR 36,450. Payback in about 16 months.
FAQ
Will our clients really log in? Yes, if the portal saves them chasing: an email at each milestone with a direct link is enough. In comparable projects, 70 to 80% of active clients log in at least once per project.
Can DWG drawings be viewed without CAD software? Yes, the viewer converts drawings to vector PDF readable in the browser, with markup and time-stamped approval. This package represents EUR 7,500 to 14,000.
What if our ERP has no API? We use an intermediate database or a scheduled export every 15 minutes. The EUR 8,500 budget can then rise to EUR 10,500 or 12,500.
Can architects who specify us use the portal? Yes, an architect account can follow several client projects at once. It is often a strong argument for being specified again.
What is the annual running cost? EUR 6,600 to 11,400 a year of maintenance, German hosting and backups included, or EUR 22 to 38 per delivered project.
Let's scope your project. Share your annual project volume, your ERP and your approval steps: we will price a portal between EUR 30,000 and 54,000 delivered in 4 months. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
