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Customer lifecycle and automation
The Customer Portal supplies the hosted application customers use to see and operate assigned products. It does not supply the complete commercial or physical-product lifecycle.
What “We provide the SaaS” means
Dataplicity supplies:
- hosted OEM and customer workspaces
- device identity and an agent-initiated operating connection
- Device Class product definitions
- selected data presentation and customer-safe controls
- customer organisation separation and portal placement
- class-container orchestration where enabled
- fleet operations, evidence, and remote support capabilities available to your organisation
You supply and remain responsible for:
- hardware design, manufacture, certification, installation, and safety
- Linux, secure boot, OS hardening, product application, and device firmware
- sensor accuracy, calibration, control interlocks, and local fail-safe logic
- pricing, orders, payments, tax, contracts, warranty promises, and insurance
- customer identity proofing and onboarding policy
- first-line support, field service, returns logistics, and customer communication
- the authoritative CRM, ERP, billing, and ITSM records
Dataplicity hosting does not make Dataplicity the seller, manufacturer, merchant of record, system integrator, warranty provider, or operator of your customer's physical process.
Post-deployment lifecycle status
| Lifecycle job | Current status | Boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Create one customer organisation and one portal on Standard | Supported when the beta-gated suite is enabled | Standard quantity is exactly one of each |
| Create unlimited customers and portals on Business+ | Supported when the beta-gated suite is enabled | Other service limits still apply |
| Brand the hosted portal | Supported | Dataplicity-hosted tenant domain; no current self-service custom hostname |
| Allocate or claim a device and assign its Network | Supported | Network is the current technical placement object |
| Present customer product data and permitted controls | Supported with Device Class UI and a qualified agent/application | UI configuration does not implement device behaviour |
| Replace, reassign, reclaim, or decommission a unit | Supported as an operator process using available ownership controls | Your fulfilment system must retain the commercial and physical chain of custody |
| Class-container release and tag rollout | Supported with separate Software capabilities | Does not update the OS or physical device firmware |
| Claim bundles | Separately gated | Enterprise capability; do not promise as part of the Standard suite |
| Warranty catalogue and coverage workflow | Preview/separately gated | Enterprise capability; contract and legal warranty remain external |
| Licensing tiers and bundles | Preview or deferred depending on the surface | Do not make licence-bundle automation a launch dependency |
| RMA workflow | Preview/separately gated | Returns logistics, repair, and shipping remain external |
| Customer SLA/SLO views | Preview/separately gated | Not a substitute for a signed SLA or authoritative service reporting |
| CRM, ERP, billing, storefront, tax, and payment collection | Unsupported as Customer Portal functions | Integrate the system that owns the record |
“Supported” means there is a current product path when its plan, feature, release-channel, and role gates are satisfied. It does not promise every operation is available through the public API.
Public API and UI automation matrix
Only endpoints present in the published Gateway OpenAPI schema are the public API contract. A browser UI calling a JSON endpoint does not make that endpoint public.
| Lifecycle operation | Public Gateway API | Current UI/product path |
|---|---|---|
| Read organisation device inventory and online state | Yes | OEM workspace |
| Read Device Class summary | Yes | Device Class detail |
| Open documented remote-access workflows | Yes, for documented endpoints | OEM workspace |
| Create a downstream customer organisation | No published endpoint | Customer journey > Customers |
| Create or brand a Customer Portal | No published endpoint | Customer journey > Customer Portal |
| Create customer sites/Networks and invite portal users | No published lifecycle endpoint | Customer Portal administration |
| Allocate, reclaim, or claim customer devices | No published lifecycle endpoint | OEM/customer UI; claim bundles are separately gated |
| Define streams, actions, settings, and customer UI layout | No published lifecycle endpoint | Device Class UI Components and UI Designer |
| Upload class containers and create Dataplicity firmware sets | No published lifecycle endpoint | Device Class Software |
| Automate warranty, licensing, RMA, or SLA/SLO lifecycle | No published contract for a general customer integration | Separately gated or preview UI |
Do not build unattended production automation against an undocumented application endpoint. Request a published API contract, authentication scopes, idempotency behaviour, error model, and lifecycle support before making one of the UI-only rows a dependency.
Operational handoffs
Sale and fulfilment
Create the commercial customer and order in the authoritative business system. Create the corresponding Dataplicity customer boundary, allocate the serialised unit, place it on the Network that represents the customer's real site or location, and invite named users.
Replacement and reassignment
Confirm the old unit's chain of custody, preserve required evidence externally, remove previous customer context, allocate the replacement, and verify the customer can see only the intended unit. Do not reuse a device identity for a different physical unit merely to preserve a dashboard row.
Return and repair
Keep shipping, repair, parts, credit, and legal warranty decisions in the authoritative returns or ERP system. Where the gated RMA surface is enabled, use it as device-linked operating context rather than the sole record.
Decommissioning
Remove customer access, revoke or rotate device credentials, stop product publishing, account for retained data, update the physical asset record, and follow the OS/device sanitisation process. Deleting or hiding a portal record does not wipe the physical device.