Best practices for structuring client Sites

The CloudCannon Partner Program allows you to manage clients in two places: as Sites inside your Partner Organization, or as a separate Client Organization you can manage. CloudCannon has no preference between these methods, and each has benefits that suit a different kind of client.

You can use either approach, use both at the same time for clients with different needs, and move a client from one to the other later by transferring their Sites.

graph TD
  O["Your Partner Organization"] --> PA["Project connected to Client A's Git Repository"]
  O["Your Partner Organization"] -->|Manages| CO["Client Organization for Client B"]
  PA --> SA["Site"]
  CO --> PB["Project connected to Client B's Git Repository"]
  PB --> SB1["Live Site"]
  PB --> SB2["Staging Site"]

Keep client Sites in your Partner Organization#

graph TD
  O["Your Partner Organization"] --> PA["Project connected to Client A's Git Repository"]
  O["Your Partner Organization"] --> PB["Project connected to Client B's Git Repository"]
  PA --> SA["Site"]
  PB --> SB["Site"]

You can manage as many client Sites as you want within your Partner Organization, grouping them by which Git Repository they connect to using Projects. The benefits of this method include:

• You only need to set up your Organization once, and all your Team Members have access to all client Sites by default.
• All your client Sites come under one Subscription Plan, which you control and pay for, so taking on a client doesn't require a new subscription.
• All your client Sites use the same pool of Build Time, Hosting Bandwidth, and Custom Domains.
• You can create a proof-of-concept Site within your Partner Organization then transfer it to a Client Organization later.

You can create Sites and Projects the same way you would create your own, from the Sites Browser or Projects Browser. For more information, please read our documentation on creating a branched Site and creating a Project.

You can give a client access in a few ways, depending on what they need:

• Add them to your Organization as a member. To limit their access to specific Sites, scope them with a Custom Permission Group, available on our Team or Enterprise Plan.
• Share individual Sites through Site Sharing, which they access with their own CloudCannon account.
• Share a single Site through Client Sharing, with no CloudCannon account needed.

This one-size-fits-all approach is good for smaller clients. However, if you need a more complex setup, or separate billing, a Client Organization might be a better approach.

Give each client their own Client Organization#

graph TD
  P["Your Partner Organization"] -->|Manages| CA["Client Organization A"]
  P -->|Manages| CB["Client Organization B"]
  CA --> PA["Project connected to Client A's Git Repository"]
  PA --> SA["Site"]
  CB --> PB1["Project connected to Client B's first Git Repository"]
  PB1 --> SB1["Site"]
  CB --> PB2["Project connected to Client B's second Git Repository"]
  PB2 --> SB2["Site"]

You can manage as many Client Organizations as you need, separating the content that belongs to your client from your Partner Organization. Client Organizations function similarly to any other Organization, except that their connected Partner Organization is automatically allowed access. The benefits of this method include:

• Each Client Organization has its own Subscription Plan, and uses Build Time, Hosting Bandwidth, and Custom Domains from its own pool, so they can pay for the features and resources they need.
• You choose who pays and who receives the invoices. Your client can add their own payment method and have invoices emailed straight to them, or you can keep covering the cost yourself.
• Your clients get their own Team Members and ways to manage access to their content, including Custom Permission Groups, Site Sharing, and Client Sharing.
• Your clients get their own Projects and Sites.
• CloudCannon will alert you to any issues in the Client Organizations you manage on the Issues tab of your Organization Home page, so you can review them all from the same location.
• You can customize the branding of each Client Organization with the client's own logo and color, so the editing experience feels like theirs.

You can create a Client Organization from the Client Organizations Browser. For more information, please read our documentation on creating a Client Organization.

When you first create a Client Organization, CloudCannon adds a Partner Permission Group to it with full access to the Organization and its Sites. The Owners of your Partner Organization are added to this group automatically, so they can work in the Client Organization right away. To bring more of your team onto a client's content, add them to the Partner Permission Group in the Client Organization. Members of your Partner Organization don't count toward the Client Organization's Team Members limit, so you can add as many as you need at no extra cost.

This tailored approach is good for clients who need their own billing, their own set of features, or a space you can hand over to them. However, if a client doesn't need a setup of their own or you want to bundle the cost of CloudCannon into an invoice with other services, keeping their Sites in your Partner Organization might be simpler.

How to choose#

There's no single right answer, and you don't have to use the same approach for every client. Match the setup to what each client needs.

Keep a client's Sites in your Partner Organization when:

• You manage the work end to end, and only one or two people on the client's side edit content, so a seat or two in your own Subscription Plan covers them.
• You want to cover the cost of CloudCannon yourself, because you bill the client as part of a larger package or retainer.
• The engagement is small, or a proof of concept.

Give a client their own Client Organization when:

• The client wants to pay CloudCannon directly with their own payment method, or you want their billing kept separate from yours.
• They need a branded space, their own Team Members, or to manage access themselves.
• You expect to hand the Sites over to them, now or later.
• Their feature or resource needs differ enough to warrant their own Subscription Plan.

You don't have to commit permanently, and either approach counts toward your Partner Rewards.

Move a client between your Organizations#

A common pattern is to start a client in your Partner Organization while you build, then move them into their own Client Organization when they're ready to go live or take ownership. You can transfer a client's Site to their own Client Organization. For more information, please read our documentation on transferring a Site between Organizations.

You can only transfer a Site to an Organization you belong to. CloudCannon keeps the Owners of your Partner Organization in the Partner Permission Group of every Client Organization you manage, so your clients are always available as a destination. Anyone else on your team needs adding to the Client Organization first.

Projects don't move with a Site, because they belong to the Organization that created them. Neither do Permission Groups, so your team reaches the transferred Sites through the Partner Permission Group in the Client Organization instead.

Transfers can't be undone, and the same process runs in the other direction: someone in the Client Organization transfers a Site back to your Partner Organization. That's also how you consolidate a client who no longer needs an Organization of their own. To leave the Sites where they are and hand your client the Client Organization around them, please read our documentation on handing over or detaching a Client Organization.