What does it take to keep custom software running after launch?
Custom software needs ongoing care after launch: updates and security fixes, hosting and its renewals, backups with a test restore, accounts held in your name, monitoring that alerts someone when it breaks, written documentation, and an agreement for how changes are requested and handled. Without a named person for each, small problems often go unnoticed until a customer finds them.
Seven parts of looking after it
- Updates and security fixes. Software usually relies on outside components that release updates, and old versions can develop known weaknesses over time. Someone should apply updates, check nothing broke, and tell you what was done.
- Hosting and renewals. The place it runs, the domain, the security certificate and any outside service it uses can have renewal dates. If one lapses, the software can go offline or stop working. The related answer on what website maintenance involves covers renewals and backups in more detail.
- Backups and a test restore. A backup nobody has tested may not work when needed. Ask for a restore on a copy soon after launch, and again on a schedule.
- Who holds the accounts. Hosting, domain, code storage, app stores and outside services should be in your name, with more than one administrator. The related answer on who owns software built for your business covers ownership.
- Monitoring that tells someone. Something should check that the software is up and that key jobs, such as a form or a payment, still work, and alert a named person. Otherwise you may learn of a failure from a customer.
- Documentation. Plain notes on how it fits together, where it runs, how to restore it, and which accounts and services it uses let another person take over if the builder is unavailable.
- A written agreement for changes. Settle how a change is requested, how fast the developer replies, what counts as a fix and what counts as new work, and how a change is tested and approved before it goes live.
Put a name next to each
For each of the seven, write down who does it, how often, and how you will know it was done. The person may be the builder, a support provider or someone on your team. The common mistake is assuming someone else has it covered.
The related answer on what website maintenance involves lists similar habits for websites, and the related answer on choosing custom or off-the-shelf software explains why upkeep is easy to overlook when you have something built. Ascent Vision offers ongoing technical support and does not publish prices.
Related answers
- Who owns software that was built for your business?
- What does looking after a small business website involve?
- Should you buy off-the-shelf software or have something built?
Ongoing technical support
The site goes down, email stops arriving, a domain is about to lapse, nobody knows the password. Many owners do not have a technical person. We are that person, for everything we build and the things you already have.