If you want to keep your data completely separated from other users, and you want to control where the data center for your Elements environment and disaster recovery are located, then you should purchase the Elements Private Cloud.
Article outline
Setting up private cloud
Adding users to private cloud
Space control on private cloud
Importing content from public cloud to private cloud
Prerequisites
You have to have Enterprise licence plan to be able to take full advantage of Corporate Management
Overview
We can run a separate instance of Elements for you and your trading partners. You choose the AWS hosting location and also the DR data center. Check out this interactive map for possible options.
There is an annual cost of $50,000 for the Private Cloud in addition to the Elements licenses. You will also need Corporate Management licenses to manage users in the Private Cloud.
Setting up private cloud
First, reach out to us to inform us that you're interested in our private cloud offering. We would start by collecting necessary information about the specifications you require (data centre and recovery locations, size, etc.) as well as the custom name of the environment (app.[customname].elements.cloud). We would then set it up and invite the designated user to be the first user in that environment.
TIP In order to provide you with technical assistance in the future, members of the product team will be also registered on the private cloud. We won't have access to your content unless you invite us to your spaces.
Adding users to private cloud
Unlike on the public cloud, users cannot self-register to your private cloud. Users can only log in to the private cloud if they have been provisioned or invited from inside that environment. In the latter case, when they are invited to a space inside the private cloud, they will receive a registration link. There is no other way to join the private cloud.
The Corporate Management allows you to provision users en masse using several providers and to restrict who can be invited to your company spaces.
Space control
While Corporate Management allows you to deploy various policies to control and secure your company's content, there is an additional innate feature of the private cloud that does not allow any user who is not part of your corporate environment to create any new spaces.
For example, if you decide to invite external consultants to work on some of your process content or org models inside the private cloud, they will not be able to create any new spaces of their own. That way, you can be sure that the only content in your private cloud is your content.
TIP The exception is the product team who might possess a space for testing purposes.
Importing content from public cloud to private cloud
It is very likely that before your company has decided to adopt Elements and use the private cloud, that some users have already started creating content on the public cloud. The question is, how can you make sure that content is not lost and is ported across to the private cloud?
There are several tools you can use to import your content to the private cloud:
Map import: Any map owner can export their map in a JSON file. Once the file has been exported, ask us to enable the ability to import map files for specific users on the private cloud. Then, the specified users will be able to import those JSON files and re-create maps in the private environment.
Requirements and stories import: You can also very easily export your requirements and stories into a private cloud space. You can only import the standard fields, however, and not any custom fields you have created.
Salesforce org models import: You cannot just import a Salesforce Org model between environments. You have to disconnect your Org and uninstall the managed package from your Org. Ask us to provide you with a custom extension for your private environment. You will have to install it and connect your Salesforce org to a space in a private environment.
Unfortunately, all documentation (notes, URLs, process links, requirement and story links, data tables) will be lost as a result. We are working on a functionality that allows you to export and then import org model documentation.
Reference model import: You can re-create your reference models by importing a CSV file from a spreadsheet.