Terms & Conditions

USER AGREEMENT TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. PRODUCT USER AUTHORITY

The USER has non-exclusive use of the PRODUCT.

2. SERVICE LEVEL AND SUPPORT

a) The USER is required to appoint at least one CHAMPION from whom the LICENSOR must take instructions or refer instructions to, in order for the LICENSOR to carry out requests or instructions to meet its contractual and service level obligations to the USER.
b) To enable the USER to access communication records with the LICENSOR, the CHAMPION may at their own discretion register as a CLIENT on the LICENSOR’S platform found at https://pfirestorm.pfirestorm.co.za.
c) Standard USER Support
i. During working hours (from CAT 08h00 am to CAT 16h00 pm) weekdays Monday to Friday excluding public holidays
ii. Via the LICENSOR’S Pfirestorm platform or Email (48-hour response)
iii. WhatsApp, Telephone, SMS (same day response)
iv. Skype – by arrangement only
d) To respond timeously to requests by the CHAMPION: –
i. Explanation of PRODUCT function
ii. Assistance and guidance on how the functions operate
iii. Assist in providing advice on the maintenance of the PRODUCT database and profile information
iv. Attend to technical feedback on the PRODUCT function and suggestions in the following priorities: –
a. Bugs and malfunctions are immediately acknowledged and automatically reported directly to the IT PRODUCT development team. The team attends to these requests urgently and immediately.
b. Enhancements and new feature requests are immediately acknowledged and permanently recorded within a development platform, reviewed, prioritised and considered.
e) To proactively provide the following services to the USER via the CHAMPION at least every three months: –
i. Provide feedback of the PRODUCT activity by USERS
ii. Provide feedback on technical and functional development of the PRODUCT
iii. Conduct quarterly service level feedback questionnaires to assist in maintaining service levels
iv. Assist in identifying and introducing efficient use of the platform across all disciplines
v. Product development updates are communicated periodically as and when required to the CHAMPION/S
vi. Provide all reasonable and necessary support to assist the USER in navigation within the PRODUCT, via the CHAMPION/S.
f) Downtime
i. Any upgrades, enhancements or variations of the PRODUCT by the LICENSOR shall be done overnight so as to minimise interruptions and access to the platform by USERS.
ii. Prior notice shall be given in the event of any anticipated upgrades or interruptions of access to the platform.
iii. In the event of any downtime beyond the control of the LICENSOR, should this downtime exceed 4 (four hours), the PRODUCT where possible will be re-enabled from a second duplicate hosting site which will provide viewing and access rights to the PRODUCT only enabling USERS to only view information until the original platform is restored. USERS will be advised and updated via SMS and/or WhatsApp during this downtime period. As soon as the original platform is restored, USERS will be advised immediately and full access and function to the platform will be restored.

3. USER AND LICENSOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

a) The PRODUCT is protected by South African and worldwide copyright and patent laws and international treaties. The USER must treat the PRODUCT like any other copyrighted material – for example a book.
b) The USER and the LICENSOR must: –
i. Ensure that service levels are maintained and to report any inefficiencies of service levels to the LICENSOR as soon as it is known.
ii. Take appropriate precautions using own proprietary policies and procedures to protect the personal information of its USERS and ensure that the code of conduct expected and detailed on the PRODUCT site is adhered to and maintained.
iii. Ensure that any contractual obligations or information contained in this User Agreement and annexures as well as any other communication between the LICENSOR and the USER is strictly private and confidential.
c) The USER may not:
i. Copy the PRODUCT for any purpose.
ii. Modify or adapt the PRODUCT or merge it into another program without the prior approval of the LICENSOR.
iii. Reverse engineer, disassemble, decompile or make any attempt to discover the source code of the PRODUCT.
iv. Sublicense, rent, lease or lend any portion of the PRODUCT to any unauthorized person or documentation.
v. Conduct his business in a manner which may bring the PRODUCT or the LICENSOR into disrepute and/or prejudice the LICENSOR in anyway.
d) The parties acknowledge: The PRODUCT contains trade secrets and proprietary know-how that belong to the LICENSOR and it is being made available to USER in strict confidence.

