Our standard office hours are 9am – 5pm Pacific time. 24/7 support available for emergencies only.
For email support, please contact: networksupport@artsopolis.com
(Updated February 2, 2022)
The following policy statement describes what support services ARTSOPOLIS LLC provides to its Network member communities and other clients. If you have questions about our Support Policy, please contact us at: networksupport@artsopolis.com
What Our Support Service Covers
ARTSOPOLIS only supports Products developed by and licensed from ARTSOPOLIS. Our Support Service includes assistance with Product installations, configuration, upgrades, and use. If you need help with any aspect of the ARTSOPOLIS system, first check the Online Admin Guide documentation and FAQs found via this page: support.artsopolis.com/article-categories/admin-users-guide/. If you do not find the information you are looking for you may contact us at: networksupport@artsopolis.com
Summary of Support Services
- Website hosting (i.e. server maintenance: hardware and IT configurations)
- Site checks
- Data backups (daily)
- Module and tool upgrades (deployment of system-wide enhancements/new features)
- Security maintenance (i.e. firewall, malware protection, IP blocking, patches, etc.)
- Basic site maintenance (i.e. updating navigation tabs, footer logos, right column content blocks, adding/editing categories)
- Software updates (i.e. maintaining the ARTSOPOLIS theme, WordPress core, and approved third-party plugins)
- System malfunctions (i.e. functionality glitches, CSS code issues, version control issues, page loading errors, etc.)
- System documentation (knowledge base documentation maintenance)
- Client account administration (i.e. account history, access information, plugin use documentation, third party integration documentation, etc.)
- Helpdesk email support
System Malfunctions
ARTSOPOLIS will fix any malfunctions (or ‘bugs’) in our Products as quickly as possible after they are brought to our attention. A “malfunction” is defined as an error or failure in the ARTSOPOLIS software platform or server that is causing users and/or administrators to be unable to perform necessary tasks, including:
- browsing/searching
- posting, editing, approving, and/or deleting content
- importing/exporting data
- running reports
- server downtime/excessive load times
ARTSOPOLIS will try to provide a solution via our Helpdesk for smaller malfunctions or errors as a precursor to what may eventually result in a more substantial update to the particular Product as part of our Product updates. If you think you have found a ‘bug’, please let us know.
What Is Not a System Malfunction
We do not consider requests for modifying how a particular feature or function operates as notification of a software ‘bug’. We classify these types of communications as suggestions for how we might improve our system in the future. These types of suggestions will be reviewed by our development team and considered for future development. The nature of each suggestion will determine whether or not the modification can be executed in the short term, the long term, or not at all, due to its specific technical and/or cost constraints. While we are constantly seeking ways to improve our system and welcome your suggestions, ARTSOPOLIS does not guarantee that a particular suggested modification will be developed and deployed. If a Client would like us to pursue a particular modification on a more aggressive timeline on their behalf, we will then recommend that it be treated as a custom development project. Please review the ‘Customization’ section below.
System Updates
ARTSOPOLIS provides periodic updates that may be deployed on a weekly or monthly basis depending on necessity. These updates may include fixes and/or enhancements. A monthly communication will be provided to Clients to let you know what updates were provided during the previous month. If an update may impact the functionality or workflow of our Clients in a significant way we will send out a communication via email in advance of the update.
What Our Support Service Does Not Include
Our Support Service does not include the following:
1) Installation and troubleshooting of third party Products such as plugins, widgets and feeds that have not been developed and/or approved in advance by ARTSOPOLIS or specified within a Client’s service agreement.
As ARTSOPOLIS is built on the WordPress platform there may be instances where our Products may interact with third party WordPress plugins and widgets in unexpected ways. However, some clients insist on the use of certain third party plugins and/or widgets. If an issue occurs, we will need to perform a troubleshooting process to determine the source of the issue. As a result of this process, we would like to note the following:
- We may require the requested third party plugin and/or widget be uninstalled.
- If troubleshooting is required to fix the performance of the ARTSOPOLIS platform due to a requested, unvetted third party plugin installation, an hourly rate cost may be incurred to fix the malfunction.
- We are not liable for fixing malfunctions within third party plugins.
Requests from Clients for our team members to pursue a solution for integrating a third party Product will incur an additional fee, per Client approval.
The above statements do not apply to ‘Integrated plugins’. Please view the Integrated Plugin section for more details.
2) ARTSOPOLIS does not provide general WordPress training and education, or alter WordPress’ core functionality.
Documentation about the core features and functionality of WordPress are widely available. Some good resources can be found at:
As a policy we do not change or customize the core functionality of our WordPress installation as provided by WordPress.org. In part, this is to ensure that the platform remains stable and secure within WordPress standards and that we can provide our Clients with upgrades to the latest version of WordPress without interruption of service.
3) ARTSOPOLIS does not provide third party WordPress plugin or widget training.
While ARTSOPOLIS has integrated a limited number of highly trustworthy third party plugins and widgets within our system, we do not provide training on their specific dashboards. Examples of such plugins include: Yoast SEO, Elementor Pro, Redirection, Advanced Ads Pro, Paid Memberships Pro, WooCommerce, and other powerful tools that enhance our proprietary platform’s core functionality. We are happy to point you towards the existing documentation and support resources for these plugins.
4) Communications with a Client’s third party partners and/or vendors.
We are often asked to participate in phone calls and/or email threads with third parties to discuss our services, including integration of syndication feeds, importing data, or other solutions. As our service fees do not cover these types of additional communications, and our team has limited capacity, requests for our team members to participate in these types of communications may incur additional fees.
