So my friend he asked a lawyer to instruct him to work with his employer to do the stuff, not sure about the exact procedures...not sure about the portal stuff either...but for sure, the system at the border cares only about the Job Offer and the Compliance Fee...
But sounds like he would get a Number after his employer paid the Compliance Fee; then he went to the Border with Employment Verification, the Number and CSQ, and boom he got his new closed WP extended for another two years; I have nearly all the exact same materials he had except for the Number (which I did not know in advance and got rejected at the Border, but I heard there will be no rejection record at the CIC etc at the Border).
That said, if still no updates from CIC one month before current WP expire, then I will apply for the BOWP; then we should be good, still can legally live and work in Quebec before the result of WP decision made by CIC...