Shared or Dedicated: What Actually Changes for Your Organization
Every system you rent is either shared with other organizations or set aside for yours alone. The product can be identical either way. What changes is the answer you give when somebody asks where your records are.
Most buyers never ask whether their business system is shared or dedicated, and for most of them it genuinely does not matter. Then a donor sends a data annex, a regulator asks for a list of third parties, or the board adopts a policy, and suddenly it is the only question in the room.
The short answer
On a shared service your records sit in one database alongside other organizations’ records, and the software keeps them apart on every request. On a dedicated instance they sit in a database that holds your organization alone. Same product, same features, same releases. The difference is how short your answer is when someone asks who else is on the system.
Seven things, side by side
| Shared workspace | Dedicated instance | |
|---|---|---|
| Your records | One database for many organizations, kept apart by the software | A database that holds your organization alone |
| The application | Shared with every other customer | Running for your organization only |
| Background work | One queue for everyone’s emails, documents and jobs | A queue that only ever carries your work |
| Encryption key | One key for the shared service | A key generated for your instance |
| Files and backups | Stored with the shared service | Your own storage and your own backup set |
| Address | awraops.com | yourorg.awraops.com |
| Releases | Every release as it ships | Every release, on the same schedule |
Notice the last row. A dedicated instance is not a frozen copy of the product that slowly falls behind. It runs the same code as everyone else and moves forward with it. That is the main thing that separates it from a server in your own building.
Shared is not the risky option
It is worth saying plainly, because the word “shared” makes people nervous. A well-built shared service is a perfectly sound home for business records. On ours, every request is tied to the organization it belongs to, and a request that cannot establish which organization it belongs to gets nothing back, rather than everything. Permissions are set per role, and every change to a record is written to an audit trail that cannot be quietly edited.
For most organizations that is the right arrangement, and it is the cheaper one. Nothing about choosing dedicated should imply otherwise.
Dedicated is not a better product. It is a shorter answer to one question.
So why do organizations pay for dedicated?
Almost never because of a technical worry of their own. Nearly always because someone else is asking:
- A funder whose grant agreement asks where beneficiary and staff records are held, and who else can reach them.
- A supervisor or regulator who expects a list of every third party holding the institution’s data, and a description of how it is held.
- A board that has decided, as a matter of policy, that the organization’s records will not share a system with anyone else’s.
- A procurement review in which “a database of our own” closes a question that “separated by the software” opens.
- Leadership that simply wants the system to carry the organization’s own name at its own address.
What a dedicated instance still shares
Four things, and a reviewer will ask about each, so they belong in the open. The code, because one release for everyone is what keeps your instance current. The hosting region, which is the same as the shared service’s. The published sub-processor list, the same providers in the same places. And on the Dedicated tier, the physical server, which your instance shares only with other dedicated customers, never with the shared service. The Dedicated server tier gives you the machine as well.
Region is the one that surprises people, so it has a page of its own. If you are weighing the question rather than answering one, whether dedicated is worth it walks through the trade, and ten questions for any vendor is the checklist to take into a sales call — ours included.
Around your dedicated instance
The instance itself is ready to set up now. These are the additions organizations most often ask us to build alongside it.
The mobile app on your instance
Staff phones connecting straight to your own address, with the offline capture they already use.
Your own domain
An address such as erp.yourorg.org in place of the awraops.com one.
A hosting region of your choosing
Written into the contract, for an obligation that names a country or a region.
How it works: you describe the requirement, we return a written scope, timeline and cost, and once agreed it is built and maintained with the product.
See the dedicated instanceWhat AWRA OpsHub does today
- A shared service in which every request is tied to its organization, and a request that cannot establish one gets nothing back.
- A dedicated instance with its own database, application, background queue, encryption key, storage and backups.
- Your own address, such as yourorg.awraops.com.
- The same release on both, hosted, updated and backed up by us.
More we can add to your workspace
- The AWRA mobile app connected to a dedicated instance, alongside the web app your team uses there today.
- Your own domain in place of the awraops.com address.
- Your current shared workspace moved across to a dedicated instance with its full history.
- A hosting region of your choosing, set in the contract.
Where we point you to a specialist
- We do not keep a customised copy of the code for one organization. Anything we build for you ships to everyone, which is what keeps your instance from falling behind.
- We do not hand over the server or the source code. A dedicated instance is run by us, which is what keeps it secure and current.
Each of these can be scoped into a dedicated-instance quote.
Settle these before you choose
Has anyone outside the organization asked where our records are held?
If the answer is
No, never.
It points to
Shared. It is cheaper and serves you just as well.
Does a contract, grant or policy say our records may not share a system?
If the answer is
Yes, in writing.
It points to
Dedicated, and keep the clause to hand for the quote.
Does the obligation name a country or region?
If the answer is
Yes.
It points to
Dedicated plus a region set in the contract.
Will a reviewer ask who else is on the physical machine?
If the answer is
Probably.
It points to
The Dedicated server tier.
Your own AWRA, at your own address
Dedicated instances are available to set up now, quoted per organization.
See how it worksFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between a shared and a dedicated ERP?
On a shared service many organizations’ records sit in one database and the software keeps them apart. On a dedicated instance your records sit in a database that holds your organization alone, with its own application, encryption key, storage and backups.
Is a shared ERP less secure?
Not inherently. A well-built shared service ties every request to its organization and returns nothing when it cannot establish one. Dedicated changes how isolated your records are, which matters when someone outside asks, not whether the product is secure.
Does a dedicated instance get new features?
Yes. It runs the same code as the shared service and receives every release on the same schedule.
What does a dedicated instance still share?
The code release, the hosting region and the published sub-processor list. On the Dedicated tier the physical server is shared with other dedicated customers only; the Dedicated server tier gives you the machine as well.
