We would like to remind you that starting at 6:00 am Eastern on Monday, March 14th, NGP VAN will perform necessary maintenance work in advance of an upcoming release. Due to the nature of this work, we will need to put all sites into maintenance mode for up to three hours. We anticipate completing this work in a shorter timeframe, but to anticipate any contingencies we advise you to prepare for your site to be unavailable until 9:00 am Eastern.
Here are some FAQs which might answer your general questions:
What work are you performing?
We will perform necessary work in advance of a new feature release for contact records, which will support diacritics, such as accent and other marks, as well as editable names in our voter file databases. Due to the universality of contact records across our databases, this work will require us to prepare for changes on all sites.
Will my database be unavailable?
Yes, your database will be in maintenance mode for the duration of the work starting around 6 am Eastern for up to 3 hours. Though we anticipate a shorter timeframe, there is a possibility we will need the full 3-hour window.
How long will my database be unavailable?
Works starts at 6:00 am Eastern and access to all sites will fully return by 9:00 am Eastern.
Will my Online Action Forms remain available? What will supporters experience when they visit those pages?
Online Action forms will remain available during the maintenance window. Any submissions via your forms will continue to process and will then be recorded to the database after the work is completed.
Will recurring contributions be impacted?
These will process as normal. The maintenance window is timed to start at the conclusion of daily recurring contribution processing. If any recurring contribution processing ends up running long, it will be paused and resume at the conclusion of the work.
What will happen if I have an Automation series or other Targeted Emails scheduled to go out during that time?
Any emails queued during the window will remain queued and go out shortly after 9:00 am, once all databases return to service. If you don't want to wait until 9:00 am to send your emails, please schedule them to send before midnight the day prior to this maintenance window.
What about other jobs that happen, such as custom imports/exports, Counts and Crosstabs?
These will run as normal. The maintenance window is timed to start at the conclusion of these nightly jobs.
What about API-related tasks that happen during this window?
API calls to these databases will return an error (maintenance mode), and API consumers should plan accordingly to resend failed attempts made during this window.
What about Pipeline? Will that be disrupted?
Pipeline will be paused at the beginning of the maintenance window and will resume automatically at its conclusion.
What about Open Virtual Phone Bank?
Open Virtual Phone Bank will not be accessible during the maintenance window, though the work is early enough in the morning that it should not interfere with call time.
What about MiniVAN?
MiniVAN lists cannot be downloaded or synced during this time.
As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to us with any questions or concerns.
Yours,
Mark Puleo
(He, Him, His)
Vice President of Client Services, NGP VAN
