Project Sign-Off

bobmurrey

Hi,

I need to get a client to sign-off on their project.

I'm composing a sign-off document.

Has anybody had any experience with this?
Here are some points I have found.
Can anybody think of any more?

1.The Customer is satisfied that all work on The Project has been completed in accordance with the original proposal and contract signed by The Customer at the start of the project.
2.All outstanding invoices have been paid in full by The Customer.
3.Additional changes, modifications, services, support, etc. to The Project after the date of sign-off shall incur additional fees.
4.The Developer is not responsible for repairs to The Project as a result of changes to The Project by another 3rd Party Developer without additional remuneration.
5.The Developer cannot and will not guarantee that The Project will work “as is” if The Project is moved to a 3rd party hosting provider.
6.If The Project is moved to a 3rd party hosting provider The Developer waives all responsibility for the functioning of The Project.

P.s. sorry if this might be in the wrong place, but its directly associated with a programming / website project

Bluefrog

What about licensing and intellectual property? Can your client run multiple copies of your work? Can they use your work for a completely different purpose? Do they have the right to sell your work on to another party or parties? If so, do you get anything? Do you still have liability to address bugs in this case? Who will maintain the software? What terms will apply to that maintenance - payment, duration of the maintenance period etc? Who adjudicates in the case of a dispute about the cause of a malfunction?

By rights the signoff procedure should have been defined at the start of the project.

bobmurrey

hi bluefrog

Can they use your work for a completely different purpose? Do they have the right to sell your work on to another party or parties? If so, do you get anything?

These points have been covered in a contract signed at the start.

The other points have not been covered.
There are no bugs in the website that I'm aware of at this point.
If bugs arise in the future then I would have to renumerated for fixing them.

How do I state that?

Evil Phil

I would suggest getting a solicitor to draw the agreement up for you, otherwise you could find yourself supporting the application indefinitely and for free.

seamus

^^ As Phil says, it might be a good idea to get a solicitor to draw up a general document for you to use for this project and future projects.

Many people dont understand that when they sign off on a project, the developer is under no obligation to fix any bugs because they have agreed that there are no bugs.

Particularly if you're working with a big company, attempting to write your own contract may end up with that company's solicitor tearing it to shreds in future. Just because someone has signed a document, doesn't mean it's legally binding.

I would add in a fixed period where you will correct bugs only (say 3 or 6 months) and then specify that anything after that is chargeable.

bobmurrey

hi,
its a small business. they have already taken up alot of time and resources. We cannot afford to spend any more time on their website. We have gone above and beyond what they needed

ianhobo

But in fairness to them, and this is NOT directed at you personally,its just a general comment, how do they know that you have done a good job, or haven't over looked something important that appeared initially trivial until the app gets tested through real world daily use?
Just because you believe that there aren't any bugs doesn't make it true.

I mention this because I ended fixing a booking system web app that a company had a paid almost 9000 to have custom built, but it never worked after it was all "signed off" on, The designers couldn't fix it and couldnt find the problem, it ended up being a fundamental database design issue, (uh..oh you mean a UNIQUE primary key!)
All they ever debugged was their code, I guess they thought databases/good design doesnt matter. And they are still a big, thriving Dublin web company.....Grrrrrr

seamus

One would assume that the developer is involved in the project right up to go-live and review, then at that point the company sign off on it. So I would hope that the system is working in a live environment before it's signed off

In any case, if it turned out that there was some fundamental flaw in the application, which required massive amounts of time to rectify, the company would still have some liability - the company is contracted to provide a service because the customer doesn't have the resources or expertise to do it, so if that service isn't supplied, they are liable, sign-off completed or not.

Bluefrog

bobmurrey wrote:

hi bluefrog



These points have been covered in a contract signed at the start.

The other points have not been covered.
There are no bugs in the website that I'm aware of at this point.
If bugs arise in the future then I would have to renumerated for fixing them.

How do I state that?

I don't think anyone would feel comfortable here giving you a form of wording that would appear in a legal agreement.

I would say however that any client who would just accept that you are not liable for addressing any bugs found after deployment won't be in business long enough to find them If you think about it in terms of consumer law I think you will see how unacceptable a position that is.

What I normally do is give them a grace period after deployment to identify any bugs and undertake to address them for 'free' for that period. I say 'free' because I would make sure that any such work was going to be covered by the initial development payment or more usually by the value of having the maintenance contract, which would be drawn up separately from the development contract. I'd very much echo Seamus's sentiments here, clearly stating the exact duration of that period is crucial - tying it to the period of the maintenance contract can be easier to swallow for clients. And as I said you should also have some adjudication method in place to decide in a case of dispute over the source of any bugs. Do we blame it on your coding, do we blame it on the platform, do we blame it on the good times, do we blame it on the boogie? Don't be shy about bringing these issues to the attention of your clients, good ones will appreciate your professionalism and won't expect anything for nothing.

With any non-trivial software there will ALWAYS be bugs.

One other thing, solicitors - hmmmmm, they're a mixed bunch (he said kindly) and many have no experience in the software industry. You will save yourself a few quid long term by getting someone with experience in this area at the start.

Finally, good luck with the deployment