You may encounter the following terms and language when you interact with ASI’s Cloud Services.

Microsoft Azure-related terms

Azure – Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, where iMIS is developed, tested, and hosted for clients.

Resource – Any individual cloud service component, such as a virtual machine, database, or storage space.

Environment – A dedicated space within an Azure subscription that uses resource groups and resources for a specific purpose. There are three environment types:

• Development environment – A non-production space used for building, configuring, testing, and troubleshooting. Clients may host development sites here.

• Staging environment – A pre-production space where clients build and validate their iMIS sites before going live. Also called the Implementation environment.

• Production environment – Where all iMIS clients' live sites (also called production sites) are hosted.

Site – A client’s user-facing iMIS system. There are three site types:

• Development (dev) site – An optional, non-production copy of a client's production site, used to safely test changes before applying them to the live site. Hosted in the development environment. Also known as UAT, Business Process Validation (BPV), or Sandbox sites, depending on their use.

• Staging site – The site a client uses during implementation to build and test before going live. Removed 2–4 weeks after launch, unless converted to a development site. Hosted in the staging environment. Operates under a BETA license.

• Production (prod) site – A client's live, public-facing iMIS site. Hosted in the production environment. Operates under a LIVE license.

Process and service terms

Going live / go-live – When a client’s iMIS staging site moves into the production environment to launch as a production site.

Lift and shift – The process of copying a client's staging site and deploying it as their production site when they go live.

Refresh – Updating a client's development site with the latest data from the client’s production site, so the client’s testing reflects current real-world conditions. Each refresh is a separate purchase.

Upgrade – A scheduled update applied to all clients to keep their iMIS system on the latest version. Clients receive at least 48 hours' notice, and upgrades always occur outside of regular business hours.

Update – A targeted change to a client's system, such as enabling or disabling a feature or modifying data. All updates go through an internal approval process.

HotFix - An urgent, small correction patch applied after an upgrade to fix a specific unexpected issue.

Service pack - A bundled collection of updates and fixes delivered as a single installable package. Service packs are only for iMIS 2017.

Issue terms

Outage – A service disruption that impacts multiple clients.

Performance issue – A service disruption affecting a single client or a server full of clients, usually revolving around the speed of task completion within an application.