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How to Understand and Plan for Salesforce Maintenance Periods: https://help.pm.leapevent.tech/a/1567640
Salesforce hosts all of its accounts, including yours, on a variety of servers around the world. Occasionally, Salesforce will need to do some work on one of their servers. Since PatronManager is built on the Salesforce platform, this has the potential to affect your operations.
Because these maintenance periods are done by Salesforce, PatronManager has no control over these maintenances, but this article will go through everything you need to know.
This article will explain:
- The different types of Salesforce maintenance windows
- The possible effects of Salesforce maintenance windows
- How you can stay on top of them with some important resources
Let's dive in!
Types of Salesforce Maintenance
There are several different maintenance windows that you might see:
Release Windows - These happen three times a year. They generally last for about five minutes at a time, and often happen in the middle of the night, so they usually aren't very disruptive.
Instance Refresh - This means that Salesforce is moving your data from one server to another. Your account will usually be Read-Only or Unavailable during the actual maintenance window.
Site Switching - This means that Salesforce is moving your server from one physical data center to another. Your account will usually be Read-Only or Unavailable while this is happening.
Database or System Maintenance - These are catch-all terms that Salesforce uses to cover both routine and emergency maintenance and fixes. The timing and effects of these vary considerably, depending on what's being done. Often, your account will still be Generally Available, but sometimes it might be Read-Only or Unavailable.
Possible Effects of Salesforce Maintenance
There are three phrases that Salesforce uses to let you know what you can expect from a given maintenance period:
Generally Available - This means that your PatronManager account will largely function as it usually does. You may occasionally notice that it's running slowly, but all functionality will be there, and all of your sites, like your PTS and Donation Forms, will work.
Read-Only - This means that you can log in to your account and run reports, but you can't create, edit, or delete any records. As a result, your sites will not process transactions during this time, since ticket sales and donations require the creation of records.
Unavailable - This means that you will not be able to log in to your account or process transactions during this time.
How to Stay on Top
Know your Salesforce server, or Salesforce Instance
In general, Salesforce maintenance will only affect organizations who are hosted on a particular server since Salesforce tends to do this kind of maintenance one server at a time.
We have instructions on how to find your Salesforce server, also known as your Salesforce Instance, here.
Check Salesforce's Trust Status to learn about current and upcoming maintenance
Salesforce's Trust Status shows you what's happening on a Salesforce server at any given point in time, including any current or upcoming maintenance windows.
You can find Salesforce's Trust Status website at https://status.salesforce.com/
Once on Salesforce's Trust Status, you can look up your Salesforce server
And click into your Salesforce Instance
First you'll see the current status of your server in the Current Status tab
To see what's coming up in the future, click the Maintenance tab and see a timeline of what's to come
And you can get notifications about your Salesforce server's status by clicking the "Subscribe" button.
To get notifications in your own timezone instead of UTC time, make sure to first select your timezone from the gear icon, as described here.
If you don't do this, you'll receive notifications in UTC time and will need to convert notifications to your own timezone.
Have a backup plan in case a Site Switch happens during an event
If you receive a notice from Salesforce that a maintenance window will be performed during an event, you will need to have a backup plan in place for your day-of or night-of event operations.
We have a recommended backup plan here that you can use if a Site Switch is planned during one of your events.
1. Set up an alternate way to sell tickets (with a plan to import them to PatronManager later)
While your account is in Read-Only mode, you will not be able to enter any new ticket orders or donations, regardless of payment method. Be prepared with a backup method of recording your door sales.
Option 1: Use Ticketleap
We recommend using Ticketleap, another payment processing system while is quick, free, and easy to set up.
Ticketleap set up should take about 5-20 minutes. Make sure you have the name of your event, a description, image, and Price Levels for your event.
Here are some articles from Ticketleap’s Support to get you started:
- How do I create a seller account and start selling tickets?: https://bit.ly/3ixpJyJ
- How do I set up an event?: https://bit.ly/3thMBrW
- How do I download my attendee lists?: https://bit.ly/3KTpNVm
- How do I use the Ticketleap Box Office?: https://bit.ly/3u9kOJk
- What types of payment are accepted for onsite sales?: https://bit.ly/3u8PnyU
- What are the fees associated with using Ticketleap?: https://bit.ly/3qhdomj
- How do I receive payment from my event?: https://bit.ly/3CNR494
- What is the Data Export?: https://bit.ly/3MWg2Yp
Once your account is back up and running, use the Ticket Orders tab of this template to format patron information to easily import the data into PatronManager.
Option 2: Take contact information for patrons to follow up later
If you don't want to use another payment processing system, like Ticketleap, we recommend taking contact information (but not credit card information!) down for patrons.
Then you can contact them later and process the Ticket Orders with payment information over the phone, much like you would with other phone orders.
2. If you scan tickets: Scan in "offline" mode
You will be able to scan barcodes at the door in “offline” mode.
These scans will be uploaded to PatronManager as soon as the scheduled maintenance window is complete and the device is connected to the internet again.
3. Print a copy of your Door List report or Who's Sitting in What Seat report for the event(s)
Because you'll be notified of a Site Switch and your account being in Read-Only mode ahead of time, print a copy of your Door List or Who's Sitting in What Seat report for the event(s) during the maintenance window.
This will help you manually check patrons in and help you make sure you don't oversell your house.
4. Set up your Site Contacts
While your account is in Read-Only mode, your Public Ticketing Site (PTS), Donation Forms, and PatronManager Signup Forms will be temporarily unavailable.
If your patrons attempt to use one of these sites during your maintenance window, they'll be directed to a "down for maintenance" page and instructed to email the User listed as your Site Contact.
You can check who your Site Contacts are, and adjust them if necessary, using these instructions.