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Agency Pilot

Integrations · Meta

Meta business portfolio partner access

Access granted automatically

Meta's business portfolio (still called Business Manager by most people) is how businesses share ad accounts, Pages and other assets with an agency without sharing a login. Your agency is added as a partner by its Business ID. Agency Pilot's onboarding link does that assignment for your client, for every asset on the link, in one Meta dialog.

Meta business portfolio at a glance

What partner access is
The client's portfolio shares specific assets with your portfolio. You then decide which of your people can use them.
What you need
Your agency's Business ID. Agency Pilot detects it when you connect your own Meta login under Your Meta setup.
Assets the link can share
Ad accounts and Facebook Pages, in the same dialog.
Several portfolios
List more than one Business ID and each is assigned as a partner.

Why partner access beats adding people

When a client adds individual people from your agency to their portfolio, access follows those people. Someone leaves, someone new joins, and the client has to do it all again — often through the one person who knows where the menu is.

Partner access is granted to your portfolio instead. The client shares the asset once; inside your portfolio you assign and remove your own team as needed. The client keeps ownership and can end the partnership at any time.

Finding your agency's Business ID

Your Business ID is the long number on the Business info page of your portfolio's settings. In Agency Pilot you rarely need to copy it: connect your own Meta login under Onboarding → Connected accounts → Your Meta setup and click Detect, and every link uses it.

Adding a partner to a portfolio by hand

  1. 1

    The client opens Business settings for their portfolio.

  2. 2

    Under Users, chooses Partners and clicks Add.

  3. 3

    Chooses Give a partner access to your assets and enters the agency's Business ID.

  4. 4

    Selects the assets (ad accounts, Pages) and the permissions for each, and saves.

Ending a partnership

  1. 1

    Business settings → Users → Partners → the agency → remove, or remove individual assets from the partner.

Meta business portfolio: common questions

Is business portfolio the same as Business Manager?
Yes. Meta renamed Business Manager to business portfolio inside Meta Business Suite; the partner mechanics are the same.
Does the client need to accept anything from us?
No. Partner access takes effect as soon as the client shares the asset. There's no invitation to accept on your side.
Can a personal ad account be shared with a partner?
No. It has to be in a business portfolio first. The link tells the client when that's the problem.

Get Meta business portfolio access without chasing logins

One onboarding link covers every platform your client uses. Start a free trial and send your first link today.

Plan Meta business portfolio partner access around the delivery work

An access request is easiest to approve when the client understands the work it enables. For Meta business portfolio, start with each explicitly shared ad account or Facebook Page within the client’s Meta business arrangements. Write down the first task your team will perform and the person responsible for it. A reporting review, a configuration change and ongoing management can require different permissions. Put that purpose in the onboarding brief before sending the link, so the client has a concrete reason to approve the request and knows who to contact if something is unclear.

The intended recipient is the agency portfolio named by its Business ID, not an arbitrary personal profile. Check that identity with the person who will actually do the work. An account name alone can be ambiguous when an agency has several teams or the client has several businesses. Record the intended asset and recipient together. This small preparation step makes a later missing-access question much easier to resolve because both parties can compare what was requested with what was granted. It also helps the next account manager understand why the connection exists.

A practical Meta business portfolio handover example

Illustrative example: An agency with separate regional teams could decide whether one portfolio or multiple portfolios should receive a client asset. Record the business reason before listing several IDs. After sharing, the agency controls its internal people assignments, while the client can remove the asset partnership.

For a regional agency structure, the acceptance record should pair every shared asset with the receiving Business ID and the team responsible for it. Verify the partner assignment first, then the internal staff assignments. If two portfolios were intentionally requested, check both rather than assuming that one successful grant covers the other. Ask the client to confirm that the shared asset list matches the engagement. Keep unnecessary assets outside the arrangement so later personnel changes and offboarding can be handled from a precise inventory.

Separate account access from a successful implementation

A partner is not automatically entitled to everything the client owns. Personal ad accounts require a suitable business-portfolio arrangement before partner sharing can be used.

After access is available, agree a small, observable first task in Meta business portfolio. For a review engagement, that might be opening the expected account information and documenting what will be assessed. For implementation work, it might be locating the intended setting without changing it yet. Do not test a permission by making an unnecessary live change. If a real change is required, use the client’s agreed approval process and record what you changed, why it was needed and how the result will be checked.

Keep the Meta business portfolio connection useful after onboarding

Keep an asset inventory showing the client owner, receiving partner and permitted task. A staff departure should prompt an agency-side assignment review even if the client partnership remains appropriate.

Revisit the access arrangement when the scope changes, the client adds another business asset or the delivery team changes. Ask whether the existing permission still matches the work and whether someone who no longer serves the client still has access. Keep the review proportionate: a small one-off project may need only a clear closing check, while ongoing management benefits from a repeatable review point. The useful outcome is a current record of who can do what on the intended Meta business portfolio asset, with the business owner able to understand that record.

Frequently asked questions

What should I confirm before requesting Meta business portfolio access?

Confirm each explicitly shared ad account or Facebook Page within the client’s Meta business arrangements. Ask the client to identify the account they actually use for the work in scope, rather than choosing from a familiar-looking name. Also agree whether the immediate objective is assessment, configuration or ongoing delivery. These details determine which permission is reasonable and what your team will check afterward. If the client is unsure which asset belongs to the project, resolve that ownership or account-selection question before they approve access to an unrelated account.

Who should complete the client side of the request?

