OS-101: IRIS OpenSpace document approval charges

os-101

OS-101: IRIS OpenSpace document approval charges

28th February 2020

IRIS OpenSpace

IRIS OpenSpace document Approval charges or Approval credits

After careful deliberation, we have decided to implement an incremental charge for electronic approvals within OpenSpace. We are confident that this new charge is excellent value for your usage, with approvals costing you less than other commercial solution and rates as low as 20p each. Details of the charge can be found on the table below:

This charge will apply no earlier than the 29th July, 2020.  Until this date, the use of OpenSpace, including document approvals, remains free. If you have existing documents awaiting approval at that time, these documents will not be impacted by that timing.  After this date, all other functions of OpenSpace will remain as is. 

We have been forced to introduce this charge due to the rising costs to run OpenSpace. The service has grown rapidly since its inception in 2012 with over 3,300 practices executing an increasing number of approvals each month.  

Unfortunately, the cost of the infrastructure for this level of usage, coupled with the third-party fees for the document approval service, mean that the service can no longer run for solely the software licensing rates.   Relatedly, we have a number of exciting investments we wish to make in this product area and our ability to improve functionality and add new features at the pace you demand was becoming seriously compromised. 

We have already invested heavily in increasing development, support and general ongoing maintenance to ensure the OpenSpace platform operates smoothly, securely and is on pace for the future.   Moreover, we will also continue to pay the third-party provider to electronically seal approved documents…all within this marginal price increase.  See all our most recent developments here. 

With almost weekly changes from the COVID-19 crisis, our mission is to ensure you get it right. And it’s equally important we structure our business to reliably enable you to do this; each and every time. 

We continue to produce new releases of our products that will complement your OpenSpace investment as well as address  new emergency legislation and guidelines

I hope this provides some context to our situation and please be assured we understand your position. 

If you wish to contact us for further information, please speak to your account manager on 0344 844 9644 Option 1.

If you have general support queries, please use OpenSpaceSupport@IRIS.co.uk or call 0344 815 5551 Option 5.

FAQs

Is there any other costs on functionality or staff & client usage?

Unlike other competing products, there will be no cost for additional staff or clients accessing IRIS OpenSpace. Just as before, at no additional cost as part of your IRIS membership or your existing OpenSpace paid subscription.   

What happens to my existing documents awaiting approval?

Documents awaiting approval no earlier than the 1st of July will NOT be impacted

Will I receive any free credits to get started?​

Yes, you will receive one-time of 20 credits free of charge

How will i be able to buy credits?

You can buy directly via our sales team straight away. Or use our self serve checkout within OpenSpace – log into your OS account, go to the ‘Subscriptions’ tab, you can buy approval credits from this screen. If you don’t have these options then ask your OS admin to do this.

How long do credits last for?

They will remain on your account until they are used​

If I bundle a document or send a document to multiple people how many credits are used?

Credit is taken per document, so only one credit is taken if it’s one document regardless if its bundled or to multiple people under one client

If i send a document for approval by mistake can I get my credit back?​

Yes, if the document hasn’t been approved then simply delete the document off your OpenSpace and empty the bin.

If I am running low on credits will I be notified?​

Yes, when you have five credits remaining you will be emailed​

I am paying for storage already, what does this mean for me?

No change to your storage the payments will still occur as per normal, if you are interested in buying in bulk please speak to your account manager for further options

What are you doing in order to maintain and improve availability of OpenSpace?

We know how mission critical OpenSpace is, especially in these challenging times. So we are continuously investing more time and money into the platform to ensure we avoid having outages within our control.