How it works:
Snap Schedule 365 is deployed on the reliable Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform, with an additional Microsoft Azure Government deployment dedicated to serving US Government entities. This choice of deployment ensures the software’s high availability, scalability, and redundancy, which are essential for meeting critical service level expectations.
By leveraging the powerful capabilities of the Microsoft Azure cloud computing infrastructure, Snap Schedule 365 incorporates a robust foundation for its operations. The platform utilizes a wide range of Azure services, enabling industry-leading security measures, data redundancy, and high availability mechanisms. These features collectively safeguard the application’s integrity and reliability, fostering business continuity and disaster recovery readiness.
Geographic redundancy is a fundamental aspect of Snap Schedule 365’s design. By utilizing multiple data centers across different Azure regions, the system ensures business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities. In the event of a localized failure or unforeseen circumstance, data and services can transition to other available regions, ensuring continued operations.
In Snap Schedule 365, each customer’s data is entirely encapsulated within a contained Azure SQL database, encrypted at rest and in transit, ensuring complete isolation from other users and their respective data. Access to these databases is strictly restricted to the data owner, meaning that no other customers utilizing Snap Schedule 365 can view or access the data of another. This robust data encapsulation and access control mechanism ensures privacy and security for each customer and their scheduling information within the platform. The database contains the entire dataset required for employee scheduling, including shift information, employee details, and scheduling rules. The use of a contained database design ensures isolation from other databases on the same Azure SQL Server/SQL Database instance, guaranteeing data privacy and security.
The Snap Schedule 365 SaaS annual subscription includes an Azure SQL database hosted by us on the Azure cloud or Azure Government cloud for US Government clients. For clients who wish to host their own database, we can configure Snap Scheduling 365 to use the customer’s Microsoft SQL Server instance during the onboarding process. In this case, the customer will create a blank Microsoft SQL Server database and provide access credentials for Snap Schedule 365 to connect and use the customer’s hosted database. While hosting their own database gives customers complete control and helps ensure compliance with internal security requirements and industry-specific regulations, some performance degradation will occur, typically with database access over the Internet. Additionally, the customer will be responsible for ensuring a minimum of 99.95% uptime and managing data backup, restoration, and disaster recovery.
Setup Steps
Customers can follow the steps outlined below to allow Snap Schedule 365 to access a customer’s hosted SQL Server database over the Internet:
- Configure the SQL Server to Allow Remote Connections:
- The customer must ensure that the SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. This includes enabling TCP/IP and setting up the appropriate firewall rules to allow traffic on the SQL Server port (default is 1433).
- Set Up the SQL Server Firewall:
- Add firewall rules on the SQL Server to allow access from the IP addresses of the Snap Schedule 365 Azure App Service (to be provided during onboarding).
- Create a Blank SQL Server Database for Snap Schedule 365:
- Create a blank Microsoft SQL Server (2019 or later) database and a user account with RWED (Read, Write, Execute, Delete) privileges.
- Secure Connections Using SSL/TLS:
- Ensure that the customer’s SQL Server instance is set up to force encrypted connections. This ensures that data transmitted between Snap Schedule 365 and the SQL Server is encrypted.
- Provide the Connection String to Snap Schedule 365:
- Provide the connection string with the details of the SQL Server, ensuring it specifies the server’s public IP address or DNS name, along with the required parameters for encryption and authentication. Snap Schedule 365 will be configured to use the specified connection string during onboarding.
- Testing and Monitoring:
- Once Snap Schedule 365 has been configured to use the provided connection string, test the connection to ensure successful connectivity to the SQL Server.
- Monitor the application and SQL Server to ensure there are no connectivity issues and that performance is as expected.