FAQ/Strippenkaart/en

Is a SLA and a stripscard the same

A stripscard is our SLA Basic alternative. When buying a stripscard 2Value only governs the open source specialist, which then communicates with you. With a service contract we work with a team of 2Value associates (open source specialists), where you always communicate with 2Value. Secondly, a stripscard does not entitle many guarantees, a service contract Medium or Pro does.

Who am I dealing with in case of a card

With 2Value. A stripscard however is a direct working connection between you and a 2Value associate, where 2Value accounts for selection, mediation and administration.

Is there a card agreement or contract?

Yes. The contract is effective when you purchase your first stripscard. You will receive two copies of the 2Value strip card contract mandate signed by the associates involved.

What governs 2value with a stripscard?

With a stripscard 2Value governs the selection and assignment of associates to a job or task. 2Value also takes care of the contract and billing and centralizes all information in the Servicetool.

What governs the 2Value associate allocated on a single stripscard?

The associate will answer your questions and contribute solutions for problems you experience with the application.

How long is a stripscard valid?

A single stripscard is valid for 1 year, starting from the date of purchase.

What happens to the stripscard if there is still budget left after one year?

Remaining budget will be spent by the 2Value associate at the end of the year on maintenance and documentation. Of course there is there is input needed from the customer.

How is possible excess of the budget monitored? How does 2Value organize this?

The associate monitors the time spent. Once you have a question that you askes for more budget you receive a message with a request to buy a new stripscard. 2Value does not allow budgets to be exceeded. Your decisiveness to purchase a new strip card determines the speed of an urgent call to be handled.

Does 2Value put extra capacity open source experts when capacity runs short?

No, with a stripscard we do what we can "in case of Emergency" but we can not give any guarantees. Only with service contracts Medium and Pro 2Value ensures availability and employability to some extend.

What if we are not satisfied with the performance?

2Value takes responsibility to find a replacement as the associate is no longer available or malfunctioning.

When we came to 2Value we made it clear that we had a small budget...

...with a little room for unexpected surprises. and now ll these extra costs pop up.

It is not always possible to predict. An in the end it is our customers that make decisions. If in the end the choice is Joomla, we work for the best solution you can possible get. A website needs continues maintenance & development, I am afraid.

How can it be done cheaper?

...I am not looking for 2Value to do work for nothing but I am asking for advice on how our organisation can move forward with website maintenance and development at a pace that we can handle and afford.

That is a very reasonable stand in the first place. What you could do is try to find a cheaper solution by finding one or two of the sole proprietary-holders experts in Joomla. But that is a risky thing, if he or she is not available or not expert enough to solve a case at hand. You cannot predict your calls for service. Sole experts are 50-70 euro's an hour, they do not have the backing of a team, no controlling of their work, you have to manage them yourself, etc.

It seems to me that the target client base for 2Value is more commercial

To continue to buy strippenkaarten with an hourly rate of 100/eur/hour is not a feasible long-term option for a small charitable organisations such as ours.

We are always sorry to hear we make a too big claim on your budget. But indeed: it is the way we are supposed to make our living by offering service. But we stress that every euro spend is worth the investment.

So all the extra 2Value facilities are within the hourly rate of an expert. Not too bad, we think. And I am convinced that if you would switch to individually operating experts (or a bunch of them together, without a proper juristic structure, guidelines, defined roles, clear responsibilities, etc) that will cost you more in the end.

Could you offer a set yearly fee?

How can we find an option for our website needs that includes an annual maintenance contract where we can expect a certain level of support and maintenance for a set yearly fee.
This is the only way we will be able to control our costs for the website and to be able to include this in our budget for future funding applications.

Can 2Value recommend other cheaper options for us?

See also How can it be done cheaper?.

An hourly stripscard rate at 2Value of 100 euro contains everything: assessment what needs to be done, expert selection, the work itself done by someone who is specialized, the management of the process, hosting-configuration & communications, administration, registration of documents & calls, insurance. And the 10 hours themselves are nett. That means: only time directly used for work on your cases that bring the solution and process to the solution a step forward (!) can be claimed by individual associates. The internal systems that automate this process have already been build and we invest (we are in the same position as you more or less) every years in new and better releases. - [service.2value.nl] (partly public in 2011 and extranet) - [wiki.2value.nl] (20% public and 80% extranet) - [project.2value.nl] (extranet)