4. IF PRODUCT HOSTED BY/VIA THE LICENSOR

a) The PRODUCT is physically housed in a world class Data-Centre which has 24/7 armed security, state of the art fire suppression systems and redundant power/data supply connections. The data on these disks is backed up locally every evening and then also securely transferred to a similar facility in a separate location for disaster recovery purposes.
b) Due to the nature of the PRODUCT it has been designed from the ground up with security being the primary consideration. The platform makes use of best-of-breed technologies setup in the most secure operational configuration possible.
c) All secure traffic to and from the site is encrypted by a high-grade 256-bit encryption certificate which is verified and prevents interception of the connection by would-be hackers. This certificate also encrypts files which are transferred to and from the site and prevents interception of these files.
d) All documents uploaded by USERS are not kept in the public namespace but rather within the private and inaccessible part of the hosting environment. This means that all file access is done via a document storage process, enabling verification of the authenticity of the request before allowing access to the requester.
e) No system is completely secure and each user contributes towards the strength of security of their information and files by adopting standard procedures to protect and secure their computers and access to these computers. USERS have a responsibility to protect their own infrastructure and protect themselves from unlawful entry by would-be hackers. The following are some basic methods that should be employed to enjoy the maximum protection possible:
f) USERS must be aware of phishing scams. The rule of thumb is never to use your login details on anything but the purpose you started using them for.
g) USERS must make sure they have a respectable and up-to-date virus scanner on their local systems. Failure to do so might result in a hacker stealing login details (amongst other things) from their computer through Trojan viruses.
h) When using the PRODUCT, USERS must check that their browser has the secure icon (usually a small padlock) and then click on it to verify the certificate is issued by the site they are communicating with. There is a method of attack known as DNS poisoning which can take many forms but all cause the same thing. When you browse to a website www.pfirestorm.co.za you may well be communicating with an attackers’ website if you have been affected. The only way to know for sure is to check the certificate is issued to pfirestorm.co.za and has been verified
i) Input your passwords each time you use the system. Saving passwords is not good security practice.
j) USERS must read and understand the Code of Conduct on the PRODUCT and ensure that they adhere to the standards and good practices.
k) In order to provide the USER with the support services and service level obligations, the LICENSOR has access to a USER’s database, records and information and complies with the Protection of Personal Information as detailed in this agreement.
l) The LICENSOR will further collate information either generated automatically via the PRODUCT or manually compile such information for the purposes of providing support, business intelligence and guidance to both the USER and the LICENSOR from time to time.
m) The USER must ensure that their CLIENTS are fully aware and understand the security measures and Code of Conduct accessible from the PRODUCT when using this PRODUCT

5. IF PRODUCT HOSTED BY/VIA THE USER

a) The USER shall be responsible and accountable for the security, maintenance, administration, configuration, support and management of the hosting environment including but not limited to the security of the LICENSOR’s proprietary property and protection of the LICENSOR’s intellectual property.
b) The client must deploy their local hosting environment with, or ensure that their selected hosting environment has, sufficient capacity to cater for their needs. The system is a database driven web application and so performance of the system is dependent on capacity of the environment and the level of usage. The system can be run on virtualised hardware. The following is an example environment to cater for 500 users with medium usage: –
i. CentOS Virtual Machine with spec
ii. 4TB hard drive space
iii. 24GB RAM
iv. +-10 virtual CPU’s
c) The PRODUCT system requires the following hosting environment
i. PHP 5.6+ with a few additional modules
ii. mysql 5.6+ or mariadb
iii. Apache 2.4 but it is possible to use other webservers as agreed to by the LICENSOR
iv. Linux is preferred but it is possible to use other operating systems as agreed to by the LICENSOR
v. A mail system capable of piping mail to a process such as exim or as agreed by the LICENSOR
d) As a consequence of proprietary information held by the LICENSOR, configuration of the server, mail and other settings to meet the standards required by the LICENSOR will be done by the LICENSOR or by the USER under the strict supervision of the LICENSOR. Any and all costs associated with this configuration that may require additional hardware, software or other requirements shall be for the sole account of the USER
e) The LICENSOR will require remote access to the hosted system to allow for licensing, management, deployment of updates, PRODUCT maintenance and support. This access needs to allow for, inter-alia and not limited to: –
i. Configuration, settings and administration where applicable
ii. SSH access
iii. HTTPS access
iv. A range of IP addresses to be allowed to access will be supplied by the LICENSOR
v. Conversely the hosted system must have remote access out to the PRODUCT and related Pfirestorm systems in the same way

