Frequently Asked Questions

Commissioning and Operation

Who commissions, controls and pays for the-project?

The construction client would normally pay for the system. However we also have main contractor, retailer and project manager clients. The controller or administrator can be either the project manager, architect, client or main contractor.

Where is the-project operation based, and what are the arrangements for continuity of service?

Sarcophagus Ltd's headquarters are in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England. Your data is stored at two UK based data centres and mirrored to warm standby servers. Data is also replicated to another site to maximise security and resilience.

Can the system expand and contract to reflect different phases of the development and will this be reflected in the charges?

Yes the system can resize without Sarcophagus involvement. The charges will not change from those agreed although we provide differing monthly rates depending upon usage.

Configuration

Are there any limits to the numbers of parties using the system?

www.the-project has an unlimited capacity. The number of users is set by your own team; however costs are based upon the number of users, the project duration and likely data generation.

Will the system contain all the necessary software to allow for the reading, printing and commenting/red-lining of the data, even from remote locations?

Yes, the-project has a support page which provides help and viewer software.

Is the system flexible and easy to use?

the-project's main selling point is its ease of use and customisation features.

What about speed of transmission facilities and size of data storage?

We do not restrict storage or transmission. It is Sarcophagus' policy to upgrade when any part of our system reaches 70% of its capacity.

Will Sarcophagus continue to develop the-project?

We are developing new state of the art components such as site web cam integration, e-trade for suppliers, 3D real-time modelling support and a seamless document uploader. Our developments are summarised in a separate appendix which can be provided subject to signing an order and a non disclosure agreement.

Quality and continuity of service

How resilient is the system?

Our servers have excellent resilience and redundancy. We consistently achieve service levels in excess of 99.9%. Your data is uploaded to our primary hosting facility which is a copy of the original data stored by the publishing owner. The primary servers are mirrored to warm standby servers and replicated hourly to another site. This maximises continuity of service in the event of a disaster. The hosting facilities are state of the art and house modern servers which are safeguarded against component failure using uninterruptible power supplies, dual redundant power supplies, raid 5 hard disk controllers, hot swappable hard disk drives and dual processors. Backups of the project information are taken off site daily with monthly tapes stored indefinitely.

How do you implement new features?

New developments and features are rigorously tested using a four-stage process to minimise problems:

Stage 1 - tested by our in-house experts on development servers
Stage 2 - tested by our in-house experts on live copy servers
Stage 3 - tested by proposed clients for trial/demo purposes on the live servers
Stage 4 - Released to the live projects and monitored

Is support available?

Our qualified telephone support staff normally operate a 9hr x 5 day hotline. But we can operate 24hr x 7 day depending upon the client needs and budget.

What happens at the end of the project?

To complement its project collaboration solution the company has developed a state of the art project document collation service called Project Explorer. This permits automated archiving to CD or DVD from an existing extranet and can be used to provide the Health and Safety or operations and maintenance manuals. The company has also automated the conversion of paper based projects, publishing them to the extranet or CD. Alternatively the-project can be left switched on for the life of the building and updated with all future modifications.

How secure is the-project?

Our security systems are complex and the details are a closely kept secret. The system includes sophisticated hardware firewalls, in-house developed user authentication, audit trails and we incorporate a file renaming policy. Failed system logons are audited, and users are automatically locked out after 4 unsuccessful attempts or 90 days of inactivity.

How quickly can a new project be implemented?

Your project can be up and running in less than 10 minutes using standard templates from similar projects. The new project extranet is normally trialed for 2 weeks and then the key players are invited to a customisation session at our HQ. This session allows the project team to customize the system to suit their needs and provides recommended protocols for the systems users.

What if Sarcophagus ceases trading?

In the unlikely event of Sarcophagus ceasing trading, our third party provider can provide continuity of service for 3 months. This will allow you to commission an alternative provider without loss of service. We also offer a service whereby we can regularly provide you with a data copy or a replicated server solution.

What provisions are there to move our data and database to another provider?

Sarcophagus can provide you or another provider with your files and database to enable you to exit from our system depending upon the contract period. Many providers attempt to lock clients into their system and make it difficult for them to cancel the service or move to a different system. They provide you with an archive of your files without all of the associated document information e.g. audit trails, title, publisher, time and date published, document revision, document class and document stage. This means it will be almost impossible to re-use or find your files due to the number of files and lack of database structure.

the-project.co.uk is authored and provided by Sarcophagus™ Ltd Langham House, 148 Westgate, Wakefield, WF2 9SR, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 870 12 12 311, Fax: +44 (0) 709 234 06 01 www.sarcophagus.co.uk Sarcophagus Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales with company number: 3780350 VAT number: 758536881
Members of

Sarcophagus™ and the Sarcophagus Pyramid™ logo are both registered trademarks. Site copyright 2002-2008 - Sarcophagus™ Ltd. No part of this website, including any text, images or source-code may be reproduced without prior permission from Sarcophagus™ Ltd