Vanilla 101 - Vanilla Success
<main> <article class="userContent"> <p>Welcome to <strong>Higher Logic Vanilla</strong> (<strong>Vanilla</strong>)! An integral part of the platform is its customizability, allowing each Vanilla community to have feature sets based on:</p><ul><li>community type,</li><li>moderation style, and</li><li>community manager preferences.</li></ul><h2 data-id="your-vanilla-sites">Your Vanilla sites</h2><p>Depending on your subscription, you may have two sites: <strong>Staging</strong> and <strong>Production</strong>.</p><h3 data-id="staging-site">Staging site</h3><p>Your Staging site is your "sandbox" environment. Admins and Moderators can learn, test, and try out new features (like addons). Then, if you like the how they look and behave, you can push them to your Production site.</p><p><strong>📝 NOTE</strong>: If your subscription includes a Staging site, you'll always have access to it: it will remain even after your community has launched.</p><h3 data-id="production-site">Production site</h3><p>Your Production site is your "live" community site, and is where your users will engage with one another and your organization.</p><p>You Production site will typically have its own <strong>custom domain</strong>. Learn how to set up your custom domain in:</p><div class="js-embed embedResponsive" data-embedjson="{"body":"When setting up a new Higher Logic Vanilla (Vanilla) community, customizing its web address (URL) is an important step. We recommend giving your Vanilla community its own home on a subdomain of the primary domain you use for your web presence. For example, if your main website is example.com, you should use an address…","photoUrl":"https:\/\/us.v-cdn.net\/6030677\/uploads\/VWGAXAF5OFCO\/microsoftteams-image.png","url":"https:\/\/success.vanillaforums.com\/kb\/articles\/3","embedType":"link","name":"Set up your Custom Domain - Vanilla Success"}"> <a href="https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/articles/3" rel="nofollow noreferrer ugc"> https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/articles/3 </a> </div><h3 data-id="staging-vs-production%3A-site-differences">Staging vs Production: Site differences</h3><p>Your Staging and Production sites are essentially <em>two distinct instances of your Vanilla community</em>. It's important to understand that changes in one of these environments are unique <em>to</em> that environment.</p><p>This means that any changes tested, enabled, and made on your Staging site have to be <em>manually copied to your Production site</em>; currently, it's not possible to automatically move settings from Staging to Production.</p><h3 data-id="migrating-to-vanilla">Migrating to Vanilla</h3><p>If you're migrating to Vanilla, note the following:</p><ul><li>Test and final migrations will go on your Production site, which will "wipe" its database.</li><li>Your Staging site will <strong>not</strong> be affected by the test migration or the final migration, so we suggest that you create your Category configuration and any custom Roles on your Staging site while the migrations are taking place.</li></ul><p>For additional information about <em>migrating to Vanilla</em>, see:</p><div class="js-embed embedResponsive" data-embedjson="{"body":"Overview Migration from one platform to another doesn’t have to be a scary process. At Vanilla Forums, we always do a test import of your data and ask you to verify that the import was performed correctly, without errors, before we do a final migration. The key to a successful migration is taking the time to properly…","photoUrl":"https:\/\/us.v-cdn.net\/6030677\/uploads\/VWGAXAF5OFCO\/microsoftteams-image.png","url":"https:\/\/success.vanillaforums.com\/kb\/articles\/347","embedType":"link","name":"Migration Guide - Vanilla Success"}"> <a href="https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/articles/347" rel="nofollow noreferrer ugc"> https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/articles/347 </a> </div><p>If your Vanilla community <em>launch and your migration are occurring simultaneously</em>, see:</p><div class="js-embed embedResponsive" data-embedjson="{"body":"If your Vanilla community migration coincides with launching your community, there are a few extra items to check off the list, which your CSM will coordinate with you. At the start of your onboarding journey, you provided our Professional Services team with a copy of your data which we will have used to estimate and…","photoUrl":"https:\/\/us.v-cdn.net\/6030677\/uploads\/VWGAXAF5OFCO\/microsoftteams-image.png","url":"https:\/\/success.vanillaforums.com\/kb\/articles\/346","embedType":"link","name":"Migration Launch Checklist - Vanilla Success"}"> <a href="https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/articles/346" rel="nofollow noreferrer ugc"> https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/articles/346 </a> </div><h2 data-id="vanilla-successteam">Vanilla SuccessTeam™</h2><p>Your main point of contact at Vanilla is your CSM, who:</p><ul><li>is your guide as you get to know Vanilla,</li><li>will host training sessions, and</li><li>will work with you to implement and grow your community strategy.</li></ul><p>In addition to your CSM, you will:</p><ul><li>have contact with our Project Manager <em>if you license professional services</em> (Migration, Custom Theme, Customizations).</li><li>receive the contact information for our Director of Experience (if ever you need a point of escalation).</li></ul><p>CSMs are available <strong>Monday through Friday</strong> from <strong>9:00am to 5:00pm</strong>, <strong>ET</strong>.</p><ul><li>In case of an emergency outside of these hours, contact <strong>Vanilla Support</strong> at <a href="unsafe:support@vanillaforums.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer ugc">support@vanillaforums.com</a>.</li></ul><h2 data-id="onboarding-with-vanilla">Onboarding with Vanilla</h2><p>Throughout your onboarding journey, your CSM will walk you through training sessions to help familiarize you with Vanilla to get your community and your team set up for success. </p><p>You can expect the following from your CSM:</p><ul><li><strong>Community strategy</strong> - Identify goals, strategies, and milestones for your community.</li><li><strong>Product training</strong> - Learn all about your Vanilla community, including Dashboard, Gamification, Moderation, Analytics, and Knowledge Base training.</li><li><strong>Implementation support</strong> - Regularly check on the status of your projects with your team, and the Vanilla Professional Services team (if applicable).</li><li><strong>Community launch</strong> - Support you throughout your community launch.</li></ul><h2 data-id="additional-resources">Additional resources</h2><p>In addition to your CSM, Vanilla works to ensure your community is a success by providing:</p><ul><li><strong>Vanilla customer community</strong> - Connect with other Vanilla users, and post questions and product feedback at <a href="unsafe:success.vanillaforums.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer ugc">success.vanillaforums.com</a>.</li><li><strong>Vanilla Knowledge Base</strong> - Search through our <a href="unsafe:success.vanillaforums.com/kb" rel="nofollow noreferrer ugc">product documentation</a> and keep current with our <a href="https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/docs" rel="nofollow noreferrer ugc">Release Notes</a>.</li><li><strong>Vanilla blog</strong> - Stay up-to-date on the latest advice from community experts at <a href="unsafe:blog.vanillaforums.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer ugc">blog.vanillaforums.com</a>.</li></ul> </article> </main>