ZephCMS Public Portal: Staff-Controlled Publishing and Public Records Search

ZephCMS Public Portal is the primary product for organizations that need to make approved records easier for the public to find—without opening internal systems, sharing direct links to file servers, or having staff email documents on request.

Portal starts at $1,000 per month ($12,000 per year) for organizations under 1,000 managed records. Pricing scales through five annual-volume bands based on the number of records managed in the system. Implementation scope is quoted separately.

Who the Public Portal is for

Portal fits any organization that:

• Has public records, reports, datasets, or documents that people legitimately need to access
• Receives repeated email or phone requests for the same files
• Needs staff to control what is published and when—without relying on a web developer
• Must separate the public-facing version of a document from internal working files or restricted metadata
• Has a legal obligation to respond to public records or FOIA-type requests with documented workflow

Common buyers include county offices, public agencies, records departments, law enforcement, medical examiner and coroner offices, and government bodies that publish meeting minutes, inspection records, contracts, licenses, permits, or decisions.

What is included in Public Portal

Staff-controlled publishing workflow

Staff prepare, review, approve, publish, update, and unpublish records through a structured internal workflow. Nothing appears on the public side until a staff member with publishing permission approves it. This keeps the public site accurate without requiring a web developer or IT ticket for every update.

Public search and filtered browsing

Visitors can search the portal using approved titles, dates, categories, tags, and metadata fields. Filters can be configured around the types of records the organization publishes. The goal is for people to find what they need on the first visit without calling the office.

Approved previews and downloads

Portal delivers the public version of a document—a redacted copy, an approved PDF, an official report—while keeping internal notes, working drafts, restricted metadata, and staff workspaces entirely separate. Public visitors see only what staff choose to publish.

Records-request intake and tracking

Portal includes a records-request workflow for capturing new submissions, assigning work, recording correspondence, tracking status, preparing responses, and giving requesters a safer channel to check progress. This replaces email threads and manual tracking spreadsheets.

Branding and configuration

Portal can be configured around the organization's identity, navigation, categories, content types, legal notices, and access rules. Public access or authenticated access can be configured for sensitive categories. Document types, searchable fields, and display rules follow the organization's actual records structure.

Connection to the records behind the portal

Portal is designed to work alongside ZephCMS Document Archive and other solution modules. Staff do not have to maintain a separate public copy of information that already lives in Archive. Publishing can draw from the same records, reducing duplication and the risk of version mismatches.

How implementation works

A Portal implementation begins with a structured discovery session. We learn how records are organized today, what people search for most, what staff publish manually, and what the request workflow looks like. From there we configure the categories, document types, fields, workflow stages, access rules, branding, and any migration from previous systems.

Implementation is priced separately from the subscription. Most Portal implementations run between $8,000 and $25,000 depending on migration scope, integrations, number of document types, and custom configuration. We provide a written scope before any work begins.

What Portal does not include by default

Portal does not include full internal case management, medicolegal workflows, or unlimited custom integrations out of the box. Those capabilities live in other ZephCMS solution modules—Custom Case Management, MDI Management—that can be added when the organization is ready. The Archive and Portal modules are designed to be the clearest starting points.

The goal is to make the records problem manageable before expanding into broader workflows.

Starting price and next steps

Portal starts at $1,000/month. Full annual pricing by volume tier is published on the pricing page. Implementation costs are quoted per project after a discovery session.

The fastest way to move forward is a tailored demo. Bring us the records people cannot find, the requests staff handle manually, and the documents that go out by email. We will show the Portal workflow around your specific situation.