---
schema_version: "1"
id: 34b110db4fe60b26a62a109cc65cb8037b35f3c4d7aa75e00df46a94cc3bd7b5
title: Prep Your Org for a Partner Site
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/experience/264-0-0/networks_partner_community_prep.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=experience.networks_partner_community_prep.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: 746eba422e739c1aa6e090307dd6d7f0cf85579fd6b2537dfc232ddb3065fcb5
description: You’ve bought your partner licenses and have partner functionality enabled in your org. You’re ready to collaborate with your partners and start closing deals together. Before you actually create a partner site, work with your channel manager to create partner accounts and users, assign partner roles, and manage permissions.
products:
  - Experiences
release: "264"
---
# Prep Your Org for a Partner Site

You’ve bought your partner licenses and have partner functionality enabled in your org. You’re ready to collaborate with your partners and start closing deals together. Before you actually create a partner site, work with your channel manager to create partner accounts and users, assign partner roles, and manage permissions.

### Required Editions

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small edition"><colgroup><col></colgroup><tbody><tr class=""><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Available in: both Salesforce Classic and Lightning Experience</td></tr><tr class=""><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Available in: <strong>Enterprise</strong>, <strong>Performance</strong>, <strong>Unlimited</strong>, and <strong>Developer</strong> Editions</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small permission">
        <colgroup>
          <col style="width:50%">
          <col style="width:50%">
        </colgroup>
        <thead class="slds-text-title_caps ">
          <tr class="">
            <th scope="colgroup" class="slds-cell-wrap" colspan="2" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:top;" id="d56595e70">User Permissions Needed</th>
          </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="User Permissions Needed" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d56595e70 ">To view accounts:</td>

            <td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d56595e70 ">Read on accounts</td>

          </tr>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="User Permissions Needed" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d56595e70 ">To create accounts:</td>

            <td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d56595e70 ">Create on accounts</td>

          </tr>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="User Permissions Needed" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d56595e70 ">To disable a partner account:</td>

            <td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d56595e70 ">Manage External Users</td>

          </tr>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="User Permissions Needed" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d56595e70 ">To create, edit, disable, or deactivate partner users:</td>

            <td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d56595e70 ">Manage External Users</td>

          </tr>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="User Permissions Needed" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d56595e70 ">To create contacts:</td>

            <td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d56595e70 ">Create on contacts</td>

          </tr>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="User Permissions Needed" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d56595e70 ">To view contacts:</td>

            <td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d56595e70 ">Read on contacts</td>

          </tr>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="User Permissions Needed" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d56595e70 ">To create, edit, and delete profiles:</td>

            <td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d56595e70 ">Manage Profiles and Permission Sets</td>

          </tr>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="User Permissions Needed" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d56595e70 ">To set field-level security:</td>

            <td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d56595e70 ">
              <p>Manage Profiles and Permission
                Sets</p>
              <p>AND</p>
              <p style="margin-bottom:0;">Customize Application</p>
            </td>

          </tr>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="User Permissions Needed" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d56595e70 ">To set sharing rules:</td>

            <td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d56595e70 ">Manage Sharing</td>

          </tr>
        </tbody>
      </table>

At the very outset, [set up the channel manager role](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=experience.networks_partner_community_channel_manager.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Channel managers are internal users who manage your partner accounts and partner users. Before setting up a partner site, identify an internal user to play the channel manager role.") and assign it to the internal users in your org who manage channel sales and work with partner organizations.

Channel managers with the necessary permissions can perform the next steps.

1. Each partner account is [automatically assigned three partner roles](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.networks_partner_roles_overview.htm&type=5&language=en_US).
    
    ![Tip](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-experience-communities-264-0-0-production-enus/bf7df212-91a1-4fa3-a007-4d6f3e3b470b/images/icon_tip.png)
    
    Tip We strongly recommend that you [reduce the number of roles to one](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=experience.exp_cloud_settings.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Manage settings that apply to all sites built on Experience Cloud.") role: Partner User. To avoid role proliferation, it’s better to use one role and [grant super user access](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.networks_partner_super_user_access.htm&type=5&language=en_US) to users who need access to other users’ data.
2. In Setup, type Sharing Settings in the Quick Find/Search box and edit the organization-wide defaults. Set the Default External Access setting to **Private** for all the objects you want to share with your partners.
3. Clone and customize the [Partner User profile](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.exp_cloud_partner_create_considerations.htm&type=5&language=en_US) per your site’s needs and, if necessary, grant extra permissions with a permission set.
4. [Create a partner account](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=experience.networks_partner_community_create_account.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Add each company with which you partner to Salesforce as a business account. We recommend that channel managers create partner accounts so they can view all partner data.") for each partner organization you work with. Partner accounts store details about partner users and their sales data.
5. Also, plan how you want to use [sharing rules to share data with partners](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.security_about_sharing_rules.htm&type=5&language=en_US).
6. Add users from each partner company as contacts on the respective partner account.
7. Convert the contacts on the partner account to [partner users](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.networks_create_external_users.htm&type=5&language=en_US) and assign a partner license, profile, and role.
8. Optionally, enable and [grant super user access](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.networks_partner_super_user_access.htm&type=5&language=en_US) to partner users if you want them to view data owned by other users in their role hierarchy.
9. If you work with many partner users or don’t want to deal with user management for a partner organization, consider [delegating user administration](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.networks_DPUA.htm&type=5&language=en_US).

With that, you’re ready to set up a site and assign partner users to it.

#### See Also

- [Default Organization-Wide Access Levels](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.security_sharing_owd_default_settings.htm&type=5&language=en_US)
- [Control Which Users Experience Cloud Site Users Can See](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.networks_user_sharing.htm&type=5&language=en_US)