Software and platforms
Maintenance and support agreement
The paper covering what happens after a system is delivered and live. It says what is included — fixes, updates, monitoring, questions answered — and what is not, which is usually new features and anything the customer broke themselves. It names how issues are raised and prioritised, what hours the cover runs, and how the fee works. Where uptime is promised in numbers, the measurable part is usually split out into a service level document.
- In the catalogue
- Software and platforms
- Where it can live
- Any of the 184 governing laws
Who uses one
- Development studios supporting systems they built.
- Software vendors selling maintenance alongside an installed product.
- Companies that need somebody on the hook when the thing they depend on stops.
What you are deciding
- What is covered, and what counts as new work
- Which versions are supported, and for how long
- How issues are raised, and how they are prioritised
- The hours cover runs, and what happens outside them
- The fee, and whether it is fixed or by usage
- Who has access to what, and how credentials are handled
- Whether third-party components and hosting are included
- Notice on either side to end it
Blanks you leave stay blank and wait in the room. Nothing is filled in from a guess.
The sections a draft usually has
- 1The parties and the supported system
- 2Scope of maintenance
- 3Exclusions and new work
- 4Supported versions
- 5Raising and prioritising issues
- 6Support hours
- 7Fees
- 8Access and credentials
- 9Term and termination
A general outline, not a required one. What turns up in a draft follows what you described. A contract is written in the order a contract is read.
What people call it
The names this kind of paper goes by. They are here because people search for them. They also filter the catalogue. They are not a wordlist the door matches. At the composer you describe the deal in your own words instead.
- support agreement
- maintenance agreement
- software support contract
- annual maintenance contract
- amc agreement
- technical support agreement
Questions people ask
- What counts as a bug rather than a new feature?
- Agreements of this kind usually define it against the specification: behaviour that does not match what was agreed is a fix, and everything else is new work. Without a specification the line is very hard to hold.
- How long are old versions usually supported?
- Papers of this kind commonly name a policy — the current version and one or two behind it — so the customer knows when an upgrade becomes necessary rather than optional.
- Is hosting included in support?
- Only if it says so. Hosting, third-party licences and infrastructure costs are frequently excluded and billed separately, and the paper is where that is made explicit.
General answers about the document. Not advice about your situation. Not written about any one country.
Where it lives
A contract names the legal system it is governed by. That is a separate decision from which paper it is. You pick it at the door, from any of the 184 units in Governing law, including England and Wales, Delaware, California and New York.
You do not start from this page. Describe the deal in one sentence at the door. Read the draft back in plain language, in the order a contract is read.
Start it at the door →Related kinds