Each and every Service
RidgeStar provides to a Client in support of a specific Site has an adjusted RSU value associated with it (see Services: Fees-RSUs). The sum of the RSUs for each month averaged over the preceding 12 month period establishes the RidgeStar Service Tier required to service the Site. The Service Tier, in turn, establishes the annual Service Fee.
The basic principle that drives RidgeStar pricing is that the more complex your site is and the higher the volume of hits, the more it will cost to service it (both in Resources and funding). If you have a low volume, simple site; it will cost less.
If it helps, here's an example of the types of site characteristics that typically are associated with the Service Tiers:
- Service Tier 1 (Brochure)
- Tier 1 is for relatively low volume, static Brochure type sites (RidgeStar used to call these "PrimeStar" sites). There is occasionally a database table and a form or two, but a Tier 1 site rarely exceeds 10 to 15 pages/functions and usually averages under 10,000 hits per month
- Service Tier 2 (Interactive)
- Tier 2 sites are generally more active (25,000 hits a month), have a couple of database tables with typically a more complex site structure (perhaps 2 "Levels" to the Table of Contents). They usually have an Interactive nature to them, but the majority of the hits are still serviced via static type pages. It's not uncommon for a Tier 2 site to be made up of 25 to 50 pages and contain a fair number of pictures
- Service Tier 3 (Transaction)
- Tier 3 sites tend to be Transaction driven and, as a result, tend to have more database tables and a more complex structure to them. There is usually a Public and Private area to the site (Private pages are for identifiable Users only). This Tier is a common location for RidgeStar "Merchant" Sites (unless sales volumes drive the hit count up, in which case, everyone's happy).
- Service Tier 4 (Operations)
- Tier 4 sites are heavily database oriented Operations type sites that can reach peaks of 100,000 hits per month. RidgeStar's popular Referee Management Site is generally a Tier 4 implementation (see Referees.biz
for more information). An Operations site usually consists of between 6 to 12 database tables, related management pages, and (of course) a membership or user base accessing the information stored in the database).
- Service Tier 5 (MIS)
- Tier 5 sites (Management Information Systems) are generally only sites with very large User communities (e.g. >5,000 users), or large database tables (e.g. >50,000 records) and usually service a lot of hits (e.g. >200,000 hits a month). Tier 5 is a logical progression for an Operations site that has simply grown along with the volume of Users that are making use of the system (essentially, it is page volumes and bandwidth that becomes the focus for most Tier 5 clients)
- Service Tiers beyond 5
- Sites growing into the Tier 6 and above groupings are usually very large organizations with very heavy volumes. They tend to be successful Organizations and Sites or the volume needed to get into Tier 6+ simply wouldn't be present
