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Subscription management services. The subscription management service software layer serves as an interface between users (researchers and librarians) and databases hosted by Phoenix (e.g. TAIR) or external databases hosted by partners. The software functions include subscription enrollment and payment processing, access control and usage monitoring. It can be customized to accommodate variable metering limits, different user fee models, and display of partner logos. Phoenix staff functions include account management, marketing and business analytics for databases hosted and managed by Phoenix (e.g. TAIR) as well as partner databases that continue to be hosted and managed externally, operating as independent entities with their own staff and infrastructure.
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For that reason, in addition to the subscription management software, Phoenix also offers help with business planning, user analytics, licensing, marketing and sales, areas in which most academic databases have little expertise (Figure 3).
TAIR historical and recent usage trends. (A). Annual usage of TAIR database shown as both number of sessions (blue, left axis), and total number page views (purple, right axis). (B) Close up snapshot comparing pre- and post-subscription usage. Google Analytics dashboard showing the number of sessions and page views over an 8-week period from September to November 2015 and an equivalent period in 2013. Dates were adjusted to include the same number of weekday and weekend days for each period. Similar to the year-by-year comparison in panel A, the number of sessions (dark blue) shows a slight decrease while the number of page views shows an increase (dark orange).
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Sessions increased initially but leveled off in the past 2 years (Figure 6A). Figure 6B shows a snapshot of pre- and post-subscription time intervals, comparing user data over a similar 8-week time period in 2013 (before subscriptions were required) and 2015 (after subscriptions).