6. TERMINATION

a) Voluntary termination by either party
i. The USER or the LICENSOR may terminate the USER Agreement subject to the following: –
a. The INITIAL PERIOD or CONTRACT PERIOD must have expired or will expire at no earlier than the termination date.
b. Notwithstanding the CONTRACT PERIOD, at least one full calendar month notice is required.
b) Other Terminations
Should the USER fall two months into arrears for any outstanding fees or subscriptions, the USER Agreement will be automatically terminated (or suspended at the discretion of the LICENSOR) without notice and without prejudice.
c) Process of termination
i. Upon termination of the required notice PERIOD, the PRODUCT shall be terminated and no further access will be granted by any USERS save for what is provided for in this agreement.
ii. It is the USER’s responsibility to provide CLIENTS with prior written notice of his intention to terminate this agreement and thus give notice to the CLIENTS that they will no longer have access to the PRODUCT subject to the terms and conditions of the OLRA.
iii. The USER shall remain liable to pay all outstanding fees and subscriptions due in terms of this agreement during the INITIAL, CONTRACT or notice PERIOD whichever is the longer.
iv. It is the USER’s duty and obligation to select from the options provided below on if and how they would prefer their data to be transferred or retained within the given time frames as detailed below.
d) Termination and data
Provided the USER is in good standing and that all subscriptions or other fees are paid in full, the USER may elect to access and retain the data residing in the PRODUCT by selecting from the following options. In the event that the USER does not select any of the options below within 30 (thirty) days of expiry of the INITIAL PERIOD, CONTRACT PERIOD or Notice Period, whichever is the longer, the PRODUCT shall be permanently terminated and all data and files shall be permanently removed from the PRODUCT: –
i. Option 1: –
The USER domain of the product will remain open and the USER shall have access to the data residing in the PRODUCT subject to the following: –
a. Up to three USERS may have access to the data residing in the PRODUCT for a maximum PERIOD of three months.
b. Access shall be limited to viewing, searching all data residing in the PRODUCT and/or viewing, searching and downloading files.
c. All other features within PRODUCT will be disabled and there shall be no additional functionality on the PRODUCT whatsoever.
ii. Option 2: –
The USER may request that the PRODUCT be terminated and the data within the PRODUCT be submitted to them via email or other delivery mechanism as agreed by the LICENSOR.
iii. Notwithstanding the above, all data residing in the PRODUCT will be permanently removed from the database within three months from the date of termination.

7. PROTECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

a) All CLIENT and USER data (personal information, contact information, communication information, financial information, documentation, and the like), is deemed to be the intellectual property of the USER and the LICENSOR warrants that none of this data (either in part or in full) will be used, sold and/or disseminated to any third party in any way whatsoever. The USER shall have full access to all their client data and files and it is incumbent on the USER to equally ensure that client and other information is protected. The LICENSOR warrants that appropriate and ongoing precautions have and continue to be taken to ensure the protection of personal information of the USER, the CLIENT and other personal profile data.
b) The processing and access of information is limited and access is only granted with the input of matching usernames with passwords. This ensures that personal information can be obtained in a lawfully and fair manner.
c) The LICENSOR cannot or may not use any personal information for any reason whatsoever save for the development and building of business intelligence either for the benefit of the LICENSOR and/or the USER from time to time.
d) The LICENSOR shall be prohibited contractually from processing any personal information within the PRODUCT save for the inclusion, updating and amending of data within the PRODUCT from time to time on behalf of or at the instance of the USER under this or other agreement. No processing of any data, other than what has been expressly referred to herein by the LICENSOR, takes place for purposes beyond the original scope that was agreed to with the USER. Such activities are strictly prohibited.
e) The LICENSOR accepts no responsibility for the quality of information that may be captured onto the platform whatsoever and it is the USER’s express responsibility to ensure that this information is correct. The LICENSOR shall through the PRODUCT maintain an ongoing audit trail of specific data changes within the PRODUCT to enable authorised USER/S to identify USER/S who may amend, update, delete or capture personal information.
f) The LICENSOR has ensured that access to information is safeguarded by forcing USERS to follow and use login and password protocols. The LICENSOR has ensured that the proper security safeguards and measures to safeguard against loss, damage, destruction and unauthorised or unlawful access or processing of the information, has been put in place. It is incumbent for USERS to ensure that their login and password credentials are maintained and changed regularly and protected at all costs.
g) The USER and their CLIENTS are able to login (using similar login and password credentials) to participate and access their own personal information to update and/or correct any of their personal information.
h) USERS have the ability to monitor communication and access audit trails of changes to specific profiles of personal information enabling them to manage, monitor and take appropriate action in need. The PRODUCT, by design, offers authorised USERS to monitor activities, communications, documents and the processing thereof in real time which supports the introduction and monitoring of preventative measures.
i) The LICENSOR warrants that where the PRODUCT is hosted by the LICENSOR, it is hosted within South Africa which is subject to the protection of an appropriate Service Level agreement between the LICENSOR and the Vendor.

