System instances

Test and live sites

As standard, customers are issued with two instances of risr/ assess; a test and live (or production) instance. You can tell the difference between the two sites by the URL which, unless requested otherwise, follows the standard format:

Test	https://test.<your_organisation_abbr>.assess.risr.global
Live	https://<your_organisation_abbr>.assess.risr.global

Any sites originally set up before the release of v8.8 will still use the .practique.net suffix.

The test instance is intended to be used as a sandbox environment. We recommend using this to test, familiarise and experiment with new features as and when they are released. The sites are completely separate. Actions taken in the test instance will not affect the live site.

The live site is intended for delivery of exams to candidates. 

We do not recommend using the test site to administer live exams. The underlying architecture in the test site may not be sufficient to handle the load put on it by a live exam.  

Application information

In the site footer you will see an Application Information link:

The Application Information link contains important technical information about the running of your site.

The version code shown is split into three parts:

• The middle number denotes the major release version
• The last number refers to the minor (or "dot") release.

This information is really useful for troubleshooting purposes and may be requested during support interactions with our team.

Site upgrades

risr/ assess works on a quarterly major release cycle. Major releases contain new features and functionality. Minor releases contain only bug fixes and have no fixed release cadence.  

Site upgrades are at your discretion and must be requested through the service desk using the Manage my account/subscription form. Upgrades are not pushed to sites directly at the point of release and this is intended to give maximum flexibility for you to plan around high-stakes assessment periods.

We support the current version and four previous major releases meaning that all customers must upgrade at least once per calendar year to remain in support.

To move forward with the upgrade process we will usually upgrade your test site first and ask you to check that you are happy with the changes before we push the same version to the live site. To assist with the process it is possible to clone the live instance data to the test instance so that you can be sure that you are testing on comparable site data. This service can be requested at the time of the upgrade request. With this process, all existing data in test will be removed and an exact copy of the live site data will remain on test.

Please see our dedicated article on release cycles and system upgrades for more information.

Notes for all of our releases can be found in the release notes section of our site.