5) ARTSOPOLIS does not provide third party web developers/programmers direct access to core system files, theme files and/or database tables.
Any changes or additions to core system files, theme files and/or database tables may only be performed by ARTSOPOLIS team members. However, third party web developers/programmers may be granted access to the Client’s administrative control panel, per Client request.
6) ARTSOPOLIS does not provide direct support communications with the general public (i.e. front end public users, individual arts organizations, and/or artists).
We will only communicate with and provide support services to the Client’s designated liaison (i.e. content manager/specialist, marketing director/manager, or other approved staff person).
Customization
ARTSOPOLIS provides our Products as is. While we will help you to configure our products, within the capabilities of each module, we do not customize the core functionality of our Products, unless included in the initial client development agreement, or as specified in a custom development quote. A customization is anything that changes the way our Products look or function relative to how we make our Products available to you and/or the public.
Customization to the core functionality of the ARTSOPOLIS system may be requested and if approved, we will provide you with a custom development quote. A custom development project will not begin until it has received written Client approval. Custom development projects are charged at our standard time and materials hourly rate. As of January 1, 2022 our hourly rate is $95.
We welcome your questions and ideas regarding customizing your website. If you need customization, we are happy to offer our advice and would be glad to provide you with a quote for these services.
Please note, if the process of providing you with an accurate quote requires more than one hour of our staff’s time to perform the necessary research, this additional research time will be subject to our standard hourly rate. The billing for this additional research time can be invoiced separately, or can be included in the overall billing of the project, if the project proceeds.
Design & Static Page Creation
Once the initial startup period is complete, design change requests will be billed at our standard hourly rate. This includes the creation of new static pages, and the updating or maintenance of existing page content.
There are design elements associated with our system that require our staff to maintain them in order to protect the underlying code and functionality.
Examples of design changes that would be included in our support services:
- Changing out logo file
- Updating homepage tabs
- Updating navigation tabs/menus
- Changing out ad banners
- Changing right hand column content
- Updating footer logos
- Updating footer contact information
- Adding city, state or zipcode options to forms
- Homepage and User dashboard language
Outside of your initial startup period, we are happy to provide a quote for other more comprehensive design updates or changes.
Content Management
As part of our service, ARTSOPOLIS provides a robust content management platform. Our primary role is the hosting and maintenance of that platform, to ensure that it is both reliable and in keeping with industry standards. Our annual hosting and maintenance support service does not include managing or sourcing events, directory, resource, or any other kind of content for the Client’s website. If content management services are needed, we are happy to review your requirements and provide a quote for those additional services. Our content management services are billed at a lower rate than our standard hourly rate.
Integrated WordPress Plugins
Currently there are over 59,000+ WordPress plugins available to the public. As a result, it may be attractive to find a plugin that appears to meet your needs and request that it be installed on your website. While we welcome your inquiries and recommendations for which plugins we might install, we have found that there are very few plugins that meet all of our stringent quality control standards. This only includes well supported and popular plugins, with high ratings and extensive documentation that indicate the health and longevity of the creating company managing the plugin. Additionally, we consider multiple points of compatibility, and extensively test a plugin before we begin the integration process. This vetting process allows us to safely undertake the integration process within our platform.
For a complete list of all approved and Integrated plugins: support.artsopolis.com/knowledge-base/artsopolis-approved-integrated-plugins/
If there is a plugin that you do not see on the list above, and feel strongly about us vetting, and using on your site, we would consider this a special project. We are happy to provide you with a quote from our developers to investigate the plugin’s compatibility and potential installation.
Third Party Developer Access
As a standard practice we do not allow for third party access or customization of the source code of our Products. Only under special circumstances is third party developer access to our servers and/or source code provided. Requests for our team to provide support to third party developers may incur additional fees at our standard hourly rate.
Support Communications
Our standard support hours are 9:00am – 5:00pm Pacific Standard Time (Monday thru Friday). We provide Support Services through our Helpdesk email communications. We do not provide Support Services through any other channel at this time, including but not limited to live chat, phone, video conferencing, Facebook, and Twitter.
If your organization would like to discuss a special project or custom development, please contact us to set up a video meeting.
We provide off-hours support for emergencies only. However, we do perform routine reviews of our system during both evenings and weekends to ensure that the system is running smoothly. Our off-hours team addresses any issues that may be discovered during this review process. During the support process we may ask for further details about the issue, which may include confidential information such as a user’s email address, username and/or password. Request for user login and/or contact information is only done when our team deems it necessary to troubleshoot an issue. All communications to our Helpdesk are confidential. Only you and our support team will see your support ticket unless you have specifically requested that other individuals be included in these communications.
Training
Training on the ARTSOPOLIS system is provided during the initial ‘startup’ development period. The initial startup period includes both the development period prior to the public launch of your website and the first 30 days of hosting and maintenance after public launch. We do not provide complimentary training of new Client staff or re-training of existing Client staff beyond this startup period. Typically new Client staff is trained by either the outgoing Client staff member or by other remaining Client staff members. Additional training by ARTSOPOLIS may be arranged and is subject to our standard hourly rate.
Other Support Resources
We are often asked to provide information and feedback on topics that may extend beyond the technical services that ARTSOPOLIS provides. If it appears that the topic is widely discussed among third party community forums, blogs, and/or ‘how to’ guides, we may direct you to review those resources before further discussions with our team. In these instances we will do our best to direct you to the best possible source of information, though ARTSOPOLIS does not take responsibility or necessarily endorse the content of these resources.
Thank you for your understanding of our Support Policy. We look forward to serving you!
The ARTSOPOLIS Team