Why is the Internet-based database better for my organisation?
The Internet allows for you and your staff to enter your organisation’s personal database from any Internet connection in the world, using a secure password, without requiring any new hardware, software or expensive technical staff.
What does it mean to have your data held in a secure, off-site server?
This means that your data is safely stored in a special high security data centre that is protected from crashes and other disasters.
Will my data remain confidential and protected?
All Community ODM data travels safely through 128 bit SSL encryption. SSL provides secure communication over the internet and is used by organisations like banking institutions. The Community ODM is protected behind multiple network firewalls and is stored on a backed-up and guaranteed server.
Why is a Microsoft or Firefox Browser necessary?
The Online Data Manager requires either Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 7, or Mozilla Firefox 3.0. This is because Community ODM makes use of special web technologies that are not necessarily supported by other browsers. CTK is working toward the integration of all standard-compliant browsers into the product. Until this functionality is in place and to reduce the possibility of errors that might affect the accuracy or security of your data, we specifically recommend the use of Internet Explorer, which is a free download from http://www.microsoft.com, or Firefox, which is a free download from http://www.mozilla.com.
What kind of Internet connection does my organisation need to use Community ODM?
Community ODM is built to run on any speed broadband connection. Obviously, the better the connection, the faster your Community ODM will run.
Can my multiple organisation sites access our new Community ODM at the same time?
Yes, the Community ODM supports multiple users across multiple sites. Users see information on a ‘need to know’ basis.
How easy is it to implement Community ODM?
Once the contract is signed, Gallery and CCWorks will work with your organisation to create the types of fields and forms that you will need for data collection and reporting. An on site implementation package will be tailored to your organisation’s needs. Built-in Community ODM tools make it simple to configure your Community ODM to exactly fit your organisation’s data collection and reporting needs. Gallery’s technical experts are always there if you need special assistance. Our customers will be happy to tell you how fast and simple it was to set up their customised ODM.
Who needs to be involved from my company?
We have found that the following staff members in your organisation need to be involved in the development of your Community ODM (choose those that apply to your organisation):
- CCI Operations Director
- Data Entry Specialists
- Other key decision makers
Your organisation will want to identify the one to three employees that have complete administrative authority (your system administrators) over the initial and ongoing development of, and security access to, your company’s Community ODM. These individuals will be given complete authorisation by your organisation to request or make changes and to contact Gallery for additional support or service.
How long does Implementation take?
The organisation purchasing the license dictates how much time it will take to complete the Implementation process. The choice of an On-Site Implementation package will also be a determining factor. If your staff are available and you have clearly defined data capture and reporting requirements, implementation can be very rapid, with your staff providing about 8-16 hours of input time over a 2 week to 30 day period. However, if your organisation needs more time to gather staff, make record keeping and reporting decisions, or if you have other internal issues that might necessitate a longer implementation period, CCWorks is happy to accommodate you.
Can we design our organisation’s Community ODM forms so that the same data never has to be entered more than once?
The ODM offers your organisation a Central Intake model, in order to avoid duplication of data entry or records. The ODM also allows for auto-population of matching fields, when such fields are necessarily duplicated from the Central Intake into other forms throughout the database (i.e., name of employee on intake must also be on match funding form).
Does our organisation get an opportunity to test out our new Community ODM and make changes, if necessary?
Yes, once the initial set of forms are built into your ODM, we suggest that you test all components of your database, by filling out, saving and printing each form. Any necessary changes can then be made.
How many employees or volunteers can access our new Community ODM?
As many as you need; you just need to state the approximate amount of users in your License Agreement.
Is there a limit to the number of records held in my Community ODM?
There are no functional limits to the number of records that can be securely stored for your organisation. The number of records stored is one factor in determining your pricing.
Can I add new data fields, forms, reports or security access at a later date?
You may make these basic changes at any time with no charge. If you need a new Custom or Dynamic Form, you can ask Gallery to construct it for you. This work is usually chargeable.
What kind of reports can my organisation generate?
Any kind of report (including output, outcome, billing form, program evaluation, employee tracking, etc.) can be generated from your ODM. These reports can be printed, emailed, faxed or posted in your secure ODM virtual office.
Who owns my company’s data?
