Platform Questions  

Are there any sizing restrictions? 

Database size may be subject to reasonable limits based on typical usage patterns observed across our customer base. Synergetic Cloud prioritises performance and scalability and will be managed by Education Horizons to ensure optimal system performance.  

How will backups / restores be handled? 

Education Horizons will manage backups and restores for Synergetic Cloud.  

To request a restore of your Cloud instance, please raise a support case and indicate the point in time to which you need to restore.

What is the Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) provided by the Synergetic Cloud platform?

Synergetic Cloud platform provides improved business continuity compared to on-premises. It provides -

• 15 minutes Recovery Point Objective (RPO) - max 15 minutes of data loss from an incident

• 8 hours Recovery Time Objective (RTO) - max 8 hours to recover the application after an incident

How can I request that my database be restored?

Database snapshots are taken every 4 hours. These snapshots along with log playbacks allow a database to be restored with a maximum data loss of 15 minutes.

Backups / snapshots are retained for 7 days and can be restored to any point within that period. There is also a monthly point-in-time backup that is retained for 30 days.

Can you confirm that all data stored and transmitted to / from AWS remains within their Australian datacentres? 

Yes, all data associated with Synergetic Cloud will be stored and managed within AWS's Australian datacentres. 

How are upgrades handled for cloud instances? 

Synergetic Cloud instances will always be kept up-to-date with the latest version of Synergetic, with upgrades managed by Education Horizons. Upgrades will be carefully planned and executed to minimise any impact on school operations and avoid disruptions during business hours.  

Can I test upgrades before they are applied to my site? Or choose to delay an upgrade? 

All hosted environments are automatically upgraded to the latest release as part of the release process. We now do small incremental releases weekly so each release is quite low risk and any user impacting issues that are introduced would be addressed urgently and fixes automatically deployed to all hosted sites. The quality of our software is entirely our responsibility and with Synergetic Cloud, so is the architecture, maintenance, and reliability of the infrastructure. 

Many issues that occur on premise are due to infrastructure incompatibility or configuration differences that cannot be replicated by our team. The consistency among Synergetic Cloud sites, and the ease with which we can apply fixes, means that issues that occur in hosted sites will be far easier to avoid, troubleshoot and resolve quickly should they occur. 

What countries will Synergetic Cloud be available in? 

Synergetic customers will be hosted in Australian datacentres. At this time, Education Horizons is not seeking alternatives for New Zealand or Middle Eastern customers.  

If you are interested in discussing hosting in other countries, please contact your Customer Success Manager who will pass your feedback on to the technical team. 

Will users still require the Synergetic Windows Client to be installed on school-owned devices?

No, users will not require a separate Synergetic app or VPN connection. The Synergetic Windows client will be accessible through a web browser using streaming technology.  

Will Macbooks be able to access the Synergetic Windows Client? 

As the solution is browser-based, Macbooks and Chromebooks can be used to access the Synergetic Windows client.