Frequently Asked Questions

Here are answers to the questions most frequently asked by visitors. If you have a question that we haven't addressed, please contact us toll free at (800) 211-6967, or (949) 585-1500. Or, email Customer Service. We'll respond usually on the same day; always by the next business day.

Creating Web Polls

How long does it take to get a web poll online?

Your poll can be created and launched as quickly as within a few minutes.

Using our step-by-step, form-based application, you can quickly enter your questions and answer options, choose your layout preferences, and

configure your voting panel with your logo, images and instructions. Preview your poll in test mode, then activate your poll instantly or schedule it for later activation. Copy and paste your HTML code snippet on your web page(s) and you are ready!

You have ultimate control over your web polling project; there is no need to wait for anyone. You can do-it-yourself with grace and simplicity, or ask our team of experts for help with any aspect of your project. If you hire us to do some of the work for you, we'll setup your poll, design your ballot box and deliver it to you for your online review within 3 business days for most projects. If you're in a bind, we'll save the day.

Can I test my ballot box prior to making it active?

Yes. At any time during the design process you can preview and test your ballot box. Use this feature to check for content, style, usability, and the proper working of navigation controls, data constraints, required fields, user messages and graphic results display.

How many questions can I include per poll?

You can have one or two questions per poll: one multiple choice question, one open-ended question, or one of each.

Can I add my own logo and other images to my voting booth? Can I make my poll appear seamlessly a part of my web site, and retain my organization's color scheme, style and branding?

Yes. You can add logo and a watermark or background texture, and include images or other media as part of your questions and answers. You can customize the text of messages and prompts, and tailor the borders, fonts, colors and other attributes to achieve just the right look and feel. You can even replace the default "Vote" or "Submit" buttons with your own words or special images you design.

Our custom branding and private-labeling features can get even more extensive, advanced and detailed for channel partners, resellers and very large organizations. Please contact us toll free at (800) 211-6967, or (949) 585-1500. Or, email Customer Service for more information.

Can I create the same poll in different languages?

Yes. Our application supports any language, even languages with double-byte characters such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and others. Simply copy your poll and edit in the language you need, and paste the code snippet onto the appropriate language web page(s).

You can universally code your international voting panels to integrate your response data for analysis across all languages and versions.

And, of course, even command buttons, images, message text and instructions can be customized for each language.

Reporting and Data Analysis

Can I view my results in real-time?

Yes. You can monitor the status of your poll online from your computer anytime, anywhere, with easy-to-read, canned and configurable reports and online views of your data. Optionally, simply export the data directly into Microsoft¨ Excel, Access, XML or your favorite statistical analysis package as frequently as you need to update it.

Do you create custom reports and data analysis? What about presentation materials?

Yes. Our team of experts in Microsoft¨ Excel, Access, PowerPoint and web development can create beautiful, effective, and highly-customized reports, analysis and presentation materials based on your exact specifications. If you aren't sure what you want or need, give us a call. We can point you in the right direction and offer cost effective suggestions that you'll be thrilled with.

Let us take the design burden from your shoulders and provide meaningful options ranging from low-cost, bare necessities for tight budgets, to high-end, ad-hoc, web-based data mining and presentation systems for very large projects and organizations.

Can I analyze my data directly, by going straight to the underlying database tables and storage mechanisms (e.g., client/server, ODBC, SQL, et al) using another reporting, charting, statistical analysis or presentation software?

We offer dedicated database and dedicated server plans that will provide these capabilities to varying degrees, depending on your needs. Without any downloading, you can connect directly to your data with software such as Microsoft¨ Access, Crystal Reports, Cognos or Oracle tools, and others, and run online, ad-hoc queries and reports in real-time.

Can we get our data out of your database and into ours using automated processes?

Yes. We have API's, code fragments and libraries that help us create custom data transfer programs very efficiently for you. Dedicated server customer can leverage your own team of programmers, data management and conversion tools, and create scheduled processes or triggers to move information from your hosted poll database to virtually any other systems environment.

We can also work with you to design custom data marts for the most user-friendly ad-hoc reporting environments available to you, your clients and other end-users. Please contact Customer Service or call toll free (800) 211-6967, or (949) 585-1500, to reach our friendly technical support team.

System Requirements, Application Architecture
and Security

Are there any specific operating system or browser
requirements for Hosted Poll™? What do you estimate is the percent of the Internet population that has systems compatible with Hosted Poll™?

For designing and creating polling forms, we recommend Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 and above and Netscape 7.0 and above. Both PC and Mac are supported. (No client-side downloads, plug-ins or applets are required.)

For voting - that is, your actual web site visitors placing votes - we support virtually every browser that can support the most basic HTML and JavaScript. Both PC and Mac are supported. (No client-side downloads, plug-ins or applets are required.)

The population compatible with our system when taking polls is estimated at 99.8%.

Does Java or any other software get downloaded to my computer?

No, never. Hosted Poll™ requires no Java, no downloads, no installations, no applets. We have been extra careful to design our applications to run 100% over the web, without any special configurations or files on your (or your end-user's) computer.

Hostedware^® applications will never cause your computer to crash, never spread a virus, and you'll never have to worry about corrupting your computer's setup, configuration or network files.

And, those participants who may still be using older equipment or outdated web browsers won't be denied access, and won't be asked to download big (and slow) software programs, before, during or after placing their vote.

Can your service support high volumes of voters?

Yes. Hosted Poll™ can manage thousands of simultaneous votes placed at one single time. We have documented peaks of 1,000+ simultaneous users, and in all of these cases, server and resource utilization were still at low levels. We have also managed custom web polls where invitations were broadcast nationally on television and received thousands of "hits" in a very short period of time and our servers did not suffer any degradation in performance.

