For our clients, MasterVision provides a sleek representation of all their customer data and gives a clear, joined-up view across multiple data sources. But much like an elegant swan on a lake, there’s more effort going on under the surface than you might think. This month, our Senior Product Manager Tracey Rousell takes a look behind the scenes at just some of the hard work that goes into making sure MasterVision runs seamlessly for its users.
Security matters
We take data protection and security very seriously. Our web servers are kept fully up to date with the latest software, and we monitor them daily to check all is well.
We continually log all attempts to access our web sites and servers – and we check these logs carefully every day to make sure none of these attempts are potentially malicious.
Access to MasterVision itself is strictly controlled through the use of approved IP addresses, which we maintain and control on behalf of our clients – like all the best establishments, if you’re not on the list, you can’t get in.
Keeping things running
The status of our web servers is checked automatically every few minutes, 24 hours a day, to make sure they are up and running to our satisfaction, and another part of our daily routine is to monitor the reports produced by this process. In the event of a suspected issue with any of the servers, an SMS message is also sent to key technical staff, which means they’ll be alerted even if it’s out of hours.
All of these measures ensure we maintain our impressive 100% uptime record since MasterVision first launched.
Always up to date
Each of our clients’ MasterVision products is updated on a weekly basis, so the data is as relevant and up to date as it can be.
When a client’s weekly update (or ‘build’, as it is known) takes place, we carefully check all the log files and reports generated by the build process, and if necessary raise and resolve any queries with the client before making the latest version available on their live site. Of course, if there are no queries, the new build will be fully checked and ready to use often before the client’s working day begins.
Product developments and testing
We welcome change, and can react very quickly to requests made by clients for improvements to their MasterVision product – whether it’s a simple enhancement to their user interface, a handy new product feature, or the addition of a whole new data source to enrich their customer view.
If additional data sources are required, we check the new files and produce detailed reports on their structure, content and quality before we begin to process them; this helps avoid any unexpected hiccups further down the line, and keeps everything on schedule.
Each client site is mirrored to an identical test environment, where we implement and test any modifications ready for the client to assess and approve, before the changes are promoted to the live site. This means that no change, however complex, need interrupt the smooth running of MasterVision.
Through a combination of careful monitoring, attention to detail and good old-fashioned hard work, from here in the boiler room we intend to keep things that way.
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