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 To further help you in your decision making process, here are some really good questions that we are frequently asked.
General Questions
- Once we decide to proceed, how long does it take for my website and virtual campaign headquarters software to go live?
- Are we free to choose between a number of website design templates?
- What is the difference between the "Starter Kit" and "Full Service"? Can I upgrade later on?
- Are the various home page functions on the right or left side (e.g., Member Login, Action Center, Events Calendar) part of the standard template? Can we customize these if we'd like to?
- How often are data backups made? For how long are backups retained by DemsLink?
- Who handles technical support?
- What is your record of downtime? How frequently have clients experienced system downtime periods and for how long?
- What level of capacity do your servers have? Have you experienced any performance or capacity issues?
- Would our voter and membership data be stored in a separate database, or is it merely a set of queries from a larger database of multiple counties?
- What limits do we have in terms of data storage capacity?
- What provisions are in the contract for early termination?
Membership Management
- It appears that the best way to record attendance at meetings would be to enter each member’s participation in the Notes section of their individual database record. Is there another way to record meeting attendance?
- Who else would have access to our membership list (e.g. emails, phone numbers, etc.)? Would we own the data?
- We have several lists of volunteers and people willing to put up yard signs in their yards, etc. Can we easily format this data into the right schemas and import it into our membership database?
- Where do you get the voter file from? Do we supply the voter file?
- Can we update our voter file in batch?
- Can updates made to the voter file by phone volunteers be reversed? Can data records updated by a particular volunteer be reversed?
- Who else would have access to our voter file? Would we own the data?
Newsletter
- Can the newsletter be sent out at a frequency that we determine? Monthly instead of weekly, for instance?
- Can we easily generate a PDF version of the newsletter, so it can be mailed to members who don’t use the Internet?
Fundraising
- How does the online fundraising work with regard to deposits? Must we set up something with PayPal, or can we work directly with our bank and set up a merchant account with them? Who would set this up on our website?
- Do you have a mechanism to raise federal or Levin funds online? Do you categorize all of your online contributions as non-federal?
Hosting
- Just to confirm – DemsLink.com would host our website, right? DemsLink has their own web server, and we just redirect our domain (e.g. orangedemocrats.com, etc.) to your server, right?
- Email addresses - would DemsLink.com set up and manage our email, using our domain?
Streaming Video
- What would be our website’s limits on streaming video? Does DemsLink now have the capability?
GENERAL QUESTIONS
Once we decide to proceed, how long does it take for my website and virtual campaign headquarters software to go live?
Your control panel will be set up within 24 hours. Your website design/front-end takes approximately 3 business days once we receive your photo and logo files and you select your website template.
Are we free to choose between a number of website design templates?
You can view our current design templates here. We are always in the process of designing new templates. You can also choose to purchase a custom website design for an additional $1,500.
What is the difference between the "Starter Kit" and "Full Service"? Can I upgrade later on?
Please refer to our comparison chart for a complete list of which features are included. Yes, you can upgrade at any time and just pay the difference.
Are the various home page functions (e.g., Member Login, Action Center, Events Calendar, Current Poll) part of the standard template?
Yes, those boxes are part of the site design you choose. You can let us know which side of the page you would like them on and in what order. We can customize the items in the Action Center when we put your site together.
How often are data backups made? For how long are backups retained by DemsLink?
Backups are performed daily and are kept for 2 weeks (off-site).
Who handles technical support?
We have a dedicated technically experienced support staff to handle any questions you may have.
What is your record of downtime? How frequently have your clients experienced system downtime periods and for how long?
In the 7 years that we have run our own dedicated servers, we have never experienced any downtime. Our servers are located in state-of-the-art data centers. Any maintenance or updates on the servers are done late at night.
What level of capacity do your servers have? Have you experienced any performance or capacity issues?
DemsLink has its own dedicated top-of-the-line servers that are monitored 24/7 and are tuned on a weekly basis. We have never experienced any performance or capacity issues. We have developed and maintained large enterprise-level, database-intensive Web-based systems for Fortune 500 companies (including Office Depot and Lowe's), so we are very experienced in managing these types of systems.