From a technical perspective, the architecture of Hosted Poll™ is such that users are "connected" to the server and database only at the moment in which data is delivered to their browser (when a page is opened or refreshed), or at the moment when data is saved to the database (when the user submits their votes). Each connection is open and closed dynamically, and lasts only for fraction of a second. This architecture significantly reduces the possibility of ever having too many concurrent users.

And Hostedware¨ software applications are built to scale. As our volume increases, so does our capacity. We strive to stay ahead of the growth and anticipate future needs, which we have been doing successfully since we began operations in 1999. Our service level agreement outlines our commitment to satisfactory performance and response times. Please review for more information.

Do you also do surveys, tests, and quizzes?

Yes. Hostedware has three other web based research, testing and assessment products, Hosted Poll™, Hosted Survey Lite™ and Hosted Test™. Please visit us at the following websites:

HostedSurvey.com

HostedSurveyLite.com

HostedTest.com

How does Hostedware address my security concerns?

Hosted Poll™ is completely secure. The website and databases are password protected and hidden safely behind appropriate firewalls. Encryption during data transfer and communication between your computer and our servers is enforced using Secure Socket Layers (SSL).

To prevent hackers from copying your code and placing it on their web site, we let you specify what domains your polling panel will reside on, and this is automatically enforced by our software.

All your data is confidential and owned by you. Hostedware¨ will never sell nor provide your data to any third party, and never uses it internally or externally for any purpose whatsoever, other than to communicate directly with you about your account, our products and services, and to fulfill our service agreements with you.

Your data's safety, security, integrity and privacy is of primary concern to us. It's important data, it's your data, and we protect it for you. Please see our Privacy Statement, Service Level Agreement (SLA), Secure Payment Guarantee, and Terms of Service for more information.

My Account, Pricing and Optional Services

How do you charge?

Your account allows you to create unlimited polling projects and place on unlimited web pages. We charge for usage by asking you to purchase packages of responses. A "response" is the equivalent of a submitted vote by one participant. You purchase and commit to responses in advance, and we dynamically allocate database storage, access, and other resources based on your anticipated responses. The more responses you purchase in advance, the lower the per-response price.

You can purchase responses online by signing up and/or logging in to your account and going to the "My Account" area. You can also purchase responses by check, bank draft, and when approved, by company purchase order. Or, purchase over the phone by calling (800) 211-6967 or (949) 585-1500.

What if I want to outsource my project?

We offer a variety of project support and poll administration options and packages. These services include setup and launch, web page editing, testing, response monitoring, data downloading, custom reporting and analysis, data cleanup and other personalized services such as logo design, graphical artwork, content development, data entry, and even Flash animation. Please call (800) 211-6967 or (949) 585-1500 for a custom quote.

What if I need to setup a quick demonstration to sell my boss (or my client) on using Hostedware for our project? (And what if I need it to be ready by tomorrow?)

If you are under the gun and need ultra-fast assistance setting up a demo for your boss, your client, or your project team, fax us what you have in its current format (draft or final) to (949) 585-0050 ATTN: Customer Service. If an electronic version is available, email to customerservice@hostedware.com. We'll setup the poll, plus add your logo and some basic formatting, free of charge, today, or by the next business day.

We'll even conference in and provide technical support, an online walk-thru, answer questions, and participate with the utmost professionalism in part or all of your meeting, as you require, and in the capacity most appropriate for your purpose and mission. We pride ourselves in providing the highest levels of service and support to our customers, and are always happy to help.

We view customer services as a part of our business that supplements our core software products; not the other way around. With that model, we feel we can do more, for less. Many of our customers have been pleasantly surprised by the amount of work we do, and the quality of expertise we deliver, at the reasonable prices we charge. We hope you will be, too!

About Hostedware

Who is Hostedware?

Hostedware Corporation, based in Irvine, California, serves the multi-billion dollar research, education and performance improvement markets. A pioneer in these markets, we have developed four leading online software applications - Hosted Survey™, Hosted Survey Lite™, Hosted Poll™, and Hosted Test™. These self-configurable software applications, together with our Customer Services team, provide feature-rich, easy to use, cost effective and dependable solutions that meet the exacting requirements of our customers.

Where is Hostedware's data center? Is it reliable and secure?

Hostedware customers and their clients benefit from the security, reliability and environmental controls of the Hostedware/InteleNet data center in Irvine, CA, USA:

• Located in a building designed to meet rigorous federal and state building code standards, designed to withstand earthquakes according to zone four (4) specifications, and with extensive fire detection and suppression capabilities.
• Environmental controls that address heating and cooling, humidity controls and monitored status that notifies our operations staff when conditions fall outside of planned ranges.
• Conditioned, clean power with redundancy and disaster recovery configurations.
• Full-time monitoring and management of all aspects of the data center, operated from our 24x7 Network Operations Center. The NOC has access to all security operations data and monitors the data center for external and internal security. The data center is staffed 24x7 by Pinkerton security guards.
• Employs a staff of highly trained IP security engineers with extensive Microsoft, Unix and Linux operating system expertise.
• Uses industry leading firewalls, such as Cisco PIX, Checkpoint and NetScreen, to protect the data center network.
• Uses state-of-the-art security software that monitors conditions behind the network firewalls. In the event of any suspicious activity that gets through the firewall, the software identifies the break-in and alerts the NOC.
• Computer incident response procedure for any computer or network-related incident.
• Customer-friendly facilities, with work areas, conference rooms, lounges and other accommodations.

Have another question?

Please contact us toll free at (800) 211-6967, or (949) 585-1500. Or, email Customer Service. We'll respond usually on the same day; always by the next business day.