Experience Cloud: Real-World Healthcare Use Case

An early part of my Salesforce journey was maintaining a Community Cloud (now Experience Cloud) portal that served the complex needs of the healthcare technology space. In this role, I supported a Salesforce portal used by over 5,000 credentialed customer users for a medical laboratory software product—where secure handling of Protected Health Information (PHI) and Personally Identifiable Information (PII) was critical.

Supporting a HIPAA-Compliant Service Portal

This customer-facing portal was designed specifically for verified, authenticated users belonging to client laboratories. These were partner community users (not public or guest users), each associated with an Account and provisioned with the appropriate role for their job function. This was distinct from the company’s internal Salesforce user base, who accessed the system with full Salesforce licenses.

The separation ensured that external lab personnel could perform necessary tasks—such as opening Cases or securely exchanging data—without touching the internal Salesforce environment or requiring full Salesforce licenses.

Each client Account had distinct Community user roles configured:

• Lab Managers: Managed support Cases for technical issues and service requests.

• Implementation Contacts: Used the portal to exchange PHI/PII securely during instrument interfacing and onboarding.

• Additional Operational Roles: Had limited, task-specific access—designed around least-privilege principles to protect sensitive data.

My Responsibilities

I was responsible for day-to-day operation, security, and usability of the established portal:

• User Access Management: Onboarding, deactivating, and troubleshooting for thousands of authenticated Community users across healthcare organizations—ensuring secure handling of PHI/PII.

• Case Management Optimization: Supporting HIPAA-compliant Case processes that were both efficient for users and scalable for internal teams.

• Data Security & Compliance: Maintaining encrypted communication channels for sensitive data exchange during instrument integration.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Working with internal technical, compliance, and customer teams to prioritize improvements and maintain regulatory alignment.

Early Adoption & Community Contribution

This experience took place while Community Cloud was still relatively new, requiring adaptability as platform capabilities matured. I also had the opportunity to present on our Community Cloud use case at a local Salesforce user group meeting, sharing lessons learned and best practices with fellow admins and developers.

Key Lessons & Takeaways

🌸 Structuring large-scale Experience Cloud portals in a regulated environment

🌸 Enabling HIPAA-compliant workflows and secure PHI/PII handling

🌸 Managing distinct external (community) vs. internal (full license) user populations

🌸 Navigating platform limitations during the early days of Community Cloud adoption

🌸 Building confidence in speaking and knowledge-sharing within the Salesforce community