Would our voter and volunteer/membership data be stored in a separate database, or is it merely a set of queries from a larger database of multiple counties?
To maximize performance and scalability, your voter and membership data (as well as all of your other data - site content, email messages, etc.) is stored in your own separate database.
What limits do we have in terms of data storage capacity?
You get 100 MB of storage capacity for photos and files that you upload to the server (extra usage fee of $100/month per additional 100 MB). You have unlimited database storage (records).
What provisions are in the contract for early termination?
You can terminate at any time with 30 days written notice.
MEMBERSHIP MANAGEMENT
It appears that the best way to record attendance at meetings would be to enter each member’s participation in the Notes section of their individual database record. Is there another way to record meeting attendance?
Yes, there is an attendance tracking module.
Who else would have access to our membership list (e.g. emails, phone numbers, etc.)? Would we own the data?
Yes. You can request an export of your data at any time and you own your copy of that data. DemsLink owns the copy that resides within the DemsLink system. We will never give, share, or sell any data to non-Democratic organizations or candidates. We are only providing the DemsLink system and services to Democrats.
We have several lists of volunteers and people willing to put up yard signs in their yards, etc. Can we easily format this data into the right schemas and import it into our membership database?
If you provide the data to us in an electronic format (such as Access, Excel, or a delimited text file), we can import it in for you. We can provide you a schema to use.
VOTER FILE
Are you getting the voter file directly from the Department of State?
The voter file comes from the Department of State or your county Supervisor of Elections.
Can we update our voter file in batch?
There are certain batch updates that you can do.
Can updates made to the voter file by phone volunteers be reversed? Can data records updated by a particular volunteer be reversed?
Yes. There is an audit record of every update to the voter file, and only certain fields can be edited (phone number, email address, interests).
Who else would have access to our voter file? Would we own the data?
Yes. You can request an export of your data at any time and you own your copy of that data. DemsLink owns the copy that resides within the DemsLink system. We will never give, share, or sell any data to non-Democratic organizations or candidates. We are only providing the DemsLink system and services to Democrats.
NEWSLETTER
Can the newsletter be sent out at a frequency that we determine? Monthly instead of weekly, for instance?
Yes, you can send it out as often as you would like. We have found that members and volunteers prefer weekly because it keeps them informed and reminds them of upcoming events.
Can we easily generate a PDF version of the newsletter, so it can be mailed to members who don’t use the Internet?
Yes, there is a printer-friendly version of the newsletter that you can print and mail.
FUNDRAISING
How does the online fundraising work with regard to deposits? Must we set up something with PayPal, or can we work directly with our bank and set up a merchant account with them? Who would set this up on our website?
You can set up a merchant account if you would prefer. We recommend Authorize.net and have negotiated low rates with them. If you choose another provider, then there will be a cost for us to set it up (because we have to program the interactions).
Do you have a mechanism to raise federal or Levin funds online? Do you categorize all of your online contributions as non-federal?
At this time, any online contributions that you collect are not categorized in any particular way. You can go into individual records if you want and mark them as federal contributions.
HOSTING
Just to confirm – DemsLink.com would host our website, right? DemsLink has their own web server, and we just redirect our domain (e.g. orangedemocrats.com, etc.) to your server, right?
Yes, that is correct.
Email addresses - would DemsLink.com set up and manage our email, using our domain?
Yes, you can have up to 10 email accounts (if you need more, there is just a small monthly charge) with Full Service and 5 email accounts with the Starter Kit. You can access your email via webmail (on the browser) or through email software such as Outlook/Outlook Express/Eudora.
STREAMING VIDEO
What would be our website’s limits on streaming video? Does DemsLink now have the capability?
We recommend using YouTube, Brightcove, or a similar service to host your videos and then placing the embed tags on your website page.
If you have larger files or need streaming or editing services, please contact us.
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Production & Streaming
