ActionStep runs on a single code base across all production (customer) instances so you will always be running the latest release. Development and pre-production/testing environments are used to manage ongoing code development with releases moved into production on a cyclic basis.
ActionStep has a web-services interface that can be used to integrate with other applications and/or websites. You can talk to our technical team for more information.
There are no fixed-term contracts, you simply pay an affordable monthly fee for each user. The fees vary by country and currency but packages in New Zealand start at $60/user/month.
CRM+ is a quick-start pre-configured package that lets you manage your marketing, prospecting and sales activities. Unlike ActionStep total solutions, this is a commodity product with workflow templates and does not require any configuration by ActionStep to get you started. CRM+ brings together the functionalities and benefits of the Marketing & Sales Module plus elements of the Workflow Module to give you the added support to successfully mange and convert your prospects to sales.
ActionStep CRM+ can be upgraded to any combination of the suite of modules including: Workflow, Accounting, Trust Accounting, Payroll and Intranet. Speak to a member of our team for more information.
ActionStep is highly scalable and can be used by small businesses with only a handful of users right up to multi-divisional organisations with thousands of users.
As ActionStep is an online application, if your Internet access is unreliable or unavailable, so is ActionStep. As a result we recommend that businesses take steps to ensure their Internet access is of commercial broadband standard.
Additionally, we recommend that ActionStep users request or take a service plan that has an associated Service Level Agreement (SLA) with their Internet Provider. SHDSL and Fibre generally come with SLAs, for example SHDSL is normally sold with 99.98% uptime target and 100% bandwidth availability. For a business this means that your connection will always achieve full performance and is not subject to peak time congestion, and that uptime is expected to be 99.98% or better.
SHDSL and Fibre pricing varies depending on the location of the business, as a general rule SHDSL is available in most areas. ActionStep has partners that can assist in determining and/or arranging your Internet access, so please contact us if required.
Yes, you can brand your ActionStep system with your company logo, include company logo on templates, as well as defining your alias for Actions i.e. Projects or Job. Additionally, you can include company data and links on the Intranet.
CRM+, our pre-configured commodity product, enables you to be operational within 24 hours. Our ActionStep total solution, involving a combination of our Marketing & Sales, Workflow, Accounting, Payroll and Intranet Modules, can typically be operational for a small to medium business within 5-7 working days. However, this is very dependent on the level of configuration required, and/or the amount of existing data you wish to migrate.
You can commence using ActionStep Accounting whenever you are ready to start. We recommend that rollover should be at the start of a sales tax period at a minimum and ideally at the beginning of a financial year. However, rolling across to ActionStep part way through a financial year is perfectly doable and will just require some additional journaling to occur at the end of the next financial year.
Yes we can import contact data from most applications as long as it is provided in a CSV (comma separated file format) file. There are standard data import functions within the ActionStep Administration function to manage the importation of Contact information. Additionally, Actions can be imported as well including the association of Participants to Actions, related Action data, Participant Type information and data as well as relationships between Contacts.
While the Marketing and Sales Module is the most recently developed, the core ActionStep engine and application has been in production use for more than three years. It is being used by companies and government departments in NZ, AUS, and the UK and is a certified government repository under the Archives Act. By virtue of being a SaaS solution, all customers operate on the same software code version so the risks typically associated with new feature introduction, changes to existing functionality and/or upgrades are significantly reduced.
Security of data is paramount to ActionStep, both at the physical level and at the software level. ActionStep operates mirrored data centres with physical security at each centre and fail over capabilities between centres along with a comprehensive incremental and full back-up regime for each individual database. Additionally, ActionStep offer its clients a monthly download of their entire system as part of this regime, which can be more frequent if requested.
From a business continuity stand point, the ActionStep Hosting company has been established as a separate entity with a structure in place that will ensure it would continue to provide ActionStep users access to the application and their respective data should the ongoing development cease.
ActionStep currently uses two Hosting Providers; each data centre has redundant Internet circuits, fire protection, power backup and use a combination of the following physical security procedures at their sites to manage access to the onsite servers.
Photo id validated and retained at building reception for each individual entry.
Swipe card access and/or biometric validation on initial entry to equipment rooms
Separate key access to each equipment rack where server hardware is stored
Within ActionStep, only staff that have been previously authorised and registered with the hosting companies can access the hardware.
We run at geographically separate data centres so in the event of a catastrophic failure at the primary data centre we can configure the backup data centre to become the primary. This typically would take in the order of a few hours.
Firstly, your data is secure with ActionStep, we meet stringent government requirements for document storage and security requirements. Also, upon request, ActionStep will provide an export of the data in a common file format determined by ActionStep. Finally, there is also the functionality within the ActionStep Administration section to run your own data back-up's on a monthly basis. Please note ActionStep back-up data on an hourly basis for recovery purposes. There may be a fee charged for the time required by our support staff to perform the export.
Any workflows and/or related configurations developed by you or a Solution Provider belongs to you or the Solution Provider respectively. The Intellectual Property of the core ActionStep system and any extensions developed by ActionStep are retained by ActionStep.
Each customer is allocated their own completely separate database and file storage area. Each ActionStep system has it unique organization key to identify it and direct the User to the correct server at login. User login is then controlled via User ID and Password.
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Note that at login the IP address that the entry is made from is also captured and retained and can be included in the login procedure to further restrict user access to a particular IP address.
No. Only passwords are stored in the database in an encrypted form. However, all communication between the customer and the server is via HTTPS which is encrypted.
All data is transmitted using a connection that has been established under the industry standard SSL communications protocol that creates a secure connection between your Browser and the ActionStep Server. Additionally, we use HTTPS to transmit the data back and forward.
The core ActionStep platform has been in production for a number of years now and is a stable environment. All new releases go through testing at a component level within the development system prior to going through system testing prior to release.
ActionStep makes releases on a frequent basis, typically monthly. The current production revision number is shown on the main login screen.
ActionStep provides an Inventory function that works in conjunction with the Accounting Module. It does hold stock but it does not currently have the ability to manage stock i.e. stock movement. The Inventory function does accommodate multiple price lists and revise prices based on updated price lists.
A full Inventory Module is scheduled for release in 2010.
They can either use our permissions to give the customers a certain view of the live system or they can write a custom website and integrate with ActionStep using our web services interface.
