After software is delivered, a business's needs and the environment the software runs in can both change. Planning for that period in advance means every new need doesn't turn into an ambiguous support request. At Paradigma7 we offer an annual maintenance agreement as a separate service for post-delivery work.
01Define the scope of maintenance item by item
The word "maintenance" can mean different things to different teams. Which of these are included — version-compatibility reviews, scheduled checks, or technical upkeep — needs to be written explicitly into the agreement. None of these are automatically included in every agreement. Scope is defined after reviewing the systems in use and the business's needs.
02Keep the bug-fix warranty separate
The 12-month bug-fix warranty Paradigma7 provides from delivery covers fixing bugs in the delivered scope. An annual maintenance agreement is a separate service with its own defined scope. Once scopes are clearly defined, the same piece of work never gets scheduled twice under two different headings. When evaluating a request, the distinction between warranty, maintenance, and new development needs to be made explicitly. We covered where the warranty fits in the delivery package in our turnkey software guide.
03Agree on how changes will be applied
A change made during maintenance can also affect the business's day-to-day use. Pre-deployment review, appropriate timing, a rollback approach if needed, and final checks should all be planned according to the nature of the work. When changes requiring customer approval are identified in advance, both daily operations and technical work proceed in a clearer order.
04Clarify support hours and new features
An annual maintenance agreement on its own doesn't mean 24-hour support or unlimited new development. Standard support is provided during working hours; a dedicated 24-hour support package is evaluated separately for large projects. We explained the difference between these two support setups in our support packages article. New modules and scope expansions are also planned separately. The agreement should clearly state its term, renewal conditions, the systems covered, and each party's responsibilities.
05Maintenance agreement checklist
- Are the covered applications, environments, and connected systems listed?
- Is each included maintenance task written out individually?
- Are the changes that require customer approval identified?
- How will warranty, maintenance, and new development requests be separated?
- Are support hours, and any dedicated 24-hour support package, defined separately?
- Are the agreement's term and renewal conditions clear?
Written by
The Paradigma7 team
Product, engineering and operations
We are an Ankara-based team building software for Europe. Nothing here is theory: these are the processes we actually run on client projects.
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