For each responsibility, name who handles it, what is included, and how your business gets help.
Know what the business owns and can access
Ask how ownership of the application code, designs, records, and supporting accounts will be documented in the agreement. Also identify third-party services or licenses the application depends on.
Access should make sense for the people responsible for the software. Keep a record of the accounts involved, who administers them, and what a future handoff would require. Avoid relying on one person’s undocumented access.
Give the application a clear home
Hosting includes more than the place where the application runs. Someone needs to manage releases, monitor important problems, look after certificates and service accounts, and deal with changes in the environment.
Ask who pays each recurring cost and who is responsible for each service. The application provider and the hosting provider may cover different parts of a problem, so the boundaries should be clear.
Discuss recovery before you need it
Decide which records and files need backups, how long they should be retained, and who checks that recovery works. A backup schedule alone does not answer how the business will return to work.
Explain the impact of lost information or an interruption. Recovery expectations and the arrangements to support them should be considered together, rather than assumed.
Define how support actually works
Know where to report an issue, what information to include, when support is available, and how urgent business problems are escalated. Response and resolution are different expectations, and both need clear discussion.
Separate routine maintenance, investigation of defects, and new features. An ongoing agreement should explain what is included, what needs a separate scope, and how additional work is approved.
- Coverage hours and support contacts
- How urgent issues are assessed
- Maintenance and update responsibilities
- Included work and separately agreed changes
- Recurring costs and review points
Prepare the people using the software
Agree who will test the important tasks, who can approve the release, and what staff or customers need to know. Instructions and a contact for questions can matter as much as the deployment itself.
Plan how feedback from the first weeks of use will be collected. Give someone responsibility for deciding which changes matter most and how they will be brought into the next release.
What SweatMtn can look after
We can handle the application’s deployment, hosting, maintenance, and further development within an agreed engagement. We work through responsibilities, support coverage, account arrangements, and ongoing costs before launch.
For software built elsewhere, we begin with a review of its condition, access, and documentation. That gives both sides a clear basis for deciding what can move into ongoing care.