8. WARRANTEES

The LICENSOR hereby warrants that: –
a) LICENSOR is the owner of all right, title and interest, including copyright and patent, in the PRODUCT and thus has the authority to enter into this agreement.
b) LICENSOR has not granted any rights or licenses to the PRODUCT that would conflict with LICENSOR’s obligations under this agreement.
c) USER’s use of the PRODUCT as authorised by this agreement will not infringe any existing copyright, trade secret, patent or trademark rights of any third party.
d) The PRODUCT shall be capable of being accessed from the combination of web browser enabled devices that would normally be used to access the internet.
e) The PRODUCT has not been designed to fully accommodate mobile devices such as cell phones and whilst access is possible, functionality may be impaired.

9. CONFIDENTIALITY

a) Each party agrees that it shall not disclose to any third party any information concerning the customers, trade secrets, methods, processes or procedures or any other confidential, financial or business information of the other party which it learns during the course of its performance of the USER AGREEMENT, without the prior written consent of such other party. This obligation shall survive the cancellation or other termination of the USER agreement.

10. AGREEMENT

a) Any dispute between the parties of whatsoever nature and howsoever arising shall be referred to private arbitration and the facts and issues in dispute shall be kept private and confidential as will the arbitration award.
b) LICENSOR shall not refer to the existence of this agreement in any press release, advertising or materials distributed to prospective customers, without the prior written consent of USER.

11. ARBITRATION

a) All disputes, differences, impasses or deadlocks between the parties arising out of this agreement including an alleged breach, shall be referred to arbitration.
b) The arbitrator shall be a person agreed upon between the parties and failing agreement a person nominated by the President of the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society from time to time. Such person will not necessarily be a lawyer.
c) The arbitration shall be held in the Republic of South Africa, Province of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Durban or at such other place as may be agreed upon unanimously by the parties.
d) The arbitration shall be held upon such terms as the arbitrator shall in his discretion decide but it is recorded that the parties intend such arbitration to be held as informally and as expeditiously as possible.
e) The decision of the arbitrator shall be final and binding upon the parties and he shall also be entitled to stipulate who shall pay the costs including his costs of the arbitration.
f) Any party to the arbitration proceedings shall be entitled to have such award made an order of court.

12. LIMITED LIABILITY

The LICENSOR shall not be responsible to the USER, the CLIENT or to any third parties for any direct or indirect, consequential, special or punitive damages or losses the USER or the CLIENT may incur in connection with the PRODUCT regardless of the type of claim or the nature of the cause of action. The USER’S use thereof or any of the data or other materials transmitted through or residing on the product is used entirely at the USERS and CLIENT’S own risk.

13. NOTICES

Any legal notices must be sent by prepaid registered post, to the parties at the respective addresses set forth in the USER AGREEMENT preamble or to such other address as the party to receive the notice has designated by notice to the other party.

14. GOVERNING LAW

This Agreement shall be governed by and construed under the laws of South Africa.

15. BREACH

Should any party (the “defaulting party”) commit a breach of any of the provisions of this agreement, the party who is not in breach (the “aggrieved party”) shall be entitled to give the defaulting party written notice to remedy the breach. If the defaulting party fails to comply with that notice within 10 (TEN) days of the receipt thereof, subject to any other provisions of this agreement to the contrary, the aggrieved party shall be entitled to cancel this agreement or to claim specific performance, in either event without prejudice to the aggrieved party’s rights to claim damages. The foregoing is without prejudice to such other rights as the aggrieved party may have in common law or statute.

16. SEVERABILITY

If any provision of this agreement is held invalid or otherwise unenforceable, the enforceability of the remaining provisions shall not be impaired thereby.

17. FORCE MAJEURE

a) Neither party shall be liable in damages or have the right to terminate this agreement for any delay or default in performance by the other party, if such delay or default is caused by, but not limited to, acts of God, government restrictions, civil unrest, wars, strikes and/or storm.
b) The LICENSOR shall not be liable for any failure or delay in performance under this agreement, to the extent said failures or delays are caused by causes beyond the LICENSOR’s reasonable control provided that, the LICENSOR shall give the USER written notice with full details following the occurrence.

18. VARIATIONS, RELAXATIONS AND INDULGENCES

a) No addition to, variation or consensual cancellation of the USER AGREEMENT shall be of any force or effect unless in writing and signed by or on behalf of the party.
b) No indulgence which any party (the “grantor”) may grant to the other (the “grantee”) shall prejudice or constitute a waiver of the rights of the grantor, who shall not thereby be precluded from exercising any rights against the grantee which may have arisen in the past or might arise in the future.