The following conditions apply to all clients of the CiviCRM hosting services provided by Coop SymbioTIC, technical support and other interventions required to ensure the security and quality of our services. By subscribing to the CiviCRM hosting of Coop SymbioTIC, including subscriptions by a third-party (partner, reseller or other intermediary), you accept the policies described in this document.
Software updates
Our CiviCRM hosting packages are "turn-key" services, where Coop SymbioTIC manages the technicalities related to the installation and upgrades of the software (CiviCRM, Drupal, their modules or extensions). To ensure the security of your data and the quality of the service, Coop SymbioTIC automatically runs minor upgrades when necessary.
There are three main types of updates to expect:
CiviCRM and Drupal/WordPress security upgrades: as with most software, a security issue might be discovered in CiviCRM, Drupal WordPress or one of their modules or extensions. When this happens, a security fix might need to be applied to your site. Coop SymbioTIC automatically applies security upgrades within a short delay. CiviCRM security announcements are published on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month. For more information on CiviCRM security announcements, see: https://civicrm.org/security. The same conditions apply to Drupal (https://www.drupal.org/node/1173280).
Minor upgrades: As of September 2016, CiviCRM has been publishing a new version every month. These new releases include new minor improvements or bug fixes (major changes can be opted-in by enabling new extensions). Coop SymbioTIC usually applies these minor upgrades every four months, unless there is a security release. We also backport bugfixes in between releases. If one client runs into a bug, we will apply the fix to all clients.
Major Drupal upgrades : Drupal publishes a new major version every 3 to 5 years. These upgrades often require manual intervention to convert the site from one version to the next. The "turn-key" packages of Coop SymbioTIC are designed to easy this type of transition, at no extra cost. However, we cannot guarantee that this upgrade will be done immediately when a new version of Drupal is out. Heavily-customized websites (using many Drupal features, panels, views, custom Drupal modules) may incur extra cost. Any intervention that may incur extra costs will be subject to an evaluation and approval of the client.
Technical support
Any incident related to our hosting (i.e. making sure that the service is responding correctly) is our responsibility and part of our hosting service. However, unless you have a service agreement, our hosting service does not include consulting, training or technical support. We are also not responsible for issues that may be encountered with customizations after running an upgrade. This also applies to CiviCRM extensions, Drupal modules or WordPress plugins that are not part of our standard platform.
Support requests must be created on our Gitlab issue tracking tool (if you do not have access, please request an account from our contact form). To reduce the response time, we will try to resolve your request directly, if we think that the intervention will take less than one hour. Otherwise, we will provide an estimate of the work required to resolve the request. The work done will be invoiced at the end of the month. You will also received a detailed time report of interventions that were invoiced. We invoice by increments of 15 minutes. The hourly rate will be the rate that was provided when the hosting account was created, and per our terms of "changes to fees" (detailed below).
We try to respond within 2 to 3 working days. Unless you have a service agreement, this response time is not guaranteed. For emergencies, please write "URGENT" in the subject of your request. Emergencies may be invoiced at twice the regular rate, however this will be confirmed with you before the work is started.
Backups
The data hosted in "turn-key" packages of Coop SymbioTIC are backed up daily. This includes the files and the databases required by CiviCRM.
Coop SymbioTIC keeps a minimum of 60 days of backups (off-site, at a different provider than our main hosting provider).
If the Client requests a restoration from a backup, Coop SymbioTIC will invoice the work required for the intervention. Such interventions are subject to an evaluation and require the approval of the Client before incurring them.
Security
Considering that CiviCRM is a management system storing personal information, Coop SymbioTIC takes all reasonable measures to ensure the safety of your data.
- All web communications are protected using SSL/TLS encryption ("https").
- Access to CiviCRM will be protected by a username and password unique for each user of the system.
- Coop SymbioTIC keeps an access log to all services (IP address, timestamp, page accessed) for a minimum of six (6) weeks.
- Coop SymbioTIC applies operating system upgrades automatically, during the night.
- Coop SymbioTIC only hosts the minimum required services on its servers. The "turn-key" hosting packages do not have any control panel or utilities, such as phpmyadmin.
Confidentiality
All parties will commit to take all reasonable measures to protect the confidentiality of all information obtained as part of the agreement:
- ensure that all passwords are kept private;
- choose reasonably secure (hard to guess) passwords;
- to not re-use the same passwords used on other services;
- to avoid sharing accounts between multiple people, so that we can more easily audit and block access to certain services if necessary;
- protect all backups;
- use secure communication tools for the exchange of any confidential information (or of information that provides access to confidential information);
- share access credentials or permissions on a need to know basis;
- Coop SymbioTIC will use the information and permissions obtained only to resolve the clearly defined tasks that were requested. Coop SymbioTIC does not share any Client information, directly or indirectly.
As part of the services provided by Coop SymbioTIC (ex: security upgrades, technical support), the Client authorizes the employees or contractors of Coop SymbioTIC to access its instance of CiviCRM in order to do the tasks at hand, as part of the conditions outlined in this document.
Payment
- Payment must be sent either by monthly credit card or wire transfers, or every three (3), six (6) or twelve (12) months by cheque, at the beginning of the billing cycle.
- Coop SymbioTIC may refuse the option to pay by cheque at any moment.
- An invoice in PDF format will be sent by email at the beginning of each billing cycle.
- The Client is responsible for making sure that the invoice is paid on time.
- Coop SymbioTIC is not responsible if a reminder email was not received by the Client.
- If the payment is not received on time, a reminder will be sent. If the payment is not received on time, the service will be temporarily disabled until payment is received.
- Coop SymbioTIC may charge administrative fees for payment recovery at a rate of 2% per month late from the invoice date (26.86% annually).
- Bounced cheques are subject to a recovery fee of $20.
- All prices are in Canadian dollars (CAD), unless indicated otherwise.
Changes to fees
- Coop SymbioTIC aims to continually reduce its operating costs as we further improve and automate our services. However, Coop SymbioTIC reserves the right to increase the price of its services at most 5% per year (rounded to $5 increments), in order to adapt to, for example, inflation.
- Unless there is a major unforeseen incident affecting our services, Coop SymbioTIC will not increase the price of the service for the first two years of the subscription.
- Any change to fees will be communicated thirty (30) days before the next billing cycle.
Termination
- If the Client wishes to cancel the hosting agreement, it must inform Coop SymbioTIC by email as soon as possible.
- On request of the Client, Coop SymbioTIC will provide a full copy of the database and files of the Client.
- Client data will be deleted within thirty (30) days following the cancellation of the service.
Satisfaction guarantee
The Client has thirty (30) days after the creation of the account to cancel it with full reimbursement.
Exemption clause
In no event shall Coop SymbioTIC be held liable for any damages or losses caused by Internet security breaches, unauthorized access to confidential data, the Client's own malfunctioning hardware, software or networks, and any other unforeseen circumstances beyond their control; neither can they be held responsible for damages, losses and costs incurred by the Client while requesting services of another provider, replacing hardware and/or software, and performing other related maintenance tasks.
Conflicts, arbitrage, applicable laws
- In case of disagreement or conflict that cannot be resolved by email, phone or other forms of direct communication, the parties will request in good faith the services of a mediator before starting any legal procedures.
- This convention operates within the Quebec legal framework and all legal procedures must be undertaken in the Montreal judiciary district.
- Coop SymbioTIC servers are physically located in Canada, under Canadian jurisdiction (unless the Client has explicitly requested to be hosted in the European Union).
- Coop SymbioTIC uses third-party e-mail delivery services (ex: SparkPost.com). These services may be located in the United-States and therefore under United-States jurisdiction.