The request needs the client administrator who can share the required business assets. Send the instructions to that person or ask the client to involve them. A staff member who can read a dashboard may still lack permission to invite an agency. Repeating the same request with the same insufficient role will not fix that distinction. The authorized person should review the requested asset, recipient and permission before proceeding, and retain their own independent access after the agency is added.

Which Meta business portfolio permission is appropriate for the work?

Permissions belong to the selected assets and tasks. Sharing an ad account for campaigns is different from giving content access to a Page; partnership does not mean unrestricted ownership. Start by naming the actions the agency must carry out, then match the role to those actions. If the team only needs to inspect Meta business portfolio, explain why a viewing role may be sufficient. If a later task requires more authority, make that a deliberate scope decision with the client. Avoid requesting the broadest available role simply to prevent a possible future question; the current engagement should explain the permission being requested.

Is this an automatic grant or a guided client step?

Agency Pilot uses the configured agency Business ID to assign partner access to the assets the client selects in the Meta flow. Several Business IDs can be listed when that is intentionally required. Read the status in the context of that workflow. An invitation, a client confirmation and usable Meta business portfolio access are related milestones, but they do not always happen at the same moment. Assign responsibility for the next step before marking delivery as ready. This prevents an agency teammate from arriving at a scheduled task and discovering that a required acceptance or platform action is still outstanding.

Which agency identity should receive access?

Use the agency portfolio named by its Business ID, not an arbitrary personal profile. Verify it before creating or sending the onboarding request, especially when the agency works through more than one account. Ask the actual recipient to confirm the identity they will sign in with. A forwarded email or a similar display name is not reliable proof that the correct account has been added. For a staffing change, arrange the replacement person’s appropriate access and remove obsolete assignments through the relevant platform process.

How do we verify that onboarding is complete?

After the platform action, check both sides of the arrangement: which client assets were shared and which agency portfolio received them, then assign the appropriate agency people. Record who performed that check and whether any required work remains blocked. Prefer a harmless viewing check over an unnecessary live edit. If a teammate cannot reach the asset, compare the actual recipient and role with the original request before asking the client to start again. Completion should mean the right person can reach the intended asset with the agreed capability, rather than only that a message or notification was received.

Does connecting Meta business portfolio also connect reporting?

The portfolio is the organizational route for sharing assets. Reporting depends on the relevant connected account; merely knowing a Business ID is not a reporting connection. Keep the client’s reporting expectation explicit in the service brief. If a metric is needed for a report, identify its source, date range and definition before promising that it will appear. A successful access step establishes only the capabilities described for this particular integration. It should not be used as evidence that another platform, a separate dataset or an unrelated source of business results has also been connected.

What should we check if the requested account is unavailable?

If access lands in an unexpected place, compare the agency Business ID with the intended portfolio. Similar portfolio names are not sufficient evidence that the correct business has been selected. Start with account identity and authority because those determine what the client can share. Write down the exact stage where the flow stopped rather than repeatedly recreating the same request. If Meta business portfolio shows an account-specific restriction, the appropriate platform administrator may need to resolve it first. Avoid broadening permissions or switching to another asset just to make a completion indicator appear; verify the intended account instead.

Is a Business ID the same thing as an ad-account ID?

No. The Business ID identifies the agency portfolio receiving partner access; the ad-account ID identifies an asset being shared. Keep both in the account map when applicable. Confusing the two can direct a client toward an incorrect setup action. Verify the receiving portfolio in the agency’s Meta setup and separately verify the asset the client selected for the engagement.

Does adding a partner give the agency ownership of the client portfolio?

The described arrangement shares specific assets and permissions with the agency portfolio. It is not a transfer of the client’s business ownership. The client retains the ability to remove the partner or its asset assignments. Explain that distinction in onboarding so the client understands both the agency’s working access and the control they continue to hold over their own business assets.

When should an agency list more than one Business ID?

Only when there is a clear business reason for more than one agency portfolio to receive access. Confirm the identity and responsibility of each receiving business rather than copying every known ID into a request. After the client completes sharing, verify each required assignment and investigate any partial failure. The broader arrangement should be understandable to the client and included in the eventual handover review.

Why can a partner be present while a teammate cannot see an asset?

The client-to-agency partnership and the agency-to-person assignment are separate layers. Inspect the shared asset and the receiving portfolio first, then check the teammate’s agency-side assignment. This is often more useful than repeating the client authorization. Keep an internal roster of who needs which assets so a staff change can be handled without asking the client to reconstruct the whole partnership.

How should an agency organize a portfolio access inventory?

Record each client asset, its business owner, the receiving agency Business ID and the tasks permitted. Add the agency team responsible for working on it. The inventory is an operational practice, not an automatic claim about a particular report. It helps distinguish a missing asset from a missing person assignment and gives the client a concrete checklist for removing access when the relationship ends.

How do we end access when the engagement finishes?

Remove the partner or its individual asset assignments in Meta Business settings. Review the Agency Pilot reporting authorization and any assets shared outside the original onboarding flow as separate items. Agree a handover point before removing access that is still needed to finish approved work. Confirm the business retains the people and permissions it needs after the agency leaves. Keep permission removal separate from decisions about delivered work or historical reporting data; those are different questions. Record which Meta business portfolio assignments were removed and which, if any, remain for an explicitly agreed support period, with a clear owner for the final review.

What is a sensible next step after verifying Meta business portfolio access?

Build an asset-to-team map from the actual partnership: client ad account or Page, receiving Business ID, permitted task and responsible agency people. Resolve missing internal assignments before asking the client to reconnect. Then begin the relevant campaign or Page workflow using the dedicated integration guide. A portfolio partnership is the organizational foundation; the useful next action is verifying the specific people and assets needed for the work rather than requesting broad access to everything the client owns.