YOU own your data. It is completely accessible to you at any time. No other individual or group has access to your data. Gallery does reserve the right to collect in-aggregate, non-identifiable data such as number of people served in a particular social service area (e.g., CTK Online Data Manager databases support over 50,000 clients receiving mental health services).
If my company decides to quit using Community ODM, can I immediately retrieve all my data?
According to the Gallery License Agreement, all of your data will be returned, in whatever form you specify, within 3 business days of written termination notification.
If our organisation’s internet connection goes down, how much data will I lose??
Because your data is not held on your organisation’s server, your internet failure will NOT impact your data storage, security or retrieval in any way.
What happens if my organisation wants to move old client records to Community ODM?
It is almost always possible to transfer data from an old database to Community ODM. We will help you decide if you want to transfer data, what specific data you want to transfer and give you a quote for the data migration.
What happens if employees leave and new staff members need access to Community ODM?
Your system administrator can delete, add or change access at any time.
What if different employees or sites need different levels of security access (i.e., there are some records only certain employees are allowed to see and that must be protected from organisation-wide view)?
Community ODM provides different levels of security for different types of users. Your system administrator has the security pass necessary to set (or change) access levels for each staff member or volunteer. Access can be set on the tool level or on the record level, depending on the needs of the organisation.
At Gallery, the security of your database is our top priority. Gallery uses state-of-the-art equipment and technology to safeguard the confidential nature of your data. Our security measures facilitate compliance with the UK Data Protection Act of 1998.
What Platform is the Data Manager on?
The Community ODM platform is a system of Dell servers, running RedHat EnterpriseLinux and Microsoft Windows. Service is provided through a LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP). Gallery owns and maintains state-of-the-art, fully-redundant infrastructure to keep all customer data online and available. Gallery servers are located in a dedicated data centre, guarded by 24/7security personnel, fire suppression system, un-interruptible power supplies, and advanced access control systems.
What language is the Community ODM written in?
The Online Data Manager contains code from a combination of (X)HTML, JavaScript (ECMAScript), SQL, & PHP.
How is the Data Stored?
Gallery’s Data Centre provides secure, resilient, and redundant facilities which provide high levels of data and network security, with electrical and mechanical systems engineered with multiple levels of redundancy, and 24x7 protection against fire and natural disasters.
- Data Hosting engineers manage the hosting environment to ensure that power and cooling conditions are optimized 24x7.
- Advanced fire detection/suppression and data centre security systems provide very early detection to help avoid fire, loss and business disruption.
- Redundant, high-capacity and stable power supplies, backed-up by Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems and diesel generators provide a resilient hosting environment.
- State of the art servers with dual power supplies and hard drive redundancy (RAID 5) allowing continuous usage.
How do I Access my Data?
With guaranteed uptime of 97.5%, which we consistently exceed, you can be sure you can access your data as and when you need to.
- A continual automated performance report is sent to Gallery IT staff, which affords real-time knowledge of any anomalous event.
- 99% of event issues, such as back up verifications and upgrades/maintenance are resolved behind the scenes, without customer impact.
- Network redundancy on multiple Internet backbones (Tier 1 carriers) providing continuous Internet connectivity even if a carrier suffers an outage.
How Secure is my Data/Transmission?
- All Community ODM data travels safely through 128-bit SSL encryption via https. SSL provides secure communication over the internet and is used the world over to encrypt data by organisations such as banking institutions.
- Gallery’s server infrastructure resides behind a dedicated firewall server
- Within the Community ODM itself, each user is given a unique username, encrypted password, and identification number. Through our Access Control system, each available ODM resource may be enabled or restricted for both individual users and groups of users. This permission-based system has granularity down to individual form records.
Is the data backed up?
The Gallery Partnership carries out continuous data backups.
- Twice daily on-site and off-site compressed and encrypted backups ensure data is resilient to loss and retrievable should any non-disaster (user error) or disaster-related need arise.
Our vigilance in deploying the most technologically advanced security systems and protocols has ensured that security has never been breached.
As an added safety, CTK hold $1 million in data security Errors and Omissions insurance, per event, providing your organisation with the additional comfort of knowing that CTK warrants and stands behind its security pledge. Proof of insurance is available upon request.
