Frequently asked questions

Evaluating

Is there a live demo I can try right now?

Yes — portal.alresfordmat.uk is the real product, running for our founding trust (Alresford), populated with synthetic data. Click around any module — Helpdesk, SCR, Estates, Governance — and see the actual behaviour, not a slideshow. No login wall, no time limit.

How does the private eval work?

Ask via the contact form. We stand up a private, single-tenant instance seeded with realistic demo data and your trust’s branding, send you the link with a written walkthrough, and you explore at your own pace for 7 days. No call required, no sales follow-up if it isn’t for you.

Is the demo the real product?

Yes — the live demo at portal.alresfordmat.uk and any private eval we stand up run the identical application with synthetic data. Every feature on the product pages is in the product today; there are no “coming soon” blocks.

Who should run the evaluation?

Usually the School Business Manager or IT director, with the DPO and DSL checking their areas. Each has a page under “Who it’s for” framed for their lens.

Buying & cost

What does it cost?

A one-time perpetual licence (self-hosted) or a subscription that builds toward ownership (UK-managed). No per-user or per-agent fees. Full tiered numbers and a 5-year TCO calculator are on the pricing page.

What’s included vs extra?

All seven products, unlimited users, and migration are included. Optional: 20% annual maintenance (upgrades + support), managed hosting, and AI (bring your own Azure/OpenAI key at provider cost — no markup). The pricing page itemises who pays for what.

Are you on a procurement framework?

Not on G-Cloud/CCS/DfE frameworks yet — we’re honest about that. There are usually accepted alternatives (direct award under threshold, RFQ with rationale); see the procurement guidance and contact us early.

Migration & onboarding

Can you migrate us off FreshService / Civica / a spreadsheet SCR?

Yes — migration is included in the licence, not a separate line. We scope the approach with you by email; the typical pattern is documented in “From signature to live” on the pricing page.

How are staff trained?

The product is built around how a trust actually works, so it largely explains itself; we also provide written guides and a walkthrough, and onboarding support is part of maintenance. We’ll agree a go-live plan with you.

Support, data & risk

What’s the support model and SLA?

Email support in UK office hours with published response targets — P1 within 4 business hours — that are the same whether you self-host or take managed. The 99.9% monthly uptime target applies to the managed path (we can’t commit to uptime on servers we don’t run). Full terms are in the procurement guidance and the signed SLA in the procurement pack.

If we stop paying maintenance, do we still get security fixes?

Yes — always. Maintenance gates new features, never security. Security releases ship on a separate channel every licensed trust can use regardless of maintenance status, each tagged with a Keystone Security Advisory ID (e.g. KSA-2026-014). We backport fixes to the current and previous major version for at least 3 years from each major’s release — and because licensed trusts hold the source, you can patch indefinitely beyond that. Detail on the procurement page.

Do we own our data? What happens if we leave?

Self-hosted: you hold the database — it never leaves your tenancy. Either way you get a full export + schema, and licensed trusts get the source code. The perpetual licence has no cancellation clause; decline maintenance renewal any term boundary with no penalty.

Where does our data live?

UK only. Self-host on your own infrastructure, or UK-managed single-tenant via Mythic Beasts (UK-owned, London + Cambridge datacentres — no US parent, no third-country transfers).

You’re new — why is that safe?

Licensed trusts receive the source code, so there is no vendor-lock-in and continuity does not depend on us existing. It’s built and run by a Head of IT inside a real UK MAT, UK-registered, no external investors. The Founding Trust Programme exists precisely to de-risk early adoption — ask us how it works.

Is it accessible / certified?

Accessibility: WCAG 2.2 AA is the target — see the accessibility statement. Cyber Essentials is in progress (target Q3 2026), CE+ Q4 2026, ISO 27001 on the 2027 roadmap; we hold to the underlying controls now. Detail on the security and procurement pages.