The Study Abroad Manager (SAM) Hosted Solution (SaaS) provides an instance of SAM through our dedicated, secure servers, such that installation on university equipment is unnecessary. Both Basic SAM and Premium SAM may be provided as a hosted solution.

1. Are there any fees associated with the Hosted Solution (SaaS)



Yes, there is a $19.75 fee per registrant for hosted instances of The Study Abroad Manager (SAM) software platform.

2. Where is SAM hosted



Regions and endpoints are selected and ordered based on university and organization location, such that availability, reliability, and latency are all addressed intelligently, directly.

3. Where will our data be stored



Your data is stored and backed up across multiple secure, remote data centers, the primary being managed directly by Black Box Abroad to ensure business continuity.

4. What type of business continuity and disaster recovery is in place



Automation systems allow for easy spin-up of instances and full replication of data on competing platforms. Data is replicated to multiple availability zones which allow for redundancy, and quick recovery if any zone experiences downtime.

5. How is security managed



Security groups are in place for every hosted instanced of SAM, and Secure Shell (SSH) access is only used by individuals granted explicit access to the hosted instance itself. All of your data, as well as your software, will remain safely behind multiple layers of security, each of which satisfies HIPAA, FERPA, SOC1-3[ISAE 3402/SAS70], and PCI DSS L1.

6. Can we integrate our AD/LDAP with SAM



AD/LDAP integration is provided as a configuration option with the SAM software platform and hosted solution. Traditional authentication is also provided by default if your university or organization would rather manage credentials internally.

7. Can we access our data directly



At any time, universities and organizations may export their data in XLS/CSV format, request *.sql database dumps of their information, or have verified internal staff access their hosted instance and export the data if need be.

8. Do you charge for upgrades



Universities and organizations are provided with the ability to upgrade their SAM software license to the latest version of the software platform on an annual basis.

9. What browsers are supported



Current version releases of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Chrome